•  Communication -- the key to ensuring commitment from your new employer. •  Wolves in sheep clothing -- real examples. •  Do your "commitment" research before accepting the offer.

It looks like a great new job. You know you'll be totally committed to it. But how committed will your new company be to you? If it's a newly created position in an established organization, how can you evaluate the company's commitment to the changes that the job -- and you -- will make? Or if it's a brand new company, how can you get the best possible read on its chances for success? If you're going into a company at the C-level, checking for commitment is the most important thing you have to do.

"Bob" took a position as chief technology officer with an Internet startup company. It had good ideas and major money behind it. The ideas came from the CEO. Bob was impressed by his savvy and professionalism. The money came from a family with business investment experience and an eye for a New Economy opportunity.

"Unfortunately," says Bob, "the family that controlled the company wanted one thing, and the guy who ran the company wanted something else. And I didn't find this out until I'd already gotten into it." The disagreements quickly became wider and other members of the management team became involved. The investors tightened their grip on their cash and Bob soon found himself without the authority and the resources he needed to do his job.

He got out quickly. "I had gone down with the ship in my previous job, which was, if you can believe it, even more of a nightmare. I told myself I'd learned my lesson and I'd never do that again." But now, he says, he has a new first rule: Make sure all the stakeholders are telling you the same thing going in.

Bob's story is a variation on the typical horror story, says Peter Rothstein, a venture capitalist with Kodiak Venture Partners in Concord, Massachusetts, and a former vice president at IBM. "Typically, you may be hired for a particular role and think you have an understanding from the CEO of your range of authority, but you get there and realize he micromanages and won't really give you the trust and authority. Or you've been told you'll have a budget, and you find out after you're in the job that the budget isn't there. That's a big red flag."

"I can't say I've ever encountered bad faith. Nobody recruits on the basis of complete lies," says Bruce Thurlby, who has been CEO and COO of Internet startups and Old Economy companies reshaping themselves for the Web. "But the most important thing is to be prepared for things to be significantly different once you're there." The company that planned a new initiative finds itself forced to put its plans on hold while it deals with a crisis in its core business. Your newly created position may be mired in fighting or starved for resources. Or the market opportunity you were hired to take advantage of is overtaken by events.

Startups are particularly vulnerable to commitment problems, Thurlby says, because their hiring is much more opportunistic. "Startups need an ongoing flexibility in organization, in job descriptions, and in their people. Despite best intentions, it's almost a given that in a startup environment somebody will be left twisting in the wind."

It's flattering to be a serious candidate for a high level position, but don't settle for flattery. In order to satisfy yourself about the company's commitment to this job and to you, you need to learn a great deal about the company and its goals, and the people you'll be working with.

You should spend time with the people who will be your peers across the organization, stresses Thurlby. Ask each one of them to describe the company strategy, the most import things the company needs to accomplish in the next six or 12 months.

Start-ups will have fewer track records but, says Rothstein, if you're looking at a position in an early-stage business you should talk to the investors. "Good-quality investors will be able to talk about what they expect the company to reach in six months, nine months, 18 months," he says. "Those are the people who will also be on the board, and it's important for you to know what they think and how they think."

If you're going in as a direct report to the CEO, you've got to develop some trust with that person. "The only way to test for that is to talk to peers or to people who have left the company who used to work with that person," says Rothstein. "You should ask for stories. What's the most difficult situation they had to meet -- a market downturn, perhaps, or the loss of a major contract, maybe even a lawsuit. How did he manage? How did the team function? What worked and what didn't?"

You should work all your sources of information, formal and informal. If the company is public or has filed for an IPO you can check these public records online on sites that specialize in corporate information like Hoovers, Edgar-online and others. And if it's a startup, says Thurlby, "work your network. Who do you know who knows someone who works there or has left there? What's the buzz about the place? What's the reputation of the founders?"

Cast a wide net, Rothstein urges. "Talk to a couple of the company's customers or strategic business partners, and ask them what the company's strengths and weaknesses are. It will help you assess the company's position, and give you ideas for what would need to be done if you go into it."

Finally, you should be prepared to think the unthinkable: What happens if this doesn't work out?

"The hardest question to ask is, 'where do you bury your mistakes?'" Thurlby says. "If they point to somebody who's smiling and happy and on a new career path, that's cool. But if they say it doesn't happen, watch out."

If you're going to effectively manage your own career, you need to be prepared in case the company's commitment changes. One test of that commitment is to explore what arrangements the company will agree to if your job doesn't work out.

"Not everybody can negotiate an escape clause," he says. "It's a function of level. If you're going into a very senior position, you can get exit clauses, benefits that extend after you leave." But for smaller companies and startups that don't offer these things, there are still things you can do. If you get a signing bonus, maybe you'll want to treat it as an exit package and bank it instead of spending it. That can give you a sense of security that allows you to be more independent.

Checking for commitment is not rocket science. It's not scientific at all. Mostly, it's communication that's based on doing your homework and getting a feeling for the people involved. Most importantly, it's based on making sure that the goals of the job you're being asked to do are in line with the overall goals of the company and its leaders, and on making sure that you hear a consistent story from as wide a variety of people as you can talk to, both inside and outsid