The more candidates demand good culture as a condition of accepting a job, the more employers will work to improve company culture, says Chris Dyer. Here’s what to look for when considering a new role
When you interview for a job, you tend to focus on what you’ll be doing, not how comfortable you’ll be doing it. But talented job candidates have options, and right now, it’s an employees’ market. Applicants can not only choose the most customised job description, they have the luxury of seeking an employer who serves their needs, in exchange for their own commitment.
While the following advice is designed to help you on your job search, I admit to having an ulterior motive in posting it. HR departments need to hear this advice as well. The more candidates demand good culture as a make-or-break condition of accepting a job, the more employers will step up to the plate and work to improve company culture. When that happens, everybody wins.
So, make your list of pros, cons, and nice-to-haves. Here are six categories to cover, and what’s most important to your selection process in each one. Where do you fit in with each of these criteria?
1 Find yourself in reviews by customers as well as employees
Start with some advance work via Internet reviews. Put yourself in the shoes of the reviewers, and look for those with perspectives similar to your own. This will give you a fairly well-rounded picture of what it’s like to work for the company in question, and what it’s like to do business with them. The first will be a foremost question in your mind. The second may give you some surprising insights you wouldn’t have anticipated.
Pretend you know nothing about the company and Google it. See what kind of first impressions you can glean from feature articles and blog mentions, and take note of where the business listing falls on the search page. If it’s right up top, you’d be working for a going concern. If it’s way down the line, you might have to be comfy working for a start-up.
Move on to searching Glassdoor and Yelp sites. The Glassdoor overview page will take you straight to staff reviews. Look for an overall good score; then, skip the ones and fives, and read the middling ratings first. Note where employees raise concerns that are important to you: gender equality, good management, room to advance, and so on. If the company is listed on Yelp, see what clients have to say about their experience. Would you want to be associated with that organisation?
2 Check the signs to make sure respect is a two-way street
This will be a gut-level assessment based largely on how a company conducts the interview process. Yes, you’re ‘on trial’, but you should also be courted as royalty. In today’s job market, respectful treatment of applicants should be first and last on HR’s agenda. They should assume that you are fielding multiple offers, and they should help, not hinder, that effort.
Are response times within 24 hours or less? Are they treating you as an individual, not just one of the herd? Are they giving you the information you need to make a thoughtful decision? Affirmative answers to these questions denote respect. If you act respectfully by showing up to interviews on time and providing candid responses, you should earn a would-be employer’s respect too.
3 Compare your personal values to stated company core values
Any organisation with culture on the front burner will relay its core values to prospective employees during the interview process. Compare these with how you live your life. You may get lucky and align with their philosophy. Or you may have to decide whether you can accommodate priorities that differ from yours.
Before you talk with managers, write down your top five personal values. Think about how these inform your work ethic. Then you’ll be able to discuss these insights together, in person. Afterwards, see whether your moral priorities mesh with theirs. Will there be friction? Or will you be able to embrace what the company stands for?
4 Expect to be impressed by how an organisation runs its business
If you accept the job, you’ll be governed by internal policies and processes. You want to be impressed, not frustrated, by the company mechanics that dictate how well you can do your job. Routine obstacles to achieving project and departmental objectives won’t just aggravate you, they may cast a bad light on your abilities, even if that’s not warranted.
Ask questions of managers and the staff who would be your peers to gauge how well they think company processes are designed and implemented. Look for clues in those Glassdoor and other reviews. High customer satisfaction, for instance, is a great sign. Low employee turnover is another.
5 Think beyond the current job you’re considering
Employment trends show that the workers of tomorrow will likely move through many career posts instead of working for a single company. You’re going to want to progress, even as you ‘start over’ someplace else. Put questions together for managers and staff about the organisation’s culture of learning.
What are the training, coaching, and mentoring opportunities for your role? Is there a way to pursue your individual passions in a way that will foster your own upward mobility? How does the company innovate? Besides understanding what they do to help employees add skills and experience, you need to know how the company intends to stay viable and competitive in the marketplace during your tenure there.
6 Get a real sense of your affinity for the job location
If the work is remote, are you suited to that? You’ll need to be a self-starter, not easily distracted, and not dependent on daily social interaction from work. If you’ve never worked off-site, ask for a chance to shadow a current employee working from home or a shared office space.
If the position is on-site and local, visit it at different times. Set your own criteria for ease of transportation and other environmental factors that are important to you, such as being near a park or gym for lunchtime walks or workouts. If it will require relocation, go as deep as you can during an interview trip to get a sense of whether you want to live and work in that area.
The best companies try to re-create a hometown experience for recruits, putting them up in Airbnb rentals and holding casual get-togethers at popular brewpubs or entertainment venues. If HR doesn’t offer you a customised tour, request one. As with all of the above cultural tests, if this one is positive, you’ll know it. You’ll feel right at home – and who doesn’t want work to feel that way?
Chris Dyer is a performance expert, speaker, and consultant. He has channeled what he has learned in his business research and as Founder and CEO of PeopleG2, a leading background check company, into his best-selling book, The Power of Company Culture (Kogan Page, 2018)
