Choose your boss, not the company

In surveys of people who used a resignation proxy service in Japan, the top reasons are fear of the boss and having no way to raise it themselves. Persol found 28.8% citing fear of the boss; in en Japan's survey, six in ten users said they wouldn't have used the service if the boss had been easy to talk to. The numbers are in the resignation-proxy post.

People leave bosses, not companies. In recruiting that's common knowledge. Yet almost nobody uses the interview to evaluate their future boss.

Why the boss

In the exit-survey post I described the four-layer model: exit questionnaires reach the outer two layers, but people actually leave because of the inner two, or because of the boss. The context layer is exactly this: the same person under a different boss can perform three times better or worse.

The company is a brand. The boss is your environment for eight hours a day. The brand goes on your resume. The boss goes into your mood every day.

Turn the interview around

In Japanese interviews, the candidate's questions usually come in the last five minutes. Spend them on the boss, not the company.

Three questions, all about events, none about opinions.

One: "The last time someone left this team, what was the reason?" Watch how they talk about someone who left. Blaming it entirely on the person, or taking it entirely on themselves, are both warning signs.

Two: "The last time you and a direct report disagreed, how was it decided?" You're checking whether they've ever been persuaded. If never, they won't be.

Three: "If I join, what's the one thing you most want me to get done in the first three months?" If there's no concrete answer, they haven't thought about what you're for, and you'll drift once you're in.

Outside the interview

The boss you meet in the interview is the best version. If you can, talk for ten minutes to someone who has worked under them. In Japan the chains of acquaintance are short; through a recruiter or a mutual contact you can usually find one. One question is enough: "What are they like under pressure?"

Under-pressure patterns only show under pressure. That's how I assess candidates, and it's why interviewers ask about failure. It applies to bosses just the same.

When the boss changes after you join

It happens often. Run the three questions again, this time through daily observation instead of an interview. If you can't see the answers within six months, treat it as a new interview.

Where I'm not sure

At startups and small companies the boss is the founder, and this approach needs adjusting. And people whose top driver is autonomy are less sensitive to bosses to begin with; this matters less for them.

Your last interview: what did you ask your future boss in those five minutes?