Questions you must ask before taking on a job

After months of job hunting, one might have the urge to immediately accept any offer that comes their way.
However, before taking on that job, take time to ask and learn a little more about the company, its policies and your role before you start working.
According to Joseph Wanda, the director of Research World, one must not forget their rights as an employee however desperate they might be.
“Most times when we are through with interviews and have been approved as suitable for the available vacancy, we shift focus to signing the contract but days into the job we realise we did not ask enough questions,” he says.
Anxiety, Wanda says, must not blind you from asking about your entitlements, benefits and roles.
“If you applied to be an accountant and you find that your job involves auditing functions it would be a bit puzzling. This is something you should have asked in the first place. Perhaps the job had some extras that you should have known about then,” he says.
According to Andrew Ssali, a university bursar, every applicant must ask about their benefits and compensations in the event of eventualities.
Many people, he says, take on jobs but never ask anything in regard to their compensations or benefits not until they have lost the job or moved to a new company.
“Ask questions and make sure you conclude them with the human resource manager or any other person in that regard,’’ he says, adding that you should also ask about things such as medical insurance and other compensations.
Terms and time of payments
Terms of payment and when it is effected are some of the main functions of any job and will, according to Gimugu, be a point of contention in case there is any departures.
Failing to have clear answers, she says, might become a sticking point therefore it is better that you and your human resource manage reach a mutual agreement if there is any point of departure or a disagreement of sorts.
“Understand the different deductions such as taxes, pension and saving schemes, if any. However, beyond that, you should ask about dates and systems of payment,” she says.

Benefits
Apart from being paid for a job, there are other forms of benefits that employees are entitled to.
Such benefits include pension, medical insurance, provident funds and credit, and property loans, among others. Therefore, ask and get details because they will be handy going forward.
As a new employee, according to Andrew Ssali, you must leverage on the fact that you are still in direct contact with the human resource office.
“Use that contact to ask questions you need to ask. Otherwise if you sign the contract and you are sent to your supervisor. It will be hard to ask the same questions months into the job,” he says.