I attended a job interview yesterday and I am not sure how I feel about it.
This job opening wasn't one that I had applied for, but one that I was shortlisted by the company for. Initially my plan was just to go there to listen to what they had to offer because it is for an Interior Designer position, but it was a full salaried job and based on the call, didn't require me to do project management if I didn't want to.
I was doing my Reservist when the company called me up about the job opening, and as most people around me are aware, I am getting tired of my current company, not because the job is boring but because upper management is just a mess, so I figured, since a lot of boxes are being ticked and I am in fact constantly looking for a new job at the moment, why not just go take a look.
The day arrives and I head over to the office, the travelling was really long, located all the way in Tai Seng, travelling took me close to an hour, and when I stepped into the office, I am immediately turned off by the office's design, you can tell just based on the choices of laminates and detailing work that design is not the company's forte, but since I was already there, I can't just walk off, so I stayed on and notice there were maybe 4 - 5 employees working I went ahead and started to fill up the application form, and as I was filling the form up, I could hear a baby crying and the employees were talking to each other with this impatience in their tone that was more akin to how a typical Singapore family would converse with one another.
For some reason, after making the connection that this is a family owned and run business, I was suddenly reminded of one of my ex-colleagues' past job experience that she had shared with me wherein she used to work in a family business, and that there was always a lot of biasness involved because of the familial relationship in the professional setting, it was really quite toxic to work in because the family members would get into arguments and bring personal issues into the professional setting.
I was immediately worried that this could potentially have the same environment, so as I was filling up the final part of the form, I had already made up my mind that I wasn't going to be part of the company.
Once the form was done, the employee who had contacted me for the interview brought me over and introduced me to the big boss and he is your typical Uncle, very friendly and talkative, seemed to have a good temper as well, so I sat down and we started talking and sharing our experiences in the industry.
I will admit, the boss was very likeable, and so was his employee (whom I assume is probably his son-in-law) , but there were a few red flags about the position that worried me...
1. This is a 5.5 day work week job.
I am not interested in working more than 5 days a week, I have done 5.5 days at ID1, it sucked, I have done 6 days at the bakery, that sucked even more. Whether you put it as 5.5 days or 6 days, to me, it will still be 6 days because you are still disturbing one of my weekends whether you require me to come in for 4 hours or 8 hours.
So I expressed my disdain at the 5.5 day work week and they tell me that it's an additional 0.5 days because clients may want to meet on the weekend, so they need me to be available, I then countered and say if that is the case, then why not you just make me work 5 days, but have me clock all the required hours within that 5 days, since this is a salaried job, I also understand that you are paying me for the hours I work.
They did not want to do that and the boss's concern with that is that I might end up getting really calculative with my hours, which honestly I don't see the problem with because that is my rights as a salaried employee, but to him, I guess he doesn't really want to have to keep track because it's too much of a hassle.
His son-in-law then chimes in and tells me that if I listen carefully to what the boss is saying, what he means is that the 0.5 days is not fixed and that I am only required to come in should a client request to meet on the weekend. They are only putting the 0.5 days down in paper, and that he usually only comes in 5 days a week instead of 5.5 days as most clients are very understanding.
I'm a bit unsure about this, there is too many grey areas in this part of the job requirement for me to be comfortable with.
Also, based on my personal experience, clients will always prefer to meet on a weekend or weekday evening, so that weekday 9am-6pm is definitely not going to be a realistic working hours.
2. You are required to do everything, but it will be a team effort.
All projects will be handled by at least 3 people, what I had initially thought was that meant 1 person will be the designer, 2 person will be the project manager.
Nope, that's not the case.
Everyone in the team will share the role of designer and project manager, so everyone will wear the same hat. I really cannot see how having multiple designer in a project is going to be smooth sailing. Design is subjective, everyone has their own style, I don't want to come into a project with a design proposal that is going to be tainted by another designer, and based on how their office looks, it will very likely get tainted.
Design is subjective and I have a certain style that I am strong, so if I am expected to work with another designer who has a completely different style, we will definitely clash because too many hands in the pot will spoil the sauce. I have never liked doing Group Project in Poly when it came to design related assignments, and I sure as hell won't enjoy it at work.
Also, so much for not having to do Project Management. I asked the son-in-law over the phone if I could avoid doing Project Management and he said this was something that could be discussed, but during the interview, it was presented as part of the many job scopes I will have to undertake, which brings me to my next point...
3. Full salaried job
I am all for a full salaried job, I enjoy the stability it offers. But having been in the Industry working on a commission system, I know how much a single project can get me and I know that in this line of work, if you are expect to do everything from design work to project management, you are much better of on a commission scheme because the earnings will be higher.
For this position, I put my expected salary only slightly higher than what I am getting paid now because I was under the assumption that it was going to be a design only position, but after being told that I also have to do project management, that salary just feels grossly underpaid. The boss even ask me if the price I have stated is non-negotiable and I told him it was what I was roughly getting now, so I was not going to go any lower, in fact, I would actually like to increase it after hearing the full job scope.
Also, because this is a full salaried job, expecting me to be "flexible" with my timing for the 5.5 day work scheme is honestly not something I am comfortable with, this could just potentially lead to a lot of unpaid OT.
I have to admit, after the interview yesterday, the idea of quitting my current company almost blinded me to those red flags that were flapping in my face. But ultimately, I still don't think it is a right choice to quit my current one just because I can see the potential of the new company becoming a lot worst, just in a different way.
The search for a new job continues, although I would prefer to only continue it after May once I have returned from my solo Taipei trip.
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