Most mentees I work with are pursuing a job – whether it’s getting a
job or moving to a different job and/or company – and one area that mentees don’t
routinely consider is that of a company’s culture. (See resources that describe
“company culture” such as https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-company-culture-2062000.)
Mentees focus on the job under recruitment and on the organization, but they
don’t always take the time to understand the hiring organization’s culture –
and the mentee’s fit in different company cultures.
There are many resources on categories of company cultures that provide
job-seekers with ways to assess what categories they would best fit in. And
these can be also used in an interview situation to determine culture.
- Organizational Culture Types https://www.ocai-online.com/about-the-Organizational-Culture-Assessment-Instrument-OCAI/Organizational-Culture-Types
- 5 Types of Corporate Culture: Which One Is Your Company? https://blog.enplug.com/corporate-culture
- 9 Types of Organizational Culture: Which One Are You? https://blog.udemy.com/types-of-organizational-culture/
But, when I looked at interview questions for “company culture,” most
of the sites described far too many questions to be useful to you as a job
seeker. You may not be able to ask more than 2-4 questions during an interview
so you need to be selective about what you ask. And questions you ask are also
indicative to interviewers about your level of knowledge about and interest in the
position and organization.
Last week, I found a survey anyone can take on workplace culture – to identify
“mistakes” a company may be making. The survey includes 11 variables and, as I
read through them, I saw the opportunity to categorize them according to
whether they would help you as a job seeker determine more specifically about
the culture or the hiring company – and whether that company is doing a good
job of the culture variable. (Here is the survey: https://principlesofexecution.nsvey.net/ns/TakeSurveyPage.aspx?s=88756104170e44e1894613b330cd0dc3&tsid=5e61e8ca1f2b47bbb1080d6b35903c8f&c=en-US)
The image below shows a screenshot of the 11 variables with my categorization
of the ones that would be helpful for you to get information about the culture.
“Measurable” means a question would provide you with information and background
so you can see how you would fit into the organization and thus it would be
worth asking about it. For those, I’ve given you a sample interview question.
For those I don’t consider to be measurable, I have defined them in two
ways. “Internal” signifies that you would need to be an employee to “see” or
measure this. “Opinion” is from the interviewer’s perspective and may not
provide you with a full picture or would give you a skewed perspective. (Note
that you can likely obtain information on “opinion” variables from what
interviewers tell you in other ways – verbal or nonverbal.)
So, when you’re interviewing, I recommend starting with the overall question,
“How would you describe your organizational culture?” which may provide you
with much of the information you need. But, if it doesn’t, make sure you have
carefully selected additional questions on culture so you keep the interviewer’s
attention and interest!
My boss started harassing me because I reacted strongly for his habit of touching women staff inappropriately. I resigned from my job because of uncongenial environment at office, and it a tough time for me. I approached London Recruitment Agency and discussed my job requirements, and it helped me to start afresh once again.
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