Steer Clear Of Monster Bosses: Do A Background Check First

Posted on: January 19, 2017

Just how far can you endure working for a bad boss? A study released by Gallup on April 2015 reported that 50% of the 7,272 adults surveyed left their jobs to get away from their managers. Some had to endure rudeness, constant humiliation, and unfair treatment from their bosses before finally moving on.

But you can avoid this from happening to you by running a background check on your prospective boss when you are scouting companies and jobs to apply to. Life and career coach Michele Jennae, in an interview with FOX40 News, encouraged job seekers to check if their work style fits the management style of their prospective boss and if that boss is someone whom they would like to work for.

Aside from saving yourself from the emotional turmoil that bad bosses bring, we have compiled the other benefits of getting background reports about your prospective boss from people search sites like MyLife.com.

  1. It allows you to ask the right questions during job interviews.

Flustered every time you get asked if you have any questions for the one who’s hiring you? Well, that shouldn’t be the case anymore if you have adequate knowledge of what roles your potential boss had in the industry’s developments. If he happened to have taken part in a certain company or industry-wide project, you can even ask him about his experience and the qualities that one should possess to rise up the ranks and be part of the chosen few who get selected for a project like that.

Even small details like having gone to the same school or university can be a source of light conversation during a job interview. A word of caution though: make sure that you have checked what the company culture is like before asking these types of question. If the office gives off a more formal atmosphere, then you might want to be more modest in the kind of questions you ask and avoid getting too personal at the risk of being privy.

  1. It gives you an idea of the company culture.

Asking people for feedback regarding how the boss runs his company or team and how employees feel about their working conditions is a great way to know the company culture.

In an article for the Denver Post, Gary Miller of SDR Ventures listed down the effects of certain management styles on the performance of a company’s employees. Below are some of his examples:

  • If management is arrogant, condescending and volatile, allowing confrontations to take place in front of others, employees “walk on eggs” around their bosses. They fear for their jobs and dread interaction with management.
  • If management focuses only on short-term financial performance, using only cost-benefit analysis as the decisionmaking paradigm, this often stifles creativity and critical thinking.
  • If employee turnover is high, it affects morale negatively, increases workloads, results in loss of skill sets, piles on additional recruiting costs and slows job performance.

The boss’s leadership style heavily influences his employees’ work ethics, so finding this out helps you figure out whether you’re a good fit for the company or not.

  1. It reveals a bit of your boss’s personality.

One cannot base one’s personality solely on background reports, but these can help you realize if you and your prospective boss share the same values and work ethics or if there will be irreconcilable differences that may cause conflict between the two of you if you decide to work for the company in the future.

His interests can shed light on what your would-be boss is like as well, so don’t ignore this detail when reviewing a background report or doing the background check on your own.

Are you now convinced of the importance of doing a background check on your boss when job hunting? Great. Social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and even Twitter make this easy for you.

However, doing background checks on your own poses the risk of being found out. To eliminate this risk and maintain your privacy, you may opt to hire someone else or a company to do the job for you. This way, you need not risk exposing your identity while getting a background report on any person.

You need not wait until you’re already a month into the job before finding out that you’re working for a monster boss. Background reports figure that out for you before you even consider clicking that “Apply” button.