ASK HR: Should I accept the offer despite the financial uncertainty?

Q. I have a job offer from a company that the grapevine says is struggling financially. The job position is wholesome, looks like my dream job and one that will grow me career wise.

Should I be concerned about the news that it might be struggling financially and that it has been laying off scores of people?

There is no job for life!

A while back it was possible for an individual to work in one organisation until retirement but not anymore. Count yourself lucky if you manage to work in one organisation for five years.

The world of work is rapidly evolving and what is important is to ensure that you keep on reinventing yourself and acquiring new skills which are relevant to the organisation.

Even when organisations discharge employees to the labour market, there are departments that are growing exponentially since they are the conduit for the business to grow its revenues. One such area of new revenue stream for most organisations is Digital and online business.

The company has made the decision to hire you, in the midst of restructuring if the rumour mills have facts, therefore your role must be one that is considered critical for business growth; otherwise this recruitment would have been suspended.

Maybe your contribution is what will reverse the current business trajectory to a profitable path.

You cannot make a decision that affects your career based on rumour mills. What facts do you have? This information could be coming from disgruntled employees or competitors.

Just like in investments, it is important to take calculated risk in life, otherwise you might live to regret. The worst that can happen is you losing your job a few months or years after joining, however if you have a good CV you will have gained valuable experience which will give you competitive edge to get another job.

It will also give you a sense of intrinsic satisfaction if you join a struggling company and its performance improves during your tenure, even though it is not possible to attribute the entire success to you, your contribution will be assumed to have had positive impact.

You should always be prepared to exit an organisation, what is critical is preparing yourself mostly psychologically and also financially so as not to be traumatised when it does happen. Have a plan in place on what other skills you possess that can come in handy in the unfortunate situation that you lose your job.

Grab this opportunity, ‘dream jobs’ that have potential to grow your career are rare and elusive.

Focus on your job and when the time comes to exit the stage, walk away with your ‘head high’, knowing that you gave your best contribution to the organisation.