Feeling at home in your new workplace. Is it just a matter of luck?
After reading the job posting, you immediately open your laptop to write your cover letter. This job is definitely the one. Ideal job description, high-end products or services, a top name in the industry, and less than half an hour from your home. And it was meant to be: you come out on top and dive right in, bursting with energy.
Until, a few months later, you’re burned out and sadly realize that everything is different from what you expected. You don’t feel at home in this organization at all.
Wrong choice?
First of all: don’t blame yourself for making the wrong choice. It happens to plenty of other people, too. It’s no coincidence that half of all new work relationships end in disappointment within the first year: we’ve written an in-depth article on this topic before.
One of the reasons for a potential mismatch actually lies in your own strong qualities. During the job application process, these qualities unconsciously steered you in a certain direction, causing you to overlook something very important. You didn’t pay enough attention to your new employer’s culture or didn’t realize that it wasn’t a good fit for you. Of course, that’s incredibly frustrating, but this experience has taught you just how important culture is when it comes to finding your ideal job. And that insight is worth a lot!
This article provides you with tools to help you truly understand culture next time and more easily determine the kind of environment where you can thrive both as a person and as a professional.
Didn't quite get the vibe?
But first of all: why didn’t you realize sooner that a company’s culture wasn’t a good fit for you? This has largely to do with the mindset you adopt as soon as you enter the job application process. At that point, the focus is on achieving the ideal end result: a new job. As a result, you unintentionally and unconsciously lose sight of certain crucial factors.
— Nienke Minnema
The danger of tunnel vision
You’re focused on winning
During the interview, you’re mainly focused on presenting yourself and showing your best side. That job is your ultimate goal, and you’re completely focused on it. As a result, there’s a risk of tunnel vision and overlooking less appealing aspects of the company or the position. This is what you want, and you’ll do whatever it takes to come out on top. In the process, you gradually forget to ask yourself the most important question: do you actually want to be the winner?
You want to be liked
The man or woman sitting across from you during the job interview could very well become your manager. And in any case, he or she will determine your fate in this process. It makes sense that you want to come across as friendly, approachable, and sociable. Asking critical questions or offering a counterpoint during the interview doesn’t feel very natural when combined with that goal. And so there’s a good chance that you (consciously or unconsciously) adjust your behavior and attitude to fit your goal of being liked. Unfortunately, this means you’re not giving yourself enough room to address or fully understand issues that are important to you.
You lack the proper preparation or conversation techniques
When you delve deeper during a conversation, the essential issues come to the surface. It’s very important that you know how to express yourself clearly and take the time to formulate a good answer. At such moments, your brain is performing at a top-level. That mental effort can make it harder to come up with your own probing follow-up questions. In short, if you lack sufficient conversation techniques, a job interview can feel like a tennis ball machine, where you have to give it your all to hit every ball back properly. So make sure you prepare well for the interview, write down your questions in advance, and familiarize yourself with conversation techniques.
What you see isn't always what you get
You rely on your intuition
The people you meet during the hiring process aren’t always the ones you’ll end up working with. Of course, it’s nice if you have a good feeling about them or if, upon walking in, you immediately thought: this is a place where I’d enjoy working. It’s by no means certain that your intuition is wrong—on the contrary. Many people can rely on it quite effectively. However, changing jobs is such a significant decision that relying solely on your “gut feeling” isn’t wise. You also need facts to make a sound decision about the next step in your career. Your mission should therefore be to gather as much factual information as possible.
You rely on your observations
Of course, your intuition is partly fueled by your observations. But observations also influence how you interpret the actual information about an organization. Suppose you walk into an organization with a fantastic office design or a super-clean workspace filled with the very latest innovative equipment. You automatically translate that into the work culture and assume it must be progressive as well. None of this has to be true. There are plenty of companies that look future-proof but maintain a highly hierarchical work culture. Or the other way around. Don’t let yourself be guided by what you see on the outside.
Understanding the workplace culture
Now that you know which pitfalls prevent you from truly understanding the work culture—or make it difficult to do so—the question is, of course: how can you succeed in doing so? If you’re in a hiring process that involves a recruitment agency, some of your questions about this may already be answered there. If that’s not the case, use these tips when communicating directly with the company.
Use these three tips during your conversation
1. Ask lots of questions
In a job interview, you want to show who you are. You do this by giving answers, but also by asking questions. Don’t worry that you might come across as annoying or pushy. If you ask the right questions in a positive way, it actually comes across as very prepared and engaged. If you want to learn more about the work culture, these are very relevant questions:
- What is the team like? How long have these people been working together? What are they like? What are their backgrounds?
- What changes has the organization undergone in recent years? Have there been any shifts in direction? How long has the current management been in place?
- Is there an organizational chart? How long has the structure been in place?
- Who will I be working with? Both internally and externally? And how are these collaborations going at the moment?
- What aspects of my performance are evaluated and held accountable? Who evaluates me? What does the review cycle look like?
2. Take advantage of every opportunity to get to know the organization better
The sooner you learn more about the organization (and its culture), the faster you’ll discover whether or not it’s a good fit for you. So, at every stage of the application process, take advantage of opportunities to learn more about the company. Of course, this starts with checking out the website and social media channels. Also, search Google for content related to the organization. And be sure to leverage the power of LinkedIn. Who works there? Are there any connections currently or previously associated with this organization? You might be able to send them a message or give them a call to ask about their experience.
During or before the first interview, it’s perfectly fine to ask if you can take a tour of the facility. If that’s not possible right away, there will likely be an opportunity during a later round. If you’re in the final stage of the hiring process, it’s certainly not unusual to ask to shadow someone for a day or part of a day. Such a shadowing opportunity is ideal for getting to know the team and asking them questions.
3. Be specific
Once you’ve done everything you can to get the best possible picture of a work culture, it’s important to make a well-informed decision. That means temporarily setting aside your desire to succeed, your intuition, and your observations. You rely on the facts and the information you’ve gathered. You weigh those against what you consider the key elements of a work culture that suits you. You can do this simply by making a list of positive and negative findings. Also note the things you’re still unsure about. Based on that, weigh the pros and cons. Look in the mirror and answer the question: Do I want the job, or do I want to win?
Are you in the process of applying for a job through a recruiter or a recruitment agency? If so, bring up the topic of work culture as early as possible and ask any questions you may have. The sooner you get a good sense of the environment where you’ll be working, the better. An additional benefit of working with an external intermediary is that they view the organization from a neutral, observational standpoint and can therefore provide you with a wealth of information. You can use that knowledge when you go for your interview.
Conclusion
All in all, there are plenty of ways to get a good sense of a company’s work culture even during the application process. It’s up to you to take the initiative. Also, ask yourself: Do I want to work in a culture where I feel comfortable? Or am I at a stage in my career where I actually want to be challenged? Furthermore, it’s especially important not to be too afraid of taking risks. Don’t worry that certain questions might make you seem unlikable. Don’t wonder if people will think it’s strange if you spend half a day on the work floor.
If that’s the case, then you’ve ended up in a work culture that isn’t a good fit for you anyway. So you’re better off getting turned down early in the process. In reality, you’ll actually leave a different impression—that of a committed, motivated, and serious candidate. And that’s exactly the kind of person every good employer is ultimately looking for.
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