Did you do your homework before you said yes to the job offer?

Image by Rennett Stowe

We are in a difficult economy. Business owners need new staff members but they cannot always predict when the project will come in or be paid. If you are a business owner, make sure you have all your ducks in a row or enough liquidity to pay your employees if that order doesn’t come in as planned or your customer holds payment. If you are not stable enough to ride out some of the waves of economic challenges, perhaps it is not the time to grow your staff or make a job offer.

On the flip side, the burden also falls on the employee. No matter whether you are joining a start-up operation or jumping on board a company with a long history of operations, you need to do your due diligence. When I wrote the post, “How do I know I will like the new job?,” I listed several ways you can check out a new company. One of those was this:

Check out financial records. If a company is publicly traded, it often has a bio page on CNN or other financial websites. For example, MMM is 3M’s New York Stock Exchange listing ID. By going to MMM site on CNN Money, I can get links to the latest press releases, today’s trading, growth and valuation information, competitors, financials such as last year’s annual revenue, and more.

This is even more crucial today than ever before. Do your research on the financial health of your prospective new company before you say yes to the job offer of employment. We would hope all business owners would examine their finances before they hire but since that is out of your control, take the time to learn all you can about the fiscal management of the company before you commit to the job offer or you could be facing another career change down the road.

If you find yourself on the short end of the paycheck, don’t jump ship immediately. Start by updating your resume to reflect any accomplishments you may have achieved since being hired and then discreetly start networking and searching for your next position. Panicking and quitting will hurt you on all sides. It could hurt you with your present employer and it could decrease your ability to find a future employer.