My wife recently went through an interview process for a job worth a lot more money as an Executive Assistant role. As a mother with younger kids she has a set of needs/wants that she has been intentional on expressing early in an interview process. Mainly she seeks the flexibility to be able to be there for her kids (who’d have thought).
To the story:
Early in the interview process the hiring manager stated “we are a flexible company and the team you’d be assisting are all mothers as well”! – ok this is good, they would get the struggle and needs here.
Next after discussions on standard hours (7:30-4:30) “ this role is a salaried position and you may need to work after these hours occasionally”- this is for sure a red flag because it was openly stated. This is effective assumed with a salaried position. If a potential employer says this during the interview process stay alert things are off.
They move her forward and even have a lunch and send an offer over after. My wife being up front stated she has a standing medical appointment on an every other week basis that would cause her to leave early 2X a month. This immediately causes hesitation from the hiring manager:
“What is this for”- doesn’t matter it’s medical
“How long will this last?”- doesn’t matter it’s medical: my wife stated it was indefinite
This hesitation causes the “we are flexible” to go from a green flag to red. My wife had the offer taken back stating “we feel you will be too far behind on work with these standing appointments”
In effect the potential employer lied about flexibility as taking an hour 2X a week for an appointment is not going to put anyone far behind. My wife was already planning on rejecting the offer due to how hesitant the manager had been in the late stages. We believe she dodged a real bullet.
TLDR: always know what you’re looking for during your interview process and ask questions, test the hiring manager/company’s word through your values. You are interviewing them just as they are you. Money isn’t entirely everything in a job.