Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#1

Post by lamroger » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 7:35 PM UTC

For myself, I realized perks like free food and laundry service are nice to have but are not the reason you stay or move.

Things I'm looking for now are attitudes towards professional and personal growth, contributing towards a meaningful goal, and people I enjoy working with.

What are some thing you're looking for when searching for a new job?

I'm trying to collect a list of questions for companies similar to The Joel Test for software. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#2

Post by sciurus » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 8:04 PM UTC

Here's a list of questions that I've used for operations-focused roles: https://www.polibyte.com/2015/02/06/interview-questions/

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#3

Post by chrisbennet » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 8:09 PM UTC

I don't see this mentioned but...I look for happy, non-stressed out interviewers and managers.

I had a nice manager (who was trying get me to work for his company) mention how his hair had turned gray during his last project. I told him "If you're trying to get people to sign up for you diving tour, um, you might not want to show them your shark bites." It wasn't the main reason I passed on that job but it didn't seem like a desirable situation.

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#4

Post by tdb7893 » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 8:26 PM UTC

Try to get the interviewer comfortable and realaxed and then just ask them about their job and the position that you are interviewing for. I've found that 90% of the time you can get a pretty decent feel of a company after having a relaxed conversation with a few employees. I've found if you go in with a bunch of canned questions they just answer with canned answers.

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#5

Post by borplk » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 8:27 PM UTC

Sadly what I have found is almost anything worth knowing is not possible to know early on.

Curtains fall after 6 months and that's when you know some real info.

Especially true if the company/team is not a large or well known one so you can't read reviews or anything.

Mostly turns into a gamble at that point.

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#6

Post by nicomfe » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 8:51 PM UTC

freedom!, not being tide up to a strictly daily schedule 8 to 5, 9 to 6, or whatever, thats bullshit, as long as you meet the goals (and being present in some boring meetings), I always look for the freedom to decide when to get in and off work. Among other stuff of course, but the main one is that.

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#7

Post by JSeymourATL » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 8:54 PM UTC

#1) The People - is the team good? Will they elevate your game? And help move the agenda forward?

Having a solid boss, and senior reporting relationships is huge. Here's a good list questions for a potential new boss> http://www.inc.com/alison-green/how-to-interview-your-prospe...

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#8

Post by jrgifford » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 9:12 PM UTC

Respect. Everyone says "Oh, we respect our team members!", but few do when the rubber meets the road.

I've always insisted on going out to lunch with my potential boss, and watch how they treat the servers. I've never regretted working with the ones who treated everyone with courtesy and politeness. I've regretted working with those who weren't.

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#9

Post by j4_james » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 10:11 PM UTC

This is probably not the kind of answer you were looking for, but for me the number one criteria is location. If it's going to take me 2 hours each way to commute to a job, I'm not even considering it. So I find it frustrating how difficult some companies make it for you to find their office location. I really wish the Hacker News "Who is Hiring" threads had zipcode/postcode as a required field.

And for something like a job board, being able to register my location and have it display approximate commute times for each job listing would be a dream come true.

Re: Ask HN: What do you REALLY look for in a new position?

#10

Post by deckard1 » Thu, Sep 08, 2016, 11:18 PM UTC

Money. Remote work (freedom). Location.

Equally important, IMO, is what I stay away from:

Ping pong/pool/foosball offices. Free soda offices. Creepy culture cults. Open floorplans.

Basically, all the infantile ways IT companies like to placate younger, naive employees while cargo-culting Google and Facebook. If your office resembles a college dorm, then you probably need to grow up.