Assessing Company Culture for the Right Fit

This week, a client who is interviewing for a new position asked me how to assess whether the company culture is the right fit.

"Culture" is a big concept that can mean a lot of different things. To some, it means a company's "vibe" or "personality." To others, it means the values and practices shared by employees. I've even heard it described as "a company's soul."

Culture is highly subjective. Unless a company has taken the time to spell out a culture statement on paper, you could ask five different people about the culture and get five very different answers.

So how do you gather useful, actionable insights on a company's culture during the interview process?

My answer: break it down from the larger concept of "culture" to the specific components of a work environment that matter most to you.

1. GET CLEAR ON YOUR VALUES
Your values are the aspects of your work environment that you care most deeply about. If you were a plant, think of your values as your sunlight—without them, you wither. With them, you thrive. Everyone holds a unique set of values, and uncovering yours gives you insight into the aspects of culture that are most essential to you.

My client uncovered these core values as central to his experience at work:
• Learning - continuous growth and skill development
• Creativity - space to be experimental, try and fail, and be self-directed
• Connection - activating unexpected links between people, ideas, and resources


2. ASK QUESTIONS THAT ARE TAILORED TO YOUR VALUES
Instead of asking the general question "What is the culture here like?" use your core values to craft questions that get to the heart of what matters to you most.

For my client that means asking questions like:
• Learning: "How does this company support the growth of team members?"
• Creativity: "What is the company's attitude toward innovation and failure?"
• Connection: "To what extent do teams collaborate across departments and functions?"


3. GO IN WITH EYES WIDE OPEN
Since culture is subjective and everyone is on their best behavior in an interview setting, merely asking the questions will not give you the full story. A company's culture is baked in to the way the desks are organized, how staff at different levels relate to each other, and how the first person greets you when you walk through the front door.

When you go in for an interview, pay attention not just to what they say, but what you see. How does it align with the answers they gave you? Do they tell a consistent story or vastly different ones? What does your intuition/gut tell you?


4. TAKE AN INSIDE LOOK
There are more ways than ever before to get an inside look at what working at a company is really like. Do your due diligence by looking into websites like The Muse (which offers company profiles that take you inside offices for a close look at the culture) and Glassdoor (which include anonymous reviews and ratings from both employees and job candidates who'll give you the real scoop on what it's like there).

Lastly, tap personal connections within your own network to gently inquire about what you might be getting yourself into.

I was once a finalist for a senior leadership position at a nonprofit. In the interview panel of nine senior staff, I got one story about the nature of the organization. Understandably, they wanted to present a strong impression of the organization and they could only say so much with the CEO in the room.

As part of evaluating whether the position would be the right fit for me, I called up my former intern who was then a junior staff member at this organization. Over lunch, she gave me a more candid picture of the organizational culture and the particular set of challenges they faced in strengthening the employee experience—including the fact that many employees had never set foot in the CEO's office despite working in the organization for over 30 years.

The conversation certainly gave me valuable information about the type of environment I would be stepping into, and pairing that with my own knowledge about what I need to thrive helped me to make an informed decision about whether it was the right fit for me.

Next time you find yourself wondering about a company's culture, get more specific. Break it down and gather information that speaks directly to the elements that matter most to you.