Why You should Take Company Culture into Account in Your Next Interview
Company culture is actually a thing — and yes, it DOES matter.
Here is a question: which company would pop up in your head when I mention “that company with amazing culture”? Google? Zappos? Any company out there which provides free lunch, cozy beanbags, and unlimited access to pantry?
You’re not entirely wrong. Free lunches and beanbags are part of company culture, but they are undeniably not the culture itself. There are more to the culture of an organization beside fancy furnitures and cool policies, but, what is a company culture, actually?
According to Edgar Schein, a renowned former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, a company culture is basically the crystallization of its coping and adaptation procesess toward problems “that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members”. Different companies experience different successes and turnoils, and therefore develop different cultures. For the company to survive and excel, all of its members will have to learn, adapt to, and teach its culture.
And since the culture of a company directly and inderectly influences its business practice, it is worth to hire individuals whose values match the companies’. This is how culture plays an important role in recruitment process — and study shows that it is becoming more and more prevalent.
Company Culture in the Recruitment Process
The 2017’s “Global Talent Trend” report published by LinkedIn shows that “company’s culture and value” has become candidates’ most considered information when applying for a job, topping even “perks and benefits” and “mission and vision” offered by a company. And it is not only the employees who think so; employers also start to regard company’s culture as the most effective way to attract candidates. As prospecting employees begin to value company culture more, companies react by actively promoting their workplace cultures to attract potential talents. Simply put, if potential talents perceive company’s culture as a good culture, they might be interested to apply and join, but if they perceive it as a bad one, they will avoid it at all costs.
As culture becomes more and more important, recruitment practice also starts to give it special attention. It is not surprising actually; current survey shows that 89 percent of hiring failures and problems are attributed to cultural misfits. In addition, an article written by Brent Gleeson mentions that hiring people who do not compatible with company culture might lead to “poor work quality, decreased job satisfaction and a potentially toxic environment”. On the other hands, good cultural fit might maximize employee motivation, increase job satisfaction, boost job performance, and reduce employee turnover. Virtually every company will try to prevent the former and achieve the latter.
Although recruiting for good cultural fit is — and has always been — equally important as recruiting for good skills and personality, Gleeson quickly points out that hiring managers often neglect the importance of assessing culture fit in potential candidates. Recruiters tend to seek people who can “do the job”, and they focus on candidate’s knowledge and skills— plus, at some point, attitude and personality. According to Gleeson, this is because recruiters do not want to lose potential talents, thus hastily hire them without considering whether their values really fit the company’s. This results in recruited talents not performing as expected and leaving the companies soon — and the damage would be greater and more expensive when said recruits hold important positions in the company.
The answer of this issue is clearly “hire people who fulfill our requirements and coherent with our values”. In the next sections, I will explain how an employer can assess a candidate’s values through interview, and how a candidate should respond to the culture based questions.
For the Employers: Ask about The Candidates’ Ideal Working Environment
There are several questions you can ask during the interview to see whether a candidate matches your company’s culture (such as in this article), but one question that I think is amongst the helpful ones is the one that tap the candidates’ preferred working environment. This does not mean that you will only (and blantantly)ask your candidate about that one thing (e.g. how do you describe your ideal working environment?); instead, you will have to ask some questions whose purpose is to do so. That is why it is important to first identify your company’s culture and working environment first. There are several ways to do it, but I recommend these following points:
- Philosophy. A company philosophy consists mainly of its vision, mission, purpose, and values — simply put, “what we believe in”. Every company has its own philosophies it considers important, which guides the entire practice of organization. For example, Google believes in “Ten Things We Know to be True”, including “Focus on the user and all else will follow”, and “ You can be serious without a suit”. In addition, Microsoft believes in different practice, such as “growth mindset”, “diversity and inclusion”, and “making a difference”. When your company firmly believes in growth mindset and continuous learning, you will not seek for people who consider themselves “good enough” or “aim for the average”.
- Practice. A company practice encompasses its business practice, the products (or services) it delivers, and its policies— and usually is derived either directly or indirectly from its vision, mission, and purpose. Different practices will create different culture and require different type of people; retail company, for example, will have different culture compared to manufacturing, health, or software development company. When you are hiring for sofware development company which delivers software, you will seek for people who fits its purpose, such as they who understand the current trend of technology.
- Place. Place refers to two conditions: the location where your company sited and the physical appearance of your company. The culture (and, eventually, regulation) of your current company’s site will directly impact its environment; New York’s culture (with its bustling traffic jams) and regulation might be different from Texas’ or Miami’s. In addition, the physical appearance means the environment of your company. Does your company consist of cubicles or does it have open office layout? If you are in retailing or manufacturing business, how are the shelves or machineries positioned? Some people might heavily consider the location of the company or its environment, and even reconsider taking a position simply because the location and environment do not match their preference.
- People. People play a huge part in company’s culture because they are the ones that are practicing it. Great philosophy, excellent practice, and suitable place might attract talents to come and apply to your company, but it is often the people who will decide whether they will be productive and want to stay. Finding suitable individuals and composing performing teams might be rough, but once a solid team is created, they might become a very productive team.
After identifying above points, you might then proceed to develop questions. Keep in mind that these questions attempt to reveal candidates’ preferred culture and environment to see whether they are a good fit to your company. You don’t need to ask all of them, but including some in your interview guide might help.
- Philosophy. Go with questions such as “What kind of person are you?” or “How do you describe yourself?”. These questions attempt to assess the candidate’s self perception, which then should be linked with company’s values. If you think their description does not make you satisfied, subtly direct their answers to see whether their self-perception matches your company’s philosophy, such as: “What kind of value do you consider important?” or “How do you feel about having to work in a timely manner?”. Asking about candidate’s preferred work style or habit (“Please tell us about how do you usually work.”) might also be beneficial to seek whether their “usual” behaviors match what the company wants and needs.
- Practice. Go with questions such as: “What do you know about our company?” or “What do you think of our business practice?”. These questions attempt to seek whether the candidates agree with your company business practice, policies, or products — or at least has nothing against it. You can also ask them about certain field and industry (“What do you know or think about software development industry in general?”) to see whether they have overview of what they are going to enter. You can also ask whether they want to work in a typical setting or situation (e.g. “What do you think of working during holiday?”) to make sure they agree with company’s policies.
- Place. Go with questions such as: “What do you think of our office/headquarter/facility?” or “How do you like working in this kind of office/headquarter/facility?”. These questions attempt to assess the candidates’ perception of company’s physical environment. You can also further ask whether they like to work in the company’s current location (“How do you feel working in this city?”) to know whether they actually have to — or want to — move or commute in order to attend to their job. Sometimes, even when candidates possess matching values and have nothing against company practice, they might have something against company’s office and location.
- People. Go with questions such as: “What kind of people do you consider suitable working with?” or “Do you have any type of person you’ll try to avoid?”. These questions attempt to assess the candidates preferred working colleagues — or what kind of team that they look into. Of course, you cannot merely take a hiring decision solely based on “people preference”, but it does help to listen to candidates’ opinion first. You can also further ask “How do you feel working with new people — especially they who do not match your preferred characteristics?” to see their opinion about having to adapt to new work environment.
For the Candidates: Ask about The Employer’s Working Environment (both to the Company and to Yourself)
If you find yourself in the place of the hireds instead of the hirers, you can still utilize the aformentioned points. Start by asking yourself whether you’ll have nothing against company’s philosophy, practice, place, and people — even before you decide to apply. You might find that one or two criteria does not match your preference, and you will have to decide which ones you want to hold and which ones you want to let go. For example, you might not disagree with the place, but, other than that, you’ll find the company to be a good place to work in. If you’ve made your decision, go ahead and apply, but if you still have doubt, it is better to trust yourself.
When you are already facing the company’s hirers in an interview session, you need to answer all of their questions honestly. Sure, we sometimes are tempted to provide false answers to boost our chance to be accepted, but lying will not get you anywhere. Present yourself in the best manner, but do not make statements or promises you cannot fulfill. When they ask about “how do you feel working in this kind of facility?”, for example, tell them nice and sound that you are either like it, dislike it, or willing to adapt. Keep in mind that if you choose the last, you actually still have doubt in your mind, and you need to clear that doubt as soon as possible. Never say that you like it there if you do not actually like it there.
Interviewers typically give you a chance to ask something — but, even if you are not offered the chance, take initiative to actually ask something. It is better if you already prepared what you want to ask before attending the interview. You can ask anything you want, or you can use the points above, but, in the end, you’ll have to make sure that you are entering the right company. Asking about the company’s culture might also give impression that you are really interested to work in a company, rather than merely being “another candidates” who randomly apply to that company.
