The Culture Fit interview. “What’s it like to work here?” Candidates too interview companies to assess cultural fit – which can be a make or break both ways.
It is complex to understand a specific company culture if you’re not there to experience it. Equally there is no easy way to describe “Culture” in a few sentences. I have been asked so many times what it was like to work for Apple, and honestly, I think I gave as many different answers as questions I got.
The paradox is that Culture takes many documented components to be brought to life, yet it is not exactly spelt in any corporate handbook. Rather, culture is largely felt and experienced through interactions with people and how things get done.
For our Chief members in Transition, I wanted to share here a list of targeted questions that we use at M SEARCH to uncover our clients’ culture when starting a search, and that we leverage with our start-up founders from Endeavor Miami and Mana Tech to build or enhance their early culture. Those questions can be asked by candidates during an interview to assess whether a company culture aligns with their own values.
- Can you give me an example of how the company lives up to its core values?
- What happens when someone doesn’t walk the talk here?
- What mechanisms are in place to listen to employees?
- What recent transformation did you initiate based on employee feedback?
- How will you assess if I am a culture fit for the company?
- What attitudes are most valued here?
- How are people held accountable to model the culture?
- What core value seems to be hard to bring to life in the company?
- What elements of the culture make your job enjoyable?
- What might have been a difficult cultural transition for you coming from a different company?
And reflect:
- How consistent are their stories about the company when asked about culture?
- Did you like what you heard? Do you relate?
- How diverse was the panel of interviewers that was put in front of you?
- How timely and insightful was their communication with you?
- How did the various participants show up (on time, prepared) and how did they treat you?
- How did the overall interview process feel?
And you, how much did the culture of a company influence your decision to take a job or not? How did you conduct your research? What questions did you ask that you can share here?
