Context: was offered a job at a unicorn startup, 30% increase on basic pay. leaning towards declining the offer. have a job currently but want to leave
When i researched the role initially, I'd found the linkedin profile of the director of the team I'll be joining and found his profile to be someone who is really nice (does lots of volunteering, family man)
In the interview process, i got to know that he'd resigned and was serving notice after only 1 year at the company. His replacement was one of my interviewers, and I'd found him to be quite a harsh type of person (I'm interviewing for a sales role, and he seemed fairly unforgiving about anyone not hitting targets). Also, in the round with the founder, I was asked what my parents and siblings did for a living within the first couple of mins of the interview.
When i got the offer, I then reached out to the outgoing director to ask if he'd be willing to share why he was leaving and how it's like working at the company, and the things he shared really sobered me:
- company did not respect his efforts to instill boundaries on work life balance (particularly work calls on weekday nights and weekends). he was told to adapt to how the company works
- apart from him, someone else also got called out for being too focused on work life balance
- he tried to organize some employee volunteering prog (on a sat), but met with push back by the founder, who was confident the rest of the employees would rather do more work instead of volunteering on a saturday
- founder had lied to me about attrition rate (he'd said no attrition in the sales team, but according to the outgoing director, there are 2 to 3 that are serving notice)
had a further chat with the hiring manager, and was told that the bulk of the team works late (with the exception of 1 top performer), but it is because they are so passionate about the work - they are gunning for IPO in a few years, therefore everyone is really driven and passionate. Was also told there would be no requirement for me to work weekends or take weeknight calls - no one will scrutinize, as long as targets are met. If I finish early, I can go off early too.
What do you all think? If i decline this offer, will I be dodging a bullet or am I being stupid for foregoing a sales job in a unicorn that is going to offer me really gowhatod money (esp if i hit the targets)?
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