Who’s interviewing whom here, anyway?
My brother-in-law has been on the interview track recently. He’s a former Fleet Safety Manager for Princess Cruises, and he’s looking for similar work. Not many cruise ship companies here in New Hampshire, but a lot of responsibilities for the job can translate into different industries. So that’s the direction he’s heading.
I talked to him after one recent interview, and though he said the questions he was asked were more in line with the kind of job description he was looking for, he also had this to say (and I’m slightly paraphrasing):
They were pretty stiff and boring, so I don’t think I want to be working there.
Now, you can make a case for an interview being much more formal and polite than any working environment you’d encounter on a day-to-day basis. But what my bro-in-law said turned on a light in my mind about finding your ideal job. Which, if you’re looking (or thinking about looking), you’d try to get as close to your ideal job as possible, right?
I know some folks aren’t in a position to be choosy about a job offer – that’s life sometimes, and I’m not a Pollyanna about it. But as we’ve noted many times before on this blog, there’s so much more than salary to consider when it comes to finding a new job.
Money plays into it in other areas, with job benefits from the quality of health insurance to stock options and 401(k) matching, just to name a couple. Work-life balance also plays into it, when you consider things like flexible schedules, telecommuting, on-site child care or gym memberships.
But fun in the workplace is a huge factor, too. And not to be taken lightly, since it affects your job satisfaction. Appropriate humor in the workplace is a must, and yet I don’t think I’ve heard anyone flag this as a deciding factor in choosing job offers until my bro-in-law brought it up.
So when you start making your pro-and-con lists for the multiple job offers you receive, give the humor aspect the attention it deserves. And consider evaluating this aspect of the job when you go on your interviews. After all, you’re not just interviewing for them – at your level of quality, they’re interviewing for you, too.
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