makes me apprehensive of taking up a âseatâ that could have been taken by someone whoâd have worked 80 hour weeks and vastly outperformed me.
As a fellow non-dedicate, I like to discuss expectations around working hours in the âany questionsâ section of an interview anyway, since personally I wouldnât want to accept a job where they expect a lot more than a 40-hour week from me. That way, they also get this info about me to use in their decision, so I know if they make me an offer they think Iâm the best candidate, having considered these factors. I think being open like this is probably the best way to treat this area of uncertainty (rather than not applying), since the employer will have the better overview of other candidates.
(EDIT: To be clear, I donât think itâs necessary to raise this at this stage: the employer seems unlikely to assume that applicants will work more than a standard working week by default, since many people donât do that. And I donât think it makes sense for the burden to be on people who will only work a standard working week to raise that in the recruitment process. I just mean that if youâre concerned about the effect of accepting a job where youâll perform less well because of sticking to standard hours, I think discussing it with the employer before accepting is a good way to handle that.)
might my non-dedicate status mean I end up being a net-negative addition to the team?
I think that having people with clear work/âlife split around can also be helpful. Partly since it helps make the culture more welcoming to other such people and, as Ozymandias argues, being open to non-dedicates is often helpful. But I also think the added diversity of perspectives can be helpful for everyone: for example it could help dedicates have a better work/âlife balance, in cases where theyâre too far towards the âworkâ end on pure-impact grounds. For example, they might not naturally think of ideas for work/âlife boundaries that, after theyâre raised, they would endorse on impact grounds. (I donât think itâs clearly always better to add more non-dedicates to a work environment or anything, but I think there are considerations in both directions.)
As a fellow non-dedicate, I like to discuss expectations around working hours in the âany questionsâ section of an interview anyway, since personally I wouldnât want to accept a job where they expect a lot more than a 40-hour week from me. That way, they also get this info about me to use in their decision, so I know if they make me an offer they think Iâm the best candidate, having considered these factors. I think being open like this is probably the best way to treat this area of uncertainty (rather than not applying), since the employer will have the better overview of other candidates.
(EDIT: To be clear, I donât think itâs necessary to raise this at this stage: the employer seems unlikely to assume that applicants will work more than a standard working week by default, since many people donât do that. And I donât think it makes sense for the burden to be on people who will only work a standard working week to raise that in the recruitment process. I just mean that if youâre concerned about the effect of accepting a job where youâll perform less well because of sticking to standard hours, I think discussing it with the employer before accepting is a good way to handle that.)
I think that having people with clear work/âlife split around can also be helpful. Partly since it helps make the culture more welcoming to other such people and, as Ozymandias argues, being open to non-dedicates is often helpful. But I also think the added diversity of perspectives can be helpful for everyone: for example it could help dedicates have a better work/âlife balance, in cases where theyâre too far towards the âworkâ end on pure-impact grounds. For example, they might not naturally think of ideas for work/âlife boundaries that, after theyâre raised, they would endorse on impact grounds. (I donât think itâs clearly always better to add more non-dedicates to a work environment or anything, but I think there are considerations in both directions.)
(Views my own, not my employerâs.)