When getting ready to interview for a new position, most people focus their efforts on getting themselves ready to impress the people who they will be interviewed by. While this is certainly important, one should also take the time to try to figure out whether or not the company culture is a good fit for them. There are a variety of things that can be done to help learn about the way the company operates, and what it will be like working for them.
Too often we join an organization without really understanding the culture of that company and whether it is right for us. We are excited about the opportunity, the role we will be taking on and the people who interviewed us, but we haven’t really thought about if it is the right place for us to work. – Gina Abudi
This excitement, and the potential for change that comes with any new job, can cause people to ignore any potential problems with a company. Of course, no job or company will ever be perfect, but if you don’t take the time to learn about what the working environment will be like, you may be quite disappointed.
When interviewing for any position, make sure you are asking questions about the company as much as the company is asking questions about you. Learning what types of things the company values, for example, is a great way to identify how they will treat the employees and what types of things you’ll have to be focused on. Asking these types of questions to the interviewers will help you learn, and also show them that you are interested in the job.
Of course, you don’t want to rely exclusively on the HR representatives or even the hiring manager to provide information about the culture of the company. When appropriate, see if it is possible to spend some time with the team you will be working with if hired. Interacting with members of the team will help to get a better idea of how the company works, and what types of things you can expect if you are awarded the job. Asking the team members about what types of things they like the best about the department will give you a good idea of how things are run.
In addition to gathering information about the culture of a company by interacting with the people working there, it is also a good idea to do some research before the interview. Searching online for things like press releases about the company, interviews done with people from the company, and other types of information is a great idea. You’ll be able to learn a lot about what the company values, which will typically be a good indication of how they will treat employees and what you can expect if you get hired in.
It is essential that you have a good fit with the culture of the company if you want to have a long and successful career. Not every job is a good match for every employee, and those being interviewed should be evaluating whether or not they want to work for the company just like the hiring managers are evaluating the candidate.
Additional Resources
- Safety Committee– creativesafetysupply.com
- What is needed for Hiring for a Lean Culture?– blog.creativesafetysupply.com
- Lean Culture, Defining and Understanding– 5snews.com
- How to Successfully Introduce Safety Into Workplace Culture– bridge-to-safety.com
- Why Workers Resist Lean Culture– creativesafetypublishing.com
- HR – Hiring for Lean Culture– lean-news.com
- Safety Culture 101– safetyblognews.com
- How Kaizen Can Be Applied to Boost Company Morale– kaizen-news.com
- The Importance of a Positive Workplace Culture– iecieeechallenge.org