This is a long post. You can jump down to the questions below if you don’t have time.
I’ve had a hard time getting a full time job since I was laid off November 2022. I’ve had a couple short contracts this year, but that’s it. I work in marketing/advertising and am at a mid-senior level. I have also run out my unemployment so currently have no income.
I finally have landed a job and I’m set to start next week, but now I’m not sure if I should take it.
Here’s how it went down:
Internal recruiter for company approached me on LinkedIn and said they were looking for people that do what I do at various levels (building the team). They didn’t have an exact job description. I told them my salary expectations and we proceeded with interviews that went well.
It came time to give an offer and the recruiter asked how flexible I was on salary as they would need to come in about 15% below what I had given her initially. I said that might be an issue but maybe we could make it work with some other things. I suggested maybe I could work fewer days in the office. I have been 100% remote for years (even pre-pandemic) and they are requiring 3 days in office. I suggested maybe 2 in office as a compromise. I made it clear to recruiter that I’m okay with going in for useful reasons but don’t really like being there just to be a butt in a seat. She said she’d look into it. Fast forward a week or so and I get the offer at the lower rate she told me it would be and they cannot do fewer days in office as there are “no exceptions” to this policy. Okay fine. I accepted as I had nothing else in the pipeline, have been basically unemployed all year and need the money, and also was excited about one of the clients they said I’d be working on.
We set the start date for about a month out for various reasons that aren’t relevant here. And now it’s approaching next week. Since then I’ve had my first meeting with my boss (pre start date) and I’ve learned some things and now I’m feeling even less excited than my previous neutral attitude. I feel like they maybe intentionally kept some of this from me to get me to accept.
-one, my boss was working remote on a day when everyone is in the office and is in fact always remote as she lives somewhere where they don’t have an office. So clearly exceptions can be made.
-two, I will not be working on the account I was originally promised (at least not initially) and I’m not super psyched about what I will be working on to start.
-three, start time is 8 am. I was under the assumption it would be 9-5 as the handbook I was provided with the offer said anytime between 8-10 for start time. But now I guess my office has an 8 am expectation. This will dramatically affect my commute time and I am not a morning person.
-and finally, today I received an email with instructions for my first day arrival and it requested I bring headphones as it is an open office environment and I will be on a lot of calls. I have no problem with calls (goes with this type of job), but this implies I will frequently be on calls with people elsewhere, meaning there’s no reason to actually be in the office. I could be saving time and money on commuting and just take these calls at home. Also knowing what I know about myself, an open office will not be productive for me (easily distracted). In the past when I was in office (years ago) I had an office with a door and kind of expected that here at my level.
If you made it this far, thank you. So… what do I do?
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Suck it up and see how it goes. Being employed is better than unemployed.
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Voice my above concerns now (before I start) and see if accommodations can be made.
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Not start the job and urgently start a search? Which may be slow given the time of year. Note: I have no active applications right now as I accepted the job about a month ago and didn’t have many other prospects then.
TL;DR. Should I start the job I’m supposed to start next week despite all the red flags? Or should I go back to the search without any job prospects on the horizon and unemployment being run out.