Ever been offered a job, and you declined it because you knew it wasn't for you?

[raccoon]

Please share here.

I have an interview coming up, and much as I want benes...well, I just want to hear some of your
experiences.

I should add that I'm not in a position of desperation. I'm certainly going to give it my best shot.

But at times in the past I've accepted jobs...and wished I hadn't.

[Crazy Dave]

1. There's places I know that I would never work at

Based upon the experiences of others who have worked there and let me know how bad it was.

[raccoon]

2. I worked at a place like that about 20 years ago. I'd heard from many others

what it was like..but silly me, I took the job. I hated it.

[Crazy Dave]

5. Back in the days when the head-hunters used to call me

It would always be an offer from one of the two worst engineering firms in the city. They would call and make their pitch, "we have a job position we'd like to offer you", I'd reply, "is it at BHR or ETM?", "uh...why yes", "not interested thanks anyways".

[csziggy]

3. Yes, I was offered a job at the county animal shelter

Back when their main purpose was to catch strays and kill them. I knew from the moment I drove up to the place and smelled the badly cleaned cages that I would not be able to work there. I actually took home a cat from the place after my interview was over. I wished I could take them all but I could only take care of one.

I think they would have hired anyone willing to work there since they basically required no credentials or experience.

[raccoon]

6. That kind of job would drive me to drink. nt

[csziggy]

14. I simply would not have been able to live with myself

It still haunts me, the way that old shelter was.

Since then, the county has built a new, modern facility and has reduced the number of animals put to death. Most of the ones now killed are too sick or too unmanageable to become pets - at least that is their goal. They have much better adoption programs, include spay/neuter fees in the adoption fees, and work to rehabilitate animals with behavior problems. I might could work there now, if I could work at all.

[mike_c]

4. yes....

More than once. I turned down a faculty position at Western Washington University in the mid 1990s because other folks in the department did not seem happy there. 'Course I HATED the job I eventually accepted instead, so I always regretted turning down the WWU position, at least somewhat. In the end I got my present job though, which I like very much, so all's well that ends well!

[Taverner]

7. Yep. And I was hurting financially too.

But this was on the heels of two jobs that I took, and they weren't for me, and it didn't work out. Didn't want to do it a third time.

[Shagbark Hickory]

8. Yes. I've even started them only to rapidly quit.

[MorningGlow]

9. Absolutely

After I graduated from college with a major in English/creative writing and a minor in theater, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. I was toying with the idea of teaching, so I answered an ad for a teacher's assistant at a middle school. There I was, all of 21 1/2, sitting in a kid's desk, facing a semicircle of the School's Finest Teachers and Admins, all glaring at me like they were selecting the next pope. They all started talking at me and I quickly sifted through the jargon and bullshit to realize that the job consisted of doing a special ed teacher's paperwork so she was free to work with the kids. Noble, but not for me. And all of a sudden I heard myself telling them that.

Now, you must understand that I was raised by a very, VERY fearful/insecure mother--she always told me that if someone offered you a job, you TOOK IT AND SAID THANK YOU even if you hated it or knew it wasn't for you. And she had indoctrinated me well. I remember once when I was a teenager she made me go to a group interview for a sales position that turned out to be one of those semi-scams where you buy the sales kit and some stock up front (this was china and flatware) and then sold it as best you could or you didn't make any money. With my mother's admonitions ringing in my ears, I didn't walk out; I dutifully signed the contract. When I got home, my parents flipped out, dragged me back there, and raised holy hell till the rep agreed to rip up the contract.

But this time, it was like someone else had taken over my body and was speaking for me. I was calm, frank, polite, respectful...but honest as I backed out. Not only did they THANK ME for being honest (and not wasting any more of their time), but then one of the teachers on the panel said, "I see here on your resume that you have a minor in theater. I don't have time to direct the school play this year; will you do it on contract? We'll pay you $3,000."

Poifect. Did it, loved it, and it convinced me to go back to grad school to get my teaching degree. I consider that whole incident divinely inspired.

[femmocrat]

10. Yes, a teaching position.

I was 22. I pulled up at an inner-city high school with almost no windows and graffiti sprayed on the bricks. The interior of the school was just as depressing. The job was to teach both art AND music. I can't sing or play a note! Thank you, but not for me. I wonder who took the position?

BTW, that building was closed down a few years later, TG!

[Massacure]

11. Yes, a part time job when I started college five years ago

I got two offers. I took one working retail starting at $7.00 an hour and turned down another which would have been running running meal trays to patients in a hospital for $8.50 an hour. The hospital does periodic blood draws to test for contagious diseases (which makes sense). The only problem is that the last two times I've had blood drawn I've thrown up and passed out respectively, which was the primary reason I turned them down.

Looking back it was worth it though. I kept that job until I finished college and found a job full time in my field of study. I finished with a pay a $9.25 an hour and got more hours during the busy season than I would have at the hospital. I also eventually worked my way up to a position that works the service desk and mentors (and sometimes babysits) cashiers. Looking back, I learned a lot about people and dealing with conflict which I probably wouldn't have working in the hospital.

[applegrove]

12. I loved politics and on a whim applied to work in the parliamentary office of the CBC (Canadian

Broadcasting Corporation). They called me back and I never returned the call. I can't write. I have a bad auditory memory. I don't know what I was thinking.

[Nikia]

13. I got a job offer for a quality tech at a slaughter house

I don't know what I was thinking when I applied. They offered free health care and low priced meat though

[rrneck]

15. I was trying to go back to college

and at a loss to figure out how to pay for it. There was a job placement program there and I went in to see if there was anything they could do for me. The nice lady there said there was a position at Radio Shack. Unfortunately, I had worked for those sons of bitches for about three years where I learned that I was a first class salesman that could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo and a first class horses ass when I did it. I turned down the offer, found a way to pay for art school and am a much better person today because of that decision.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. I turn down translation assignments if I don't think the terms are acceptable

I've found that if I accept a lousy job, it often prevents me from accepting a better job.

When I was searching for academic jobs in 1984, I came in second for three successive jobs, and was I ever glad. In all three cases, the colleges were located in depressing small towns in the middle of nowhere.

However, I could kick myself across two oceans for having turned down academic jobs in Norway (1982) and Japan (1978 and 1993) for reasons that seemed good at the time but really boiled down to being scared.

[raccoon]

18. You were wise to turn down those small town jobs.

IME, often those jobs are the kind that are so bad nobody except the desperate would take.

Regretting the jobs overseas you didn't take--I can sort of relate to that. I quit a job with good benes but not so great pay about 20 years ago to go elsewhere for the money. I regret having done that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. The small town jobs were actually at well-regarded colleges

but the towns were either so small that you couldn't see any sign of them when you were two miles away or so rundown that they were like a rural slum.

In practical terms, those kinds of jobs are not suitable for single people unless they're natural hermits. I asked a current faculty member in one of the towns what people did for fun. "We have a lot of potlucks," was the response. :scared:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. many times.

turned down a lot of jobs.