Before You Accept, Ask How Success Will Be Judged

Before you accept a job, check how your work will be assessed. Ask what a good start looks like, what support exists and which results you can influence.

A job offer tells you what you will be paid and what you will be responsible for. It may not tell you what your manager will count as good work, especially if the job involves fixing a process as well as keeping it running.

Before accepting, ask what the manager expects you to accomplish and what support you will have. Even if you need the income and have little room to negotiate, the answers can help you understand what you are taking on.

Ask what a good start would look like

Ask which work needs attention first and what the manager would hope to see by your first review. Find out whether you are expected to learn an established process, improve it or build something that does not yet exist.

Those are different assignments. A role described as keeping the work moving can become a much larger task if the underlying process also needs to be designed.

Understand what you can influence

Discuss which decisions you can make and which depend on someone else. If a result requires another team’s work, ask how those priorities will be agreed.

Find out what information, tools and support are already available. A target is easier to assess when both sides understand what the role controls and what it needs from other people.

Agree how questions will be handled

You may discover gaps after starting. Ask who you can go to when priorities conflict or the work differs from what was discussed.

A planned check-in gives you somewhere to raise those differences. It can also help you understand feedback while there is still time to act on it.

Keep a note of the important expectations and confirm your understanding with the employer. Unanswered questions do not have to cancel an opportunity, but they belong in your decision.

You may need to accept a job that is not ideal. Knowing its limits can help you decide what to raise now and which arrangements to revisit once you have started.

More from this week

This piece stands on its own. Here are this week's 5 pieces:

• Monday: Extra Work Can Become an Unplanned Discount
• Tuesday: Leave a Job With Relationships You Can Keep
• Wednesday: Your Website Should Promise What Your Team Can Deliver
• Thursday: Before You Accept, Ask How Success Will Be Judged (this post)
• Friday: Ask What You Lost Before You Change the Price (coming Friday)

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