Avoiding a Culture Trap

Ok, I’m back...been a crazy few weeks between Thanksgiving and the end of the year rush.  This weeks blog, is a special request from a friend and former colleague.  The question is...when looking for a new job (or taking a new job) how do you do a good job during the interview process and avoid a bad culture.

There are a bunch of things you can do, in no particular order:

Glassdoor.com - I’m not a HUGE proponent of this site, too many sour grapes for me BUT you can get a bunch of information here.  The key...do your homework here, get a few themes and then use the other tips to verify.  So...get info from Glassdoor.com but don’t live/die by it.

Trust your network - The best data comes from people you know/trust.  What you want to do is take the information you got from Glassdoor.............and cross reference it with trusted sources.  If you don’t know anyone directly at the company, use LinkedIn to ask someone you know for a referral.

Ask - You know, ask about the culture in your interviews.  Sounds silly right?  Well, if you ask EVERYONE you meet what the culture is like at a company you get similar answers from everyone.  If not.....yellow flag.  If you get crazy answers....red flag.  Lots of candidates shy away from “culture” questions during the interview process but really you should ask.  Companies screen out for “culture” fit all the time....why don’t you do the same?

Fix it - That’s right, you find yourself in a tough culture.  Do what you can to fix it.  TOUGH STUFF to be sure and not for everyone but depending on your role, in many ways it’s your job.  You won’t accomplish this over night, it’s a long term play but if you are a superstar employee...you can impact change across the whole organization.

That’s it this week, good luck out there...hopefully these “fiscal cliff” talks end soon and we can all focus on creating more jobs.