Gut feelings about jobs? (application, paycheck, career, company)

[legoman822]

While these days any job is considered a good job I've had times where I just had a bad feeling about a potential job.

Once I was offered a position and soon found out I was the second choice when the first promptly quit. The person before only lasted a year and left the company. HR wanted me to start in two days. I foolishly accepted.

But after a couple of sleepless nights, it just didn't feel right. I was too focused on getting the job and paycheck without looking at the history of the position. I turned down the offer the day before I would have started.

I'm not proud of what I did and I burned a bridge, but I never felt this way about a job before. I just felt I was making the wrong choice.

Has your gut steered you in the right, or wrong, direction before?

[TheViking85]

Yeah, had that on a job once, quit after two days.

Most times the gut is right, many people have their life depending on their gut feeling everyday.

That said, sometimes you just got to suck it up and deal with a ****ty situation until you find a better one.

You chose what to do, no reason to dwell on it now, and maybe you were right, maybe it would've been a disaster, but one thing worth knowing, for future reference; it's a hell of a lot easier getting a job if you have one already.

[lavalake]

I am a big fan of listening to your gut. I've ignored mine on several occasions and have lived to regret it. For example, I once accepted an internal transfer because it was in a city I was dying to live in. The more I heard about the new office, however, the more concerned I got about the environment and opportunities there. My gut was telling me to tell them that I no longer wanted to transfer, but my brain was telling me I should take the opportunity and just work it out when I got there. It was a complete disaster and ended up being the worst mistake of my career.

On the other hand, back when I was in graduate school, I had a professional job lined up for the first half of the summer, but not the second. I was offered a position for the second half, but I declined it because I knew I wanted to try for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where the application process wouldn't start until the spring. I had absolutely no reason to think that I was guaranteed the exciting opportunity - in fact, I had a lot of reasons to think that it wouldn't work out - and my brain was telling me to take the position I was already offered, but my gut was telling me to hold out. I did, and ended up obtaining the exciting position, and it's been a stand-out item on my resume ever since.

[parttimetechie]

Go with your gut, even if it ends in disaster, you will know why it ended in disaster and why you thought it was a good idea in the first place