Whether you are an experienced hire or a new graduate, choosing a company to work for is an important decision. The culture of a company can heavily impact your workplace satisfaction. It can be difficult to navigate a company if its culture or values conflict with your personal values.
When determining whether a company is a good choice for you, start with these steps:
- Shadow their ecosystem. If you can, observe the company at a trade show or a conference to see how they interact with customers and suppliers. You can get a sense of the values and integrity they claim in those interactions.
- Study what they celebrate. Follow the company’s social media posts and LinkedIn pages. Do they celebrate innovation, teamwork, and diversity as much as they celebrate commercial milestones?
- Check their “quiet corners.” Beyond any highlighted reports, examine how they engage with local communities, sustainability initiatives, societal contributions, and sponsorships.
- Ask probing questions. When interviewing, ask leaders about a time they had to choose between profit and principle, and what they actually did in response.
- Talk to current employees when interviewing. Consider how long the employees have worked at the company. If multiple employees have a long tenure, that may be a good sign. This is something I personally observed during my interview with my current company. The large number of employees with significant tenure was notable. Get early-career employees’ perspectives on growth and inclusion to gauge how values are lived day-to-day.
- Get a gut-check when you’re in the building. Do you feel energy, respect, creativity? Are they “we” and “team” oriented, or “I” and “numbers” oriented? Subtle phrasing signals deep values. Culture often shows in the unpolished moments.
- Seek transparency. Read board minutes or shareholder minutes if publicly available. What issues are most discussed? Do they prioritize and discuss more than financial returns?
Also, make sure you examine your personal goals within a role. Write a list of your non-negotiable values, such as integrity, curiosity, inclusion, growth opportunities, and development. Then, during the interview, probe for examples of those values in action.
When evaluating workplace culture, remember that it is less about glossy statements and more about lived experiences and observations.
I really like an engaged work community, and workplace employee resource groups (ERGs) and sponsorship are important to me. I also like to see ERGs or groups where all employees are welcome, such as those in the supply chain or finance team, not just one group centered at the main location. With all the remote meeting tools available today, it should be easy to include people outside of headquarters.
If workplace diversity and advocacy are important to you, find out if a company is a corporate sponsor of the Society of Women Engineers and/or other industry-relevant organizations. If having a third-party assessment of a company’s employee experience, environmental practices, or community involvement is important to you, look for a Certified B Corporation.
For new college graduates, it can be extremely difficult to decline a job offer if the company does not outwardly appear to be a good fit, at the risk of having no other immediate employment options. Early in your career, every job teaches you something. So, even if the organization overall isn’t a perfect match, the specific team, manager, or role might provide a pocket of alignment. Great leaders can make an imperfect company a valuable growth experience. But the company does not align with your core values, it’s often better to walk away than compromise your well-being later. The right fit will come, and sometimes saying no opens the door to something better.
When evaluating workplace culture, remember that it is less about glossy statements and more about lived experiences and observations. Use your own values as a compass, ask questions that provoke real examples of values in action, and trust your observations and your intuition. The right workplace culture should support your professional growth and create an environment where you feel respected and energized.
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