After a Successful Interview, It's Your Turn to Ask Questions

It's nice to feel wanted.

It's especially nice to feel wanted after you've gone through the often-daunting exercise of looking for a job. All those hours of tinkering with your résumé and driving all over town for interviews can make you ready to accept anything that meets your minimum salary needs, just to be done with it all. If you have been out of work for a while -- or if this is your first job out of school -- the pressure can really start to mount, right next to that stack of bills on the kitchen counter.

But just because an employer wants you doesn't mean you should take the job. Here are some questions you should ask yourself and your potential employer before accepting any offer:

· How stable is the organization? Is it growing? Stumbling? At the least, you should catch up on the news about an organization and its industry. Ideally, you should make the time to read the financial reports ( http://SEC.gov for public companies; http://GuideStar.org for nonprofit groups). Are they making acquisitions? Are any of the higher-ups in legal trouble? You would do this sort of research before buying an organization's stock or giving it a donation, right? So you need to do it before giving them your time.

· What are the benefits? Too often, people judge a job offer only by salary. This can be an expensive mistake. Health insurance, in particular, is important. It's the benefit that can vary most widely in terms of what and who gets covered. Some organizations cover their employees' premiums 100 percent but provide nothing for dependents. This won't matter if you are single, but if you have a family to support, you had better ask. What are the vacation policies? Retirement plan? How long before these extras kick in? Ask human resources for the full benefits package and look it over closely before you send in that acceptance letter.

· How's the commute? How much will it cost you to get to this job every day, in time and money? A job close to home or accessible by public transit can be better than a big raise. No matter how cool a job is, you have to think about this issue before starting. Otherwise, you may find yourself obsessing about it for two hours a day in a matter of months. I know how tempting it can be to downplay a lengthy drive. (After all, everybody else around here just sucks it up, right?) The first newspaper job I was offered after college was in Manassas. I lived in Rockville. Desperate to end my days standing in front of copy machines for local government contractors, I was ready to take the job. But the editor talked me out of it and recommended me for a similar job at a sister paper in Montgomery County. Boy, am I grateful.

· Do I click with my new boss and colleagues? Chemistry isn't everything, but it does help. After all, you will be spending a good chunk of your waking hours at work. Talk to as many people who work there as you can -- preferably outside the building, over a cup of coffee, lunch or a drink -- to get a feel for the place. Does your personal work style mesh with the organization's culture? If it doesn't, to what degree are you willing to adapt to make the most of the opportunity?

· What will this job teach you? Even seasoned professionals should look for places where they can learn new skills. This can happen in a classroom, on the job or with a mentor. If the job would be a promotion into management, would you get training for the new role? Ask about employer-sponsored tuition benefits if heading back to school is in your plans.

· What comes next? How does this job fit into your medium or long-term goals? This question is especially important if you are leaving your current job because you think you are stagnating. Find out what happened to the last person who held the job. Was he promoted within in a year or two in the company? Did she go to a better job with a competitor? Law school? A minimum-security prison for a corporate-fraud conviction? Do the answers you get fit with your vision of where you want to be in the next few years? If not, keep looking.

E-mail Mary Ellen at

slayterme@washpost.com.