Focus On Two To Three Important Traits In Your Answer
During the interview, keep your response brief by focusing on just a few of the elements of your ideal company. Use what you learned through your research to choose two or three characteristics you want to discuss in your response. For instance, if your research shows the company provides advancement opportunities and educational support and these factors are important to you, focus on these elements in your response.
How To Prepare An Answer To The Question
Write down your answers to the above questions. Now that you have these aspects in mind, you can prepare for this question by breaking down the process into three parts.
- Create a profile of your ideal organizational culture.What exactly is it youre looking for in company culture?
- Research the culture of your target employer.Go to their website. The “About Us” and Career sections should provide some clues as to what the culture is like. Also, check their social media pages. You can even gain insight into questions about company culture right before your interview. Ask the staff who you meet early in the interview process to characterize the organizations culture for you.
- Search Google for reviewsto generate a list of sites with feedback from current or past employees about the organization. Do they get good reviews? What do they say about workplace conditions and culture?
One of the best ways to get an unbiased insider’s view of corporate culture is to network with current or past employees. Perhaps you know an employee who works for the company or knows someone who knows someone else who works there.
Search LinkedIn to see if you have any contacts at the organization or if your primary contacts are connected to any employees and ask them to describe the culture. Once you have a sense of the company’s culture, decide which parts of your ideal profile to incorporate in your answer.
Do You Prefer Working Alone Or As Part Of A Team
It might seem like the obvious answer is to respond you prefer to work as part of a team. But there are positive aspects to both options. Mention your preference, but explain that youre flexible. For example, if you prefer working alone, a better way to express it is by saying: I can work independently to complete my tasks on time, but I also enjoy brainstorming and collaborating with my colleagues. Choose your answer depending on the job and project needed to be done.
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What Does Work/life Balance Look Like At Your Company
Are you the kind of person that doesnt mind checking emails at home or do you really want to disconnect when you leave the office? Asking this question lets candidates decide if they want to be in an always-on kind of environment. If the interviewers response indicates an overbearing workload and a messy internal processes, consider looking for a better work/life balance elsewhere.
Lean On Your Core Values
To start, refer back to your company core values. These are the driving force behind your culture and dictate how you treat employees, clients and generally do business. Additionally, your core values should describe the working style in the office. For example, as a company that values innovation, you might work to create a collaborative culture where employees are encouraged to share ideas with one another.
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Its Essential To Get To Know The Cornerstones Of A Companys Culture During The Interview Process
No matter where you start your career, your experience at a company will be influenced by that organizations culture. Culture touches everything from a companys values to its benefits to its broader sense of community, which means its essential to get to know the cornerstones of a companys culture while in the interview process.
That said, it can be difficult to pin down exactly what constitutes a companys culture as well as if its the right culture for you. Thats where asking the right questions during an interview comes in, on top of online research. But surprisingly, asking an interviewer: How would you describe the companys culture? wont give you the most authentic look into the different elements of their culture. Instead, there are several questions that can illustrate how a company is driven by its culture.
To contextualize these questions, weve put together a case study in culture by speaking with team members from PURE Insurance, a fast-growing insurance carrier that specializes in the high net-worth market. PURE is a purpose-driven company that puts its people, from members to employees, first. They describe their culture as one that empowers employees to bring their whole selves to work. So what does that culture look like in practice? If you were interviewing for a role with PURE, heres how the following questions would showcase what goes into PUREs people-centric culture.
Learn more about PURE Insurance here.
Sample Answers To Questions About Your Ideal Company Culture
Below we discuss a couple of example answers to discuss your ideal company culture. However, these are general examples. Make sure that you develop your own answers that align with the culture of the company that youre interviewing with. Demonstrate that you did your research, that you know what they can do for you, but also emphasize what you can do for them.
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Red Flags For The Interviewer
Common Job Interview Questions And How To Answer Them
Interviews can be high stress, anxiety-driving situations, especially if its your first interview. A little practice and preparation always pays off. While we cant know exactly what an employer will ask, here are 10 common interview questions along with advice on how to answer them. The questions include:
- Could you tell me something about yourself and describe your background in brief?: Interviewers like to hear stories about candidates. Make sure your story has a great beginning, a riveting middle, and an end that makes the interviewer root for you to win the job.
- How do you deal with pressure or stressful situations?: Share an instance when you remained calm despite the turmoil. If its a skill youre developing, acknowledge it and include the steps youre taking to respond better to pressure in the future.
- What are your salary expectations?: Before you walk in for your first interview, you should already know what the salary is for the position youre applying to. Check out websites such as Glassdoor, Fishbowl, or Vault.com for salary information. You could also ask people in the field by reaching out to your community on LinkedIn.
Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here.
Below is a list of 10 common job interview questions, along with answering techniques that will help you dazzle your prospects, and hopefully, secure the role you want.
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How Does The Company Celebrate Success
Some organizations reward employees for achievements in the form of public praise, happy hours, or a good old-fashioned ice cream party, while others dont do anything special to champion major accomplishments. If youre part of the 41% of millennials who prefer to be rewarded or recognized for your work at least monthly, according to firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, find out whether youre going to get it from your prospective employer.
Would You Be Willing To Show Me Around The Office
This question is probably best saved for a last-round interview so you donât seem too intrusive, but âtaking a walk around the workspace is a great way to get a real feel for the day-to-day culture,â Larchar says. âAre individuals interacting with one another? Do the workers look stressed? Are the individual workspaces decorated? What is the setup of the office? Does the work space seem inclusive? How are the departments organized? If you thrive on working with others, you’ll want a work environment where that feels natural.â
One thing Santopietro Panall recommends keeping an eye on in particular is how many senior-level employees have their own offices. âIt’s a clue to how structured and hierarchical the company is,â she says. âCompanies with few or no private offices tend to be less top-down than companies with a lot of private offices or a whole CEO floor. There’s a strong trend, in many businesses, of removing private spaces in offices and making all space communal â some companies are loving it and finding it effective and others are dreading it, but whether a company would even consider it is a sign of how much they are trying to embrace a certain kind of flexible, collaborative work style.â
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Words To Describe Your Company Culture
If you could describe your company culture in one word, what would it be?
A companyâs culture is the character and personality of an organization. It refers to how people interact, collaborate, and get along within the workplace. Though it may sound somewhat ambiguous, a positive culture is extremely important for many reasons. It attracts talent, increases engagement, and helps ensure employees are happy, productive, and planning to stick around.
A great company culture is no longer just a nice-to-haveâitâs essential to building a workplace that your current and potential employees want to be a part of. One of the first steps to building a great company culture is knowing what values you would like to instill and how you would describe your organizationâs identity.
Below, weâll share different words to describe company culture, complete with examples of organizations that embody some of these characteristics today. Weâll also share a few negative words to describe the type of company culture youâre trying to avoid.
Learn What Components Make Up A Companys Culture
When you know a companys culture, you can target your research and prepare more thorough answers. A businesss culture typically includes the following elements:
Values and missionA mission statement summarizes the core principles and organization goals. Some companies have long and complex mission statements, and others are short and to the point. The important thing is that the company follows through on the mission statement in its daily operations and goals.
Social interactionsWhen people work well together, they may develop a sense of camaraderie and build stronger working relationships. Getting to know coworkers on a personal level helps a company build a successful, cooperative and supportive team.
EvaluationNearly every business evaluates employee performance. The company culture includes how employees are evaluated, how often and how success is defined. For example, a company might do an informal quarterly review or a more comprehensive written report every year.
Celebrations and recognitionMany companies reward employee successes to keep them motivated and satisfied in their jobs. Some even celebrate personal achievements, such as anniversaries or weddings.
Interactions with the communityMany companies sponsor community outreach efforts. These can involve fundraising events or a volunteer program. Community service can be a great source of pride within an organization.
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Evangelize And Measure Your Company Culture
Think about how to describe company culture to your existing team members. Write down what you want the culture to be, and prepare a presentation that will help you get your message across. Meeting with your team is your opportunity to:
- Get their perspective on the current company culture. They may be aware of issues that you havent even thought to address.
- Gauge their reactions to the new culture that youre trying to cultivate.
- Gather their ideas on how to improve company culture.
You can also set concrete goals as they relate to your culture. Some things, like trust and openness, are practically impossible to measure. However, you can send out quarterly surveys to your employees to see how they think the culture is progressing.
Other goals are easier to measure. You might decide to remodel the office by the end of the year, start hosting a monthly social gathering for the team, or begin using new collaborative software to encourage team thinking.
Focus On What You Can Offer
Your ideal company should help make you an ideal employeeand you want to show that.
A response that focuses exclusively on perks and benefits to employees probably wont go over very well, Brady notes. It suggests youre only interested in what you get, rather than what you contribute to the corporate community.
Your answer should show youve researched the company and the challenges it faces, Jennae says. In your ideal company, you will be part of the solution to those problems.
You say:My ideal company would present exciting challenges that allow me to use my interest in and experience with growing sustainability efforts, and I see how my experience developing metrics could be useful here to propel the business forward
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How Can Candidates Learn About A Companys Culture During A Job Interview
Providing you have landed an interview with your company of choice, there are ways to actually ascertain a companys culture during the job interview itself.
Candidates should seek to obtain a more comprehensive view than simply relying upon standard statements such as, We have an inclusive company culture that encourages collaboration among all members or the organization, or We reward employees who show initiative in our organization.
At the end of most job interviews, a competent interviewer will typically ask a candidate if they have any questions and this is the perfect occasion to acquire a more transparent perspective on the type of culture a company actually possesses.
Here are eight helpful tips for candidates seeking a more in-depth view on the culture of the company with which they are interviewing:
1. What makes you proud to work for this company?
Watch the interviewer closely as he answers this question. Signs of a satisfied employee will be evident in his or her voice and/or body-language, even if attempts are made to mask true feelings. Try your best to tune in to any negative cues, such as looking down or a general avoidance. Interviewers who speak highly and with sincerity of the company for which they work, indicate a positive company culture.
2. When are the busiest times of year for this company?
3. How often does management meet with the staff?
4. How do you assist your employees in the area of career development and advancement?
Company Culture At The New Job
While youre preparing for your interview, you will probably find information on the hiring company’s culture by doing a thorough review of the company website. Another place to get clues is by looking at any community-related postings involving the company. You can do this by searching the name of the business and the term social media or searing the archive of the newspaper in cities where they are located.
Use this information to come up with a few examples of how your work style will allow you to excel in the environment at your target company. That way, when you are asked about the company culture at your previous job, you can steer the conversation towards what a super fit youll be in a new position.
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Sweating Your First Interview And Wondering Whether Youll Be A Good Fit Dont Forget That A Companys Environment Needs To Be A Good Fit For You Too
Big salary, great benefits, and a robust 401 plan your dream employer might offer it all. But will you gel with the companys culture?
The answer matters to both job seekers and hiring managers alike. Cultural fit is a top hiring priority. Unless you feel comfortable where you work, you may come to hate your joband stall out before your career gets going.
Job interviewing is like dating: youre assessing whether you and the company are a good match, says Paul Thallner, an executive culture consultant at Great Place to Work, a global advisory and research firm based in San Francisco.
Take the job interview as an opportunity to ask some of these pointed questions about company culture.
Interview Question: Describe Your Ideal Company Culture
If you’re getting ready to interview for a job, it’s important to prepare for several common questions the interviewer may ask. One question you can prepare for is, “Describe your ideal company culture.” Understanding what you value in a work environment and how the job you’re applying for relates to your ideals can help you answer the question more effectively. In this article, you’ll find tips and example answers to help you prepare your response for the interview question, “Describe your ideal company culture.”
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