Correctional Library Services > Connections 2008 > The Job Search > After the Interview

After the Interview

Being Offered a Job

When deciding whether or not to accept a job offer, or if you need to decide between two or more jobs, you may wish to take into consideration the following factors:

Job Potential
Ask yourself whether the job will offer you some challenge. Is the job dead-end, or will you be given the opportunity to work your way up to positions of more responsibility and higher pay?

It is good, of course, if given the chance, to avoid dead-end jobs – that is, jobs that offer no opportunities for future promotion or job advancement. There are times, however, in our lives when such jobs can serve useful ends. They do help pay the bills, give us work experience, and can hold us over until a better job opportunity presents itself. The important thing in accepting such a job is
to realize that it is only temporary. It is a way of surviving and keeping out of trouble, financially or otherwise, until we get that education degree, or finish that evening computer training program, or hear of a better opening. Try never to lose sight of your long-range career goals, or to stop working toward them, when you find yourself "stuck" at a boring job that seems to be leading nowhere.

Salary
Salary, of course, is a very important factor in considering a job offer. Find out, for example, whether you will be receiving a fixed salary each pay period, or whether your salary is to be dependent on commissions or tips. Also, find out if there will be opportunities for earning extra cash on the job, say, by working overtime.

In choosing between two jobs, a person will not always decide to take the one offering the higher salary. Important considerations, other than salary alone, may include better working conditions or fringe benefits, more opportunities for training or job advancement, and job challenge.

Fringe Benefits
Fringe benefits are benefits you receive from an employer in addition to your cash wages. They may include the following: medical insurance; paid sick leave; paid holidays and vacation;
a profit-sharing plan; uniforms and special equipment needed on the job; or tuition assistance to continue your schooling.

Benefits are like cash in that they pay for things, such as doctors' bills, which otherwise would have to come out of your own pocket. It is important, then, to find out what fringe benefits are offered at the job you are considering.

It may also be important for you to know whether or not the job you are considering is covered by unemployment insurance or worker's compensation laws.

Other factors worth your consideration are:

• Transportation time and costs to and from the job
• Working conditions, such as noise levels, lighting, dust
• Safety factors, such as risks of injury
• Social environment. Does the workplace seem pleasant? How regimented is it? Are the coworkers friendly?
  

Helpful Hints in Adjusting to a New Job

To adjust to a new job, a worker often has to develop a new set of work habits. The most obvious are being prompt in getting to work each day, expending the necessary amount of concentration and energy to getting one's work done satisfactorily, and learning to relate well with one's coworkers and supervisor.

The longer you've been away from the outside work world, or the less experience you've had in "playing it straight," the more discipline and patience all of this is going to require. Responsibility, after all, is not something you were encouraged to develop while in prison, where most decisions, both large and small, were probably made for you. So don't expect that starting a new job after your release will necessarily be easy. Just know that you can succeed (millions of others have), and that it will require time. The following hints may be of help to you in adjusting to a new job:

Be Both Dependable and Responsible
Don't appear late for work or be absent without having a good reason. If you are going to be late, or can't make it to work, call in. If you offer to do a task, or are asked to do one, make sure it gets done. Don't promise to do more than you can reasonably handle.

Be Patient
Don't expect too much of yourself when you first begin a new job. There is a lot to be learned – even in simple jobs, much more than meets the eye. You may be nervous or scared the first week or two. This is not unusual. Just remember, your employer is as anxious as you are for you to succeed.

Learn to Follow Directions
There are usually valid reasons why you are told to perform tasks the way that you are. Your success as a worker will be judged to a very large extent on your ability to listen and to do as you are told. If you need to understand something better, don't be afraid to ask questions.

Get Along Well with Others
Performing your job assignment is only one aspect of job adjustment. Equally important, in the eyes of the employer, is your ability to get along with your co-workers and/or the public you serve. Control your temper. If a problem occurs at work, see your supervisor or shop steward and talk it out.

Learn to Take Criticism
It is easy for anyone to become hurt or to feel defensive when his or her work is being criticized. Learn not to take criticism personally. When accepted wisely, criticism is an important step to learning.

Leave Personal Problems at Home
Work often offers you the opportunity to socialize with coworkers and, indeed, socializing is an important feature of the total work experience. Still, it is important to remember that your main reason for being at work is to perform your job. Don't let personal problems interfere with work. We all know how hard it is to have to put up with a coworker who arrives at the job everyday frustrated and angry because of a personal situation at home. Likewise, it is unfair to take lots of time rapping with a coworker about your personal affairs when it may well end up jeopardizing both your jobs.

Leaving a Job

Three common ways of leaving a job are:

• Quitting
• Getting laid off
• Getting fired

If you decide to quit your present job, it is almost always advisable to secure another job first. Here are two good reasons:
(a) we are living in a time of high unemployment, when job opportunities in most fields are scarce, and
(b) employers generally prefer choosing new job applicants from the ranks of the already employed, not the unemployed.

If you quit a job, be sure to give your current employer at least two weeks' notice. He or she will be more likely to give you a good recommendation for your next job.

When you are thinking about quitting a job, or have just been laid off or fired from one, investigate the following:

• Is your job covered by unemployment insurance? If so, will you be eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits?
• If you were laid off or fired, do you have any recourse? Can you appeal the decision to anyone in the personnel department or union?
• If you were laid off or fired, is there any severance pay that you can collect?
• What will happen when you leave the job in terms of your pension, your health insurance coverage, and your unused vacation and sick time?
  

Being Unemployed

If, after working at a job, you suddenly find yourself unemployed through no fault of your own, you may be eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits. Your former job will have to have been covered by unemployment insurance (most jobs are), and, if eligible to receive benefits, you must declare yourself ready, willing, and able to work if a new, appropriate employment opportunity is found.

For recorded information on unemployment insurance, call toll free 888.209.8124 (Spanish also spoken). You will be asked by the local office to begin by bringing in your Social Security number and one or two other pieces of identification. (A pay stub from your former job would also be helpful.) If you are eligible for benefits, there is a two- or three-week processing period, after which you will receive cash benefits (an amount proportionate to the salary you received and the amount of time you worked) for at least 26 weeks.

While unemployed, you may also be eligible to receive other types of benefits. These can include food stamps or Medicaid (see the chapter on Financial Assistance), or union benefits, if you were a dues-paying member of a union where you last worked. Being unemployed, you may also find yourself eligible for special attention in programs designed to help the unemployed find work or further their education and training.