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[CNBC] Crusoe Energy sells bitcoin mining unit to focus on ‘huge opportunity’ in AI
In today's job market, it can feel like winning the lottery just to hear back from a recruiter to set up an interview.
But even in a challenging market, it's important to know what you need in a job, what you want and what your red flags are.
Gen Z career expert Jade Walters recommends looking out for one major red flag that could keep you from burning out in the future: Avoid joining a team that's clearly short-staffed and desperate to hire.
To gauge this, Walters, founder of the Ninth Semester, tells CNBC Make It she always asks the recruiter or hiring manager how many people are on the team she'd be joining, how they work together, and how the role will support the overall team's goals.
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It's a red flag if the interviewer describes the team as "very lean" or "very small," Walters says.
She speaks from experience: "I've been in situations where it was a team of two, and you're doing the work of three people."
Walters says an understaffed team could also signal that other people are trying to quit, she adds. She recalls once being hired to a job only for a colleague to leave soon after she joined, leaving her with double the work as a new hire.
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As such, Walters recommends gauging the team's workload as soon as possible and reflecting whether that's an environment you'd thrive in.
Of course, many job-seekers need a job urgently to pay their bills. But for those with a little more flexibility, it can help to "think in the future," Walters says, "and not, for lack of a better word, desperation."
Want to land your dream job? Take CNBC's online course How to Ace Your Job Interview to learn what hiring managers really look for, body language techniques, what to say and not to say, and the best way to talk about pay.
Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.
