Comments on: 3 Reasons Company Culture Matters in Choosing an Employer

By: 4 Ways to Assess Your Cultural Fit for a Job

4 Ways to Assess Your Cultural Fit for a Job — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:56:51 +0000

[...] week I talked about why company culture matters in choosing an employer. In the comments, class factotum asked how to find out in advance what a company’s culture [...]

By: Why Company Culture is Important « The Search Firm Insider

Why Company Culture is Important « The Search Firm Insider — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:14:38 +0000

[...] about how company culture doesn’t matter, Kerry Sandberg Scott wrote a worthy article about why company culture is an important factor for your next job. She makes 3 very astute [...]

By: class factotum

class factotum — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:41:15 +0000

Thanks, Kerry. I had someone ask me in a phone interview, “How do you feel about tight deadlines and long hours?” I thought, “I feel like it is very poor management if it happens all the time.” When I had the on-site interview, they told me they regularly worked 70-hour weeks and weekends.

Sometimes an all-nighter is necessary. If you are doing a software conversion and are taking an entire factory offline to switch to the new operating system and have to do it on a weekend and test everything and get it up and running again by Monday, then YES. Yes, you have to work all weekend and maybe all night because this HAS TO BE DONE.

But every weekend? No.

Late every night? No.

Long hours and tight deadlines every week means unrealistic deadlines and understaffing, neither of which I want to be involved with. When I was asked that question, red flags started waving all over the place. I have already lived the sweatshop corporate finance M&A oh isn’t it glamorous! job and have no interest in returning.

Maybe I don’t need to know which questions to ask — maybe the companies identify themselves straight out!

class factotum’s last blog post..Sixteen tons

By: Kerry Sandberg Scott

Kerry Sandberg Scott — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:10:04 +0000

Actually, Class, I think I’m going to do a post on that next week (probably Monday). It’s not easy, but there ARE ways to find out just what you’re getting into before you take the job.

By: class factotum

class factotum — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:42:41 +0000

So how do you ask, "Does the director make you wait until 9 p.m. to discuss the weekly report with you?" and "Will you be counseled for leaving work at 6:00 p.m. -- just for walking out, even if your work is done?" and "How often are you expected to come in on Saturday?" What if you want a job where you work a reasonable 55-hour week and don't want to know that they turn the lights out at 10 p.m. and you have to call Security to turn them back on? class factotum’s last blog post..Marriage 101, Lecture 288: They say it's your birthday, or, The boy who cried "Bee!"

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:48:30 +0000

Apollo:

Excellent list indeed.

Company culture is important. I’ve worked for a wide variety of industries as a technical communicator and my favorite places have been the places that had a really good idea of what their corporate culture should be and are working on getting there or are already there but are open to new ways of doing day-today business.

I’m very fortunate to be working right now and I’m blessed to be with a company that has a great corporate culture all the way around.

By: Kerry Sandberg Scott

Kerry Sandberg Scott — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:07:42 +0000

That is an excellent list, Apollo.

By: Apolinaras "Apollo" Sinkevicius | LeanStartups.com

Apolinaras "Apollo" Sinkevicius | LeanStartups.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:57:52 +0000

I have worked in some of the most diverse startups/companies. One I remember very fondly was started by two gents who could not have been any more different, one was hard core Catholic and the other one was sworn atheist (that is just scratching the surface of their difference). BUT we also looked like the UN, since we probably had employees from every continent, every religion, single & married, kids and 4+ kids, and etc. etc. It was the best place I have ever worked for! Why did it work? Culture culture culture! We did not need a single HR person in a 120+ person company, we left the paper pushing to software. We had two in-house recruiters who had phenomenal nose for talent and cultural fit. BTW, they are still with the company and I heard they are still growing even in this downturn.
That all said, so this article got me thinking about those true components of corp culture. Here is what I have so far:
1. Management style – open, closed, everyone involved, only top dogs make the calls.
2. Decision-making process – flat “org chart”, or team-based decisions, or the “pyramid”
3. Leadership style – we are here to lead our people by serving them or we are here to divide and conquer.
4. Life/work balance – we are all workaholics with no families, or we work hard and play hard, or we work hard and like to have other dimensions too
5. Reward system – rockstars get paid and people who support them are just B-players, or team over individualism, or balance value system
6. Company mission – we are equity builders, or quick hack and flip types, or company is something founders started to not be bored in retirement.

Now I am possibly missing some points, but at least those are the top ones that come to my mind.

BTW, great blog, Kerry. Time to add it to my RSS reader.

Apolinaras “Apollo” Sinkevicius | LeanStartups.com’s last blog post..Time to make HR accountable! The rise of Human Capital professionals.

By: Kerry Sandberg Scott

Kerry Sandberg Scott — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:58:44 +0000

Puf—I worked for that same guy. Small world.

I understand why people are making choices like that now. I mean, you have to eat. You have to feed your family. This advice assumes that you already have food in the fridge, the heat bill is paid, and your mortgage payments are up-to-date. Then you can think about whether you will be happy in the job…but I know there are folks out there who just don’t have the luxury of sweating this stuff right now.

By: HRPufnstuf

HRPufnstuf — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:55:07 +0000

This is a really timely post. When the economy is bad, people will take jobs without properly evaluating the culture, and it can be a train wreck. My first job out of college, I took without evaluationg the culture and is was not good. I remember during one weekly office meeting the boss explaining that the world was only 4 thousand years old, fossils were fake, and anyone that wanted to argue the point would be fired. That was enough for me!