How To Know If Your Boss Is Bad, College Tips 

While you are still studying in college, it is important to identify if your potential boss is good or not. That way, you will know the best next action. Or, you can already see what’s not to follow.

But how can you identify a bad boss from the not? This post is what you need.  

They Constantly Lie  

When your boss lies, that simply means they are not trustworthy. That’s never a good thing if you wish to have a good working relationship. When you are working with such boss, you need to make sure that you have all the facts ready. If in case the lie about work, you will always have proof. After all, you need to protect yourself.  

They Are Always Right  

Another bad trait of a boss is that they are never wrong. But you see, everyone can make mistakes, and it’s never a bad thing to admit it.  

They Overpromise  

Unfortunately, there are bosses who will overpromise just to keep the strongest talents to their team. They will promise promotions, salary increase, and other benefits. If they are just giving verbal promises, don’t hold onto it. Make sure that they email it to you.  

They Always See Your Mistakes  

Of course, it’s good to pinpoint your shortcomings. These are the things that can make you improve. However, it can already be annoying if your boss will keep on highlighting your mistakes without being grateful for your achievements. There should be the right balance between telling what is wrong, and praising what is right.  

They Want You To Be Exactly Like Them  

Now, there are bosses who would like you to act like them. They want your behavior similar to theirs. And they want your level of thinking to be the same. That’s not a good sign.  

You see, we are all different. And diversity is always good in an office. Without that, there will be groupthink, which limits great ideas from pouring in.  

They Are Micromanagers  

We all know that micromanaging is never a good thing. You must always give room for your team to work using their own strategies. What’s a good solution for this is to always send them a blow-by-blow report of everything, until such time that they realize you can be on top of things.  

They Call You On Your Off 

This can be extremely annoying because it means they do not respect your personal time. If you must know, we all need to separate our professional lives from our personal lives. Perhaps, set boundaries. Make it clear that you are not going to answer calls or emails unless these are urgent.  

They Have Clear Favorites  

While it is true that some employees are more productive than others, this shouldn’t be a license to have favorites. When making decisions, especially about promotion, your boss should be objective and should not rely solely on personal relationships.  

They Do Not Acknowledge The Team’s Effort  

It’s disappointing to see bosses that do not acknowledge their team’s efforts. They often use the word ‘I’ and are credit-grabbers. They always want to be under the spotlight.  

They Talk To Subordinates As If They Are Less Capable  

There are also bosses who think that they are better just because they are already in that position. As a result, they look down on the subordinates. In fact, they tend to insult them, especially if there are shortcomings.  

Should You Do Something About Your Boss?  

If the attitude of your boss hinders your team from being productive, then you can always raise the concerns. But when you do, be objective. You need to record the exact details of what transpired, and even its frequency. You see, a single episode is not a valid reason to tell that your boss is bad. There needs to be consistency with his actions.  

Should you talk back?  

What we recommend here is to be assertive even if you are tempted to be aggressive. If you must, stand up for you believe in and never accept insults from your boss.  

Knowing these traits could also help you become a better leader in the future. Hopefully, the authority and power will not get into your head and you will remain humble just in case you become the boss.