Laid off. Do you take the first job offer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But doesn't it look weird to an employer that you just started a new job a month ago and you are still looking?

I'd like to hear from hiring managers -- how would you feel about this? I am in a similar situation. I was worried about the stability of my old job, so grabbed the first thing that came along. It's not the right fit, so I want to continue looking. I expect it will take me six months to find another job that's a better fit. When I start interviewing, I am expecting to say that the job isn't turning out to be the right fit, something I didn't know until I started working. But I really don't know how that will be received. Any ideas?

OP: I'd take the job. It's so much harder to find a job when you are out of work.

[Anonymous]

Take the job, OP!

[Anonymous]

I'd take the job and keep an ear out for new opportunities. I don't know that I'd actively look, but if an opportunity presented itself, I'd spin it as "took this new job, but your opportunity came up and I couldn't help but apply because x, y, or z".

It is still really hard to find a job if you don't have a job. I'd take it, unless you have ample financial reserves to tide you over a year or more.

[Anonymous]

Also, the longer you are unemployed, the less likely you will get an offer. Six months of unemployment seems to be the limit. Now you are "fresh", ie almost still employed, but in six months you will be "stale" and fewer employers will want to touch you because they will think no one wants you. It's not true, but that's the way unemployed people are perceived, so your job search will be that much harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But doesn't it look weird to an employer that you just started a new job a month ago and you are still looking?

I'd like to hear from hiring managers -- how would you feel about this? I am in a similar situation. I was worried about the stability of my old job, so grabbed the first thing that came along. It's not the right fit, so I want to continue looking. I expect it will take me six months to find another job that's a better fit. When I start interviewing, I am expecting to say that the job isn't turning out to be the right fit, something I didn't know until I started working. But I really don't know how that will be received. Any ideas?

OP: I'd take the job. It's so much harder to find a job when you are out of work.

Hiring manager perspective: a pattern of short-term stints, if you were not a contractor, is a red flag.
If you apply to my organization after having been in your current job for just a few months, I will scrutinize your explanation very closely, with the rationale that if you can do this to your current employer, you can do it again to a future employer.