Dear Job Doctor,

Should I like my future boss before accepting a job offer or is this not an important criteria?

On the face of it, this question looked like an obvious and easy one to answer, having taken the time to reflect I now recognise it is one the hardest I’ve had to answer. Hard because relationships are complex, subjective and of the many thousands of people changing jobs with whom I’ve met, the majority are leaving because of their manager and not because of the role or their company. Therefore it statistically appears to be a very important criteria to many people in work, but the real question is “should it be?”

In the 17 years of my professional recruitment career I have had 11 different bosses in three different firms and I did not like 40% of them (in case he is reading this, my current boss is in the 60% like!).

Of those I did not like, all of them I inherited when the boss that hired me (the one I liked) moved on, either internally or externally.

From personal experience then, I would recommend considering key objective and additional criteria over and above “just” liking or not-liking the boss when selecting a new opportunity, because in this “consistently” volatile market place bosses change… often! It is risky to base your decision to join an organisation or accept a job offer purely on your future boss, it is worth considering what other factors that make a your new job offer appealing.

It is worth considering taking out your own confidential references and checking out your future employer. Just because you do not personally like the new boss (very subjective), it doesn’t necessarily mean they are a bad manager or leader (objective).

A question worth pursuing is whether the prevailing culture is a product of the things you dislike about your future boss, as this may determine whether your personality and values are a match or will be compromised.

Overall then, liking your future boss will of course have an impact on your decision to accept a job offer--historically this is the case with many people. However to make the best decision possible I would strongly recommend you make the key decision making criteria surrounding likeability as objective as you possibly can.

Darren Robinson is managing director of Badenoch & Clark Luxembourg, the largest staffing and recruitment firm in the Grand Duchy.

Have a question for the Job Doctor? Send an email to [email protected] with “Job Doctor” in the subject line. Your inquiry will be confidential: the Job Doctor will not be given your name, nor will it be published anywhere by Delano.