Want to Work at a Company Where the Culture Is a Positive One?
“Businesses often forget about the culture, and ultimately, they suffer for it because you can’t deliver good service from unhappy employees.”
— Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappo’s
A job is more than just a place you go for 8+ hours a day—you also need to deal with coworkers, bosses, and office politics. Here are some clues to determine a company’s culture before you take the job and it’s too late.
It’s important the culture of the company is one you think you’ll thrive in. The work environment significantly influences how you’ll feel about your job. This includes everything that forms employees’ involvement with the work itself, such as co-workers, supervisors, company culture, personal development opportunities, even hours and surroundings.
A positive work environment makes employees feel good about what they’re doing and encourages employee engagement.
Our colleagues and especially our boss, have a huge impact on our work experience.
If you’re looking for a new job, assessing a potential work environment is a crucial consideration you shouldn’t skip.
Check Out the Company Using Multiple Tools to Learn More
Start with the corporate website. What news and updates do they put out to the public, because what’s on their website is generally relevant to new products, ideas, conferences, or volunteer activities that are happening at the company. If there’s nothing there, that may evidence they’re not concerned about their image. So, they may react the same to their employees.
Check the feedback about the company on sites like Glassdoor. Take the reviews you see there lightly, but if you see common threads between reviews, you’ll know what to watch out for. If everyone leaving a company complains nothing is worth the long hours and demanding management, it may not be what you want to get into. On sites like Glassdoor, don’t just read what employees say, but look at what people who interviewed said too. And, if candidate interview reviews suggest a strenuous or disorganized process, consider it a reflection of what’s happening behind the doors.
Check out the company’s social network profiles, specifically their pages on LinkedIn and Facebook.
See what they share on Facebook to the public, and visit their corporate LinkedIn presence will reveal people who work there, what their skills and backgrounds are.
Ask Questions About the Culture in Your Interview
If you’ve done your homework and the company still looks like a great place to work, you have an opportunity to learn more about the culture in your interview. The one question that usually comes up (and often near the end) in most interviews is “Do you have any questions for us?” That’s your opportunity to learn more about the culture, information you can’t get from just your research. Here are some questions you may want to ask:
- What’s the company culture like from your perspective?
- How does this group work with other teams?
- How do the different roles on our team interact?
- What’s the intrateam dynamics?
- How would your employees describe you? What have you been told by more than one person?
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, one of the strongest advocates of culture, makes a solid point when he says ‘the people you hire represent your company even outside of work. If you meet someone and learn where they work, your perception of that place is influenced based on what you learned.’
So, What Elements Make a Great Company Culture?
Let’s start with what is Corporate Culture. It’s probably a word you hear often, but what is it exactly?
According to The Business Dictionary corporate culture is: “The values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.”
This is the reason a positive culture matters. Culture sustains employee enthusiasm.
8 Elements of a great company culture
- Positive Values – A positive mission statement outlines the goals and demonstrative the company values and strives toward.
- Relaxed and Productive Atmosphere – People enjoy coming to work and feel appreciated, acknowledged, and rewarded.
- Open and Honest Communication – Everyone communicates in a cards-on-the-table manner, solving difficulties in a positive way. They view constructive feedback as an opportunity for growth. And constructive feedback is given frequently if needed, and they don’t wait for your annual review. Constructive feedback should also offer workable solutions.
- Cooperation, Support and Empowerment – Employees have a sense of camaraderie, cooperation and empowerment.
- Humor – Employees keep things in perspective, laugh, and have fun even when change is occurring or everyone is busy.
- Flexibility and Transparency – The employees embrace change, accommodate new trends and technology, and incorporate new skills. Companies where management is transparent about the direction, current challenges, and even mistakes creates an environment that builds trust.
- Positive Reinforcement – People need acknowledgement, appreciation and gratitude to be motivated. And frequent, specific and timely positive reinforcement is best.
- Approachability and Support – When employees feel they can talk openly with their boss and will be supported when faced with challenges. At some point in a career, everyone faces challenges and managers who support their employees
Tony Hsieh, now CEO of Zappos, believes that interactions–both between employees and with customers–are the key to a business’s identity. “At Zappos, we really view culture as our No. 1 priority. We decided that if we get the culture right, most of the stuff, like building a brand around delivering the very best customer service, will just take care of itself.”–January 9th, 2010, The New York Times
In the end, there are no magic pills even when you’ve thoroughly done your research. Business, like everything else today can change on a dime, so if you’ve decided to join a company and learn the culture is toxic, start looking for a new opportunity, and do research on how to handle a toxic environment before you find yourself just reacting to it.
It all starts when the recruiter reaches out to you about your availability for a phone interview. When they do, and they will, offer a couple blocks of time, not just one. If you only offer one time, it often requires multiple back and forth emails that delay your interviewing. Also, consider that the person interviewing you may not be in the same area code, so provide availability that would accommodate multiple parts of the country. Many companies may have an office in your city, but their recruitment may be in another or a different state. Even if you know where the home office is, the recruiter could be somewhere else. Again, suggest multiple blocks of time you’re available that could be accommodate east coast and west coast callers if needed. And, include the phone number that you can be reached with your area code. Plain and simple, doing these two simple tasks can speed up the entire process for you.
Dress comfortably, wear whatever inspires you to have your best conversations, so wear whatever you can be comfortably relaxed in.
After you’ve answered a question, a great suggestion is to ask the interviewer if you’ve answered their question. It’s a great opportunity for them to bring up something that may need clarification. And, while the interview is your time to highlight yourself, don’t dominate the conversation, wait for the interviewer to ask questions. And then respond to the question and be as specific as you can. With that said, it’s also your time to get some of your questions answered, and you can ask right in the beginning or at the end, if you can ask a few questions if the interviewer hasn’t brought it up.
There’s a solution to make your interviewing more comfortable and successful. The solution is practice. Interviewing is a skill you can learn. Yes, it’s a skill that’s learned. Very few people do it well without practice, like any skill. So, I’ll provide some simple tips and then it’s up to you to practice. With the right tips and practice, you can become comfortable sharing your background and strengths with potential employers, making a good impression, getting your questions answered and ultimately landing your dream job. And, in the end you might even say you enjoy interviewing.
As you respond to questions, remember to provide candid, upbeat answers. And be thorough. Even when asked about weaknesses or failures, these are opportunities to tell the interviewer what you’ve learned and are learning from those experiences. It also establishes that you don’t make a mistake over and over, but are a continuous learner. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone has failures, but successful individuals learn from them. Show how you have.
Last, send a thank you. It’s no longer required or even necessary to send a formal written letter. Today’s business is moving too fast and a decision about you will often likely be made in a day or two, so the best ‘thank you’ is often an email, sent within 24 hours of the interview. That means before you leave the interview you should get the interviewer’s business card, or at least their e-mail address. Most interviewers appreciate the ask, especially when you tell them why you’re asking for that information, and if they won’t reveal it, sending a thank you email to HR or the recruiter and asking them to forward the email is a good alternative. Even interviewers who don’t give you their email appreciate a forwarded thank you for HR. I’ve seen it multiple times where a forwarded thank you to the hiring manager helped the manager ultimately decide between two promising candidates. The one that sent a thoughtful, but brief thank-you got the offer.
If you’re a fresh graduate, it’s time to tell people! List the degree in all caps and FIRST, then the college name. With the degree first, the reader sees immediately you have a Bachelor’s degree/Master’s degree. If you took interesting and relevant classes, or classes that show you are a strategic thinker, analytical, or creative, then include those. For two reasons, one is sometimes it can show a more creative personality or more analytical, or even skills in a specific area, like Accounting/Finance, or a Digital Marketing class, which they’d never know, unless you’ve put it on your resume. The second reason is sometimes in an interview, the interviewer sees a class that’s interesting and asks you about it…and this is a good time to ‘break the ice’ and show your interest or knowledge.
Most recent first! Never, ever, start the with your oldest position because the typical reader spends less than 30 seconds reading your resume, and may never spend the time on yours to see you’ve changed the order.
Think it’s unimportant? Well consider this, most people hire people they like, and the quickest way to connect with an interviewer is if there’s a common interest, or an interesting detail to ask you about. Then, if it comes up, and often it will, you’ve created an opportunity to kick-off your first meeting on a great start. Note, political and religious affiliations are highly discouraged because they could be misinterpreted.