Posted by denised in Last week, I shared my tales of falling in love with jobs, only to have them turn on you. I call it the “Sweet Deceit.” And while I do take some of the blame for not asking enough of the right questions during the interview process, I certainly didn’t expect to be lied to during my interview. We’ve all heard the stories about people with fantastic credentials being busted years later. They lie about the schools they graduated from, the grades they got, and the positions they’ve held. But what happens when the shoe is on the other foot? What happens when the job lies to you?
Six months out of college, and desperate to be working in my field, I took the first job that was offered to me. Never mind it required me moving cross country within a matter of weeks and paid far less than I’d ever imagined I’d be working for. I was just happy to have a job in my field. During the interview, the owner of the small, family owned business promised me that within six months, if I’d proven myself as a fast learner and hard worker, I’d receive a pay increase. By all accounts, including his, I’d done that and more within those first six months, but I got nothing from the owner. Not an “at a girl,” not a “good job,” and definitely not a pay increase. It was at this job that I got one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten about bosses. An older woman who’d worked at the company for years pulled me to the side one day and told me, “anyone who hires as impulsively as this guy does, behaves just as impulsively in every other area.” In other words, as quickly as he hired me and promised me a pay increase (I was interviewed and hired on the same day) was as quickly as he could and would be likely to renege on his promise. Of course she was absolutely right. It was the first time I’d experienced a boss lying to me. It wouldn’t be the last.
As I mentioned last week, the HR Manager at another job answered my questions about turnover rates by telling me that there were individuals still working with the company, even after 20 years. Technically, she didn’t really lie to me. She employed what a friend calls, “selective omission.” By focusing on the individuals with tenure, she kept the focus off of the rest of the staff who’d been part of an ongoing procession through the company’s revolving front door for years. She also didn’t mention that the tenured individuals, all two of them, were neurotics who spent their days obsessed either about the job or being fired from it. And, she certainly neglected to mention that she herself was teetering on the edge of a meltdown. In all fairness, I didn’t ask. But, who thinks to ask about the mental stability of the staff of the company they’re interviewing with? And if you did have the audacity to ask, wouldn’t that automatically remove you from the running?
The truth is, the first time I was lied to by my boss, I was young, naive and desperate for employment. The next time it happened, I was older, had years of work experience under my belt, and was still desperate for employment. Desperation and hope – the Sweet Deceit – led me to put blinders on. I’ll take more responsibility for not reading some of the writing on the wall this last time. But the bottom line is, I was still misled. And while I don’t have the right to expect interviewers to reveal the deep, dark secrets of their companies to me, I do have the right to honest answers to honest questions. Don’t we all?
