Hi Barthy, 

I am assuming that by now you either did, or didn't take a job at Hona? To be honest I have never heard of them, but I am guessing they are American? As a UK based BA Manager that would probably be the reason why I haven't heard of them !

As a side note to anyone though, if you ever want to find out about a particular company there are two ways to do this.

1. Look on Glassdoor.com They have reviews from employees (both current and former) about companies and these can be quite good. Bear in mind that not all of them maybe 'reliable' though. So take with a slight pinch of salt.

2. The other is to look up on LinkedIn people who use to work for that company. I would avoid current employees as they may be worried that you are their employer checking up on them. Ex-employees will be a bit more honest. Send them a message politely asking for information. I would send a message to several different ex-employees as it is quite likely most wont bother to reply. Again, bear in mind that that person may have left the company under a cloud, so their reply may well be rather tainted. So treat their reply as gospel carefully.

Failing that, if you get an interview, ask questions to try and find this out for yourself. For example:

1. What's the average length of service on the team I will be working on? (if its one year - ask yourself why? That isn't a great sign of a good working area).

2. Did the post become available due to promotion or did the previous holder leave the company - why was that?

(maybe make a note of their name and message them on LinkedIn?

3. Is the company Pro-Change? (This will tell you if your job is destined to fail)

4. Describe the atmosphere in the company/team that I will be working in? He or she wont lie, but if they don't say its great, ask yourself why they didn't say that?

If you walk through the floorspace where you will work, how does everyone look? Do they look like they are depressed and quite. If it is very quiet that isn't a great sign. Busy offices are noisy. Does everyone have the sports pages on Google up on their screen - if they do, it's probably because they are bored and not motivated. Another bad sign.