When a prospective¹ employer makes unreasonable² demands on you before things start to get serious, it's a strong signal to hit the road. 当一位未来雇主在工作还没正式之前就提出了无理要求，那么明显说明你需要“跑路”了。

Job seekers have issues to keep them up at night. They worry that the beautifully crafted cover letters they're sending off won't be read and that plum jobs will go to less deserving candidates. They worry that their résumés don't showcase their shining accomplishments³ well enough to command the six-figure offers they're hoping for. If they're job hunting while working, they worry that a stray comment by a hiring manager or human resources screener to the wrong person will make its way back to their own boss. 有些事情让求职者夜不能寐。他们担心发出去的制作精美的简历没人读，肥缺被不如自己的人获得。他们担心简历没有充分展示自己的光辉成绩，那些成绩足以为他们赢得一份六位数薪水的工作。如果他们是一边上班一边找工作，他们会担心招聘经理或人事和一个错误的人说漏嘴，而那话会传到自己老板耳朵里。

These are all reasonable worries. Personally, I worry about something else—on behalf of job-seekers everywhere. I worry that they'll tumble into The Vortex and accept a job they should have scorned. 这些担忧都是合理的。就个人而言，我倒为天底下的求职者们担心别的事情。我担心他们会误入“漩涡”，接受一个本来会去鄙视的工作。

What's The Vortex? It's the set of forces that overtakes a job seeker when he or she is deep into the selection process, somewhere between the first and third interviews, when the employer begins to send signals that he's interested. The Vortex is deadly, because in the face of all that approval and positive feedback (way more, in many cases, than we get on our jobs most of the time), it's easy to lose one's head. It's easy to overlook slights and red flags that should warn us away from dangerous waters. It's easy to get sucked into The Vortex and let our brains override⁴ what our instincts are telling us: that no matter how much wining and dining and affirmation is involved, some companies don't deserve our talents. “漩涡”是什么？是在应聘过程中控制求职者的那种力量，通常在第一次面试到第三次面试之间、当雇主开始表示出兴趣，求职者就会感受到这种力量。“漩涡”是致命的。因为面对一切赞许、积极反馈(多数时候比我们在工作中遇到的多的多），很容易失去自我、忽视那些警告我们远离“危险”的征兆。人们很容易被卷入“漩涡”，我们的大脑会忘了直觉：不论有多少好处，有些公司不值得为其效力。

Charm Offensive 魅力攻势

If we end up taking a job because of Vortex effects, we'll regret it, and we know it. That's why we've created this list of Six Reasons to Run from a job opportunity, no matter how pleasant and charming the company representatives are, and no matter how much latte, red wine, and discussion of end-of-year bonuses is involved. 如果我们在“漩涡”效应下接受了一份工作，那么就会后悔。我们心里也明白这一点。这就是为什么我们制作了这份“拒绝工作机会的六个理由”清单，不论公司代表多么令人愉快、有魅力，不论喝上多少咖啡、红酒、讨论多少次年终奖金。

(You'll see that our list makes liberal use of the notion of Strong Mutual⁵ Interest. Each of us must determine on our own when SMI has been established, but it usually happens between the first and second interviews.) (你会发现我们的清单中自作主张地用到了“强烈的共同利益”概念。我们每个人都必须自己决定什么时候建立SMI，但通常是在第一次和第二次面试之间。)