Standing Your Ground
Sometimes when you’re interviewing for a job or getting started at a new one, there are things that you as a potential/future employee deserve to know. You may hesitate to ask important questions as they may seem uncomfortable or out of line, but know that these are necessary to stand your ground and establish yourself as someone who should be respected.
Your work schedule is important! Whether this is or will be your only job or you will be working another job in addition, you need to have an idea of what times and days you will be working in order to work out other things in your life to set yourself up for success.
If you are going into a 9-5 style employer, then it is safe to assume you’ll have a steady 40 hour work week, however there are a lot of jobs that will have you working all kinds of crazy hours. Some jobs will have you working a different amount of hours per week and others will have you working overtime without additional pay. It is extremely important for you to know how many hours you'll be working within a pay period in order to properly manage your finances.
The notoriously uncomfortable conversation with a new employer actually isn’t that bad. Most of the time, employers are either planning to give you a number or are expecting you to ask. Why should you be ashamed of asking about money? Everyone has bills to pay, so you have a right to know whether an employer is going to pay you enough. It is also important that you ask this question at the interview stage. Also, some employers might ask you what you are looking to make. In this case, always ask for more. Companies often have wiggle room when it comes to salary, so if they really want to make you a part of their team they will negotiate with you. If you pitch a number higher than your base amount, it’s likely they’ll meet you in the middle giving you the edge up.
When getting into a new job, the only real information you will have about what you’ll be doing is what the “job description” says and whatever background knowledge you have about the type of job. It is important that you know what you're getting yourself into for several reasons. First, you want to prepare yourself for the tasks you’ll be assigned. You don’t want to go in blind because that will, in turn, make you anxious and unable to do your job efficiently. Second, you want to make sure that you are able to take responsibility for the tasks that will be assigned. Be upfront with your employer about things you’re not 100% sure about, for example, computer software that you’ll need more training on etc.
Schedule
Hours
Money
Expectations