When I was looking around the area for a new opportunity earlier this year, I found a company in Asheville, NC, that was doing some interesting things online. More specifically they had a need for true product manager, a somewhat new concept for them, but ideal for the direction they were looking to go.
The initial discussions and interviews went well, with my primary difficulty being the potential commute. Driving an hour to work was not something I welcomed, especially with flashbacks of horrible drives across Lake Washington back in Seattle. But I could convince myself to overcome that if the work challenge was worth it. I calculated what it would cost to hire someone to pick up the kids from school and deal with the new potential daily schedule. I was starting to daydream about joining the team and driving the execution of the new service, receiving many accolades from my new colleagues.
But then in the final moments, two items surfaced that killed the dream.
I asked for flexibility in the schedule, given the new commute. I wanted to continue dropping my kids off and spending time with them in the morning, but that would likely mean a 9:30am arrival in Asheville.
The VP I was working with needed to check with the other executives first before he would give me an answer. Now I totally understand the desire to avoid major conflict, but I would hope that someone in an executive role could make the call themselves on something like this. By not being able to just give me an answer along with with some rationale, I suddenly had a huge fear of bureaucracy. Just let me have this and fight for me later, or just say no and explain why. If I work for you, how often will this happen?
A couple days later the approval for my selfish 9:30am start time came, but it was tied to a daily schedule of 9:30 – 6:30. Their usual office schedule was 8:30-5:30. In other words, by asking for flexibility on the arrival time, I was now expected to stay an hour later, regardless of the fact that their reasoning meant nobody else would officially have to be there. Micromanagement confirmed. The message: punching the time card mattered more than getting shit done.
I could have kept digging to see if these truly indicated the environment I was imagining, but instead I just cut it off right there and politely declined the offer. There is NEVER a time in which high pay will overcome a mismatched work environment, and you should really consider simply dropping out when those signals appear to avoid future pain. You may get a better paycheck but your soul will suffer.
Instead, I’m in an environment where I am trusted to drive results without someone watching over my shoulder. Trusted to work on my own schedule and get stuff done when it needs to get done.
For the other tech companies having trouble attracting talent: that’s how you do it right.