by Sara W.

Created on: August 21, 2009

If you were suckered in by a commercial jingle that sang, "Makin' lots of money, and havin' a lot of fun, too!"(1), there's no need to be embarrassed. Everyone at one time or another has fallen for the glamour and glitz facade of a horrible job. All your friends have landed great jobs, so why do you always seem to be the unlucky one? Well perk up, because you are about to be equipped with the skill of differentiating between bad jobs and good jobs.

Recruiting Methods

How does a particular job recruit its employees? Is it with catchy commercials with jingles that you can never get out of your head? Why do you suppose those places need to advertise so much? After all, if all of the employees were so happy and making so much money, then why do they need to convince everyone so badly to come and work for them? Odds are, if a company has to advertise on a regular basis to recruit new workers, then it's probably because the job is so horrible that the turn over rate is astronomical.

On the other hand, many high quality jobs don't have to recruit at all. This is because an open position rarely becomes available and when it does, an existing employee recommends the job to a friend. The recruiting takes place from within, and these businesses rarely, if ever, post ads in the paper or on career websites such as CareerBuilder. There are many good jobs on CareerBuilder, but the most prestigious ones usually fill spots before the general public even knows they are available.

Hiring Methods

If a company hires walk-ins or on-the-spot interviewers, that's a good sign that this is a bad job. Again, when a company is in a hurry to hire, it is a clue that the turn over rate is high, which is indicative of employee dissatisfaction. This type of job is great in a pinch, when you need some fast cash to make ends meet, but it's not likely the kind of job you will settle into and make your lifelong career. Hiring anyone and everyone right off of the street just because they passed their drug test is not a sign of a good job!

The good jobs are those that are a little bit harder to attain. They usually require multiple interviews, and several weeks of waiting by the phone anticipating a call. Yeah, they require a drug test, but that's the least of their worries. Drug addicts rarely apply to work for them, anyway. You may have also noticed a unique type of interviewing style implemented in these more desirable jobs. Rather than asking you obvious questions like, "Why do you want

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