10 qualifiers for the company I want to be with
Should you quit your job? Should you take that offer? Qualifiers can help you decide.
“It’s a match”
Man and woman, sitting opposite of each other. Gazes and probing questions. That could be the start of something wonderful — or a shortlived fling.
I am talking, of course, about a candidate interview for an opening.
Company culture and employee values need to “click” for both to be happy in the relationship.
It is hard and risky to match people to jobs and companies. That’s the reason of existance for a $200 B recruiting industry.
Many candidates focus foremost on the job description and their skills. While that is not wrong, it could lead to waking up a few months after bagging the job, suddenly realizing that the company culture does not fit to they way they are most productive and happy.
Now, either they go looking for the next job: “maybe the next one will be better fit…?”
Or, even worse for everyone involved, they hang on to the job while performance drops together with their engagement.
Time and money down the drain
But apart from people wasting their time with things they are not passionate about, this modus operandi is also extremely wasteful for companies:
- Failed hires are expensive for the companies: up to 25% of the annual pre-tax salary of employee for talent scout. Add advertising fees across several channels.
- Companies lose time to search, interview and on-board new employees. That time can amount to up to 4 months until hire and another 2–3 months to full productivity.
- 70% of employees are not engaged at work — employees which are doing the 9 to 5 because they are motivated just enough to not quit. That hurts their passion in life as well as the corporate bottom line.
This is why I set down my 10 qualifiers. They are the criteria I need to “click” with company culture.
The process may also help you to identify what you want to look out for in your current job or the one you’re applying for.
10x “I want to work with a company…
- … that challenges me but is also ready to be challenged by me at different levels”
- … where visionary ideas are met with curiosity and support”
- … where dedication is recognized, valued and supported”
- … that I can support in its growth — and that can help me grow”
- … where common sense comes before process and bureaucracy”
- … where cooperation is the norm and effort is not wasted on politics”
- … that encourages me to take “big bites” and mentors me to get them down”
- … where humor and seriousness are at a healthy balance”
- … where responsibility and authorization go hand in hand”
- … where important decisions are based on data and facts”
Final thoughts
For candidates: Don’t only try to match for job requirements. Even if you hit all of them and your implicit qualifiers are not met some time down the road, you might be better off at another position.
For employees: Try to match your qualifiers to your current position and find out what you can do to be happier, more productive and gain back passion in your work life.
For companies: As an HR professional I recommend to look for your candidates qualifiers — the first good sign would be if he has them ;)
Daniel Sontag connects the bots: As Industry 4.0 lead and manager for connected products, he does what he loves — tying business to tech, and theory to practice.
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