How To Assess If You Are In The Right Place During Probation

Working out if you are in the right place during probation begins with having a clear understanding of what constitutes success from the employer's point of view prior to your starting a new job.

Equally important is knowing what your own expectations are of the business you are joining.

This is complicated further by the fact that there is an emotional element involved and accepting a job is a huge decision so it can be a point of pride for a lot of people to make it work.

Let's start with, do I have a choice to stay or not, i.e. am I meeting the expectations of the employer?

Employer’s Expectations

Prior to starting with a business it is really important to know what the metrics are for success.

Some really useful questions to ask an employer prior to accepting a job are:

• How do you think my technical skills compare to other people in your team with a similar level of experience?

• What concerns do you have about my ability to get up to speed with other people in the team?

If you get the sense you might be a little short on experience, ask the question:

• Have you fired people in the probation period in the past, if so why?

• What do you need to see out of me in the first 6 months to give you the confidence I will be successful in the long term?

Again, I do think you need to use your better judgement here in how you frame the questions and if you are working with a recruiter who has a good relationship with the hiring manager it can be worth seeking their advice as well.

Provided you have established how your performance will be measured during the first 6 months, it is important that you have regular catch ups with your manager to get regular feedback.

Personal Expectations Of Employer

There are two sides to the coin here and it is equally important that you feel the business you have joined is the right place for you.

Again, it is important to ensure you have clear expectations going into a new role and the only way to do that is to ask a lot of questions during the interview process.

Regarding the actual role:

• Prior to accepting the job, do you know what your day to day responsibilities are going to be?

• Is there a significant difference between what they told you the role will be like and what it is actually like?

• Can those differences be explained by temporary circumstances?

• Have you discussed these with your manager?

Regarding the business and the person you will be reporting to directly:

• Provided the role is what they have said it would be, the main reason you might be questioning if you have made the right decision is the culture of the business and what your manager is like.

This is really simple, if you have a specific issue with the culture of the business, or the person to which you are reporting, that is unlikely to change so the sooner you leave the better.

If you are able to clearly explain these reasons to a future employer, it is far less likely to be an issue in the future.

Every situation is different and we run a Q&A every week so if you are interested in discussing further, or have a specific question you would like to ask, please get in contact peter@halbowman.com.au