Today’s question is, ‘How do I gain an understanding of corporate culture?’ It can make a difference for you as an applicant, to an employer, if you know about their corporate culture.
Ask About the Corporate Culture
So here are some tips. LinkedIn is a huge and valuable resource to you. I would suggest if you want to go and work for ABC company, you start connecting with employees from ABC company. Or if you have an interview at ABC company, you need to network with people at the other side of that company, not in the hiring influences, but you need to network with them and you need to ask probing questions about the corporate culture, about their product, about their service. What are their intentions in the future?
Are they expanding? Or possibly they contracting? Are they going through an MNA? Are they going international? So there are many questions you can ask by being connected with other people in that company. You also could touch base with people who have recently left that company, not six or seven years ago, because chances of them knowing everything about that company are very minimal, but somebody who’s left in the last three or four months, and LinkedIn will tell you that type in the company name.
What you do is to go through that list and pick somebody at your level and the level below and the level higher and network with those people. Hopefully, they will be willing to share details and answer those probing questions that you all going to go into the interview armed with.
What about Facebook?
Then there are other platforms. Facebook is becoming a huge tool in career management and due diligence. Often a company will have their Facebook page, and that could be a huge value to you. Lots of information is shared on that Facebook page, just like there will be on their LinkedIn page, then you must go to their website. This is where you get a multitude of information. So digest their website, dissect it, look up what their goals are. Look at their news and the About Us page. If they have a public relations page or public affairs page or a news page, download all the recent news articles.
But of course, always Google that company as well. There is a wealth of information on Google and you can gain insight into their corporate culture. When I’m looking for people. When a client engages me, I always Google them. Always Google your interviewer because you need to know about that person. You never know, there might be some synergy; you might have gone to the same high school or the same university, or you might have worked 10 or 15 years ago at the same company.
It’s just a little bit of sidebar from corporate culture, but something that you should know is that the more due diligence you do prior to going into an interview, the better you are armed, the more eloquent, the more expressive, and the more excited and engaging you will be to the interviewer, but also ask some questions in that interview about their corporate culture. An interview is a two-way street. It’s a two-way dialogue, a meeting of the minds to see whether you are a fit in that company. If you’re not a fit, then perhaps that corporate culture is not for you. You have to be a fit. You don’t want to be unhappy. Like so many people are in their jobs today.
I Want to Help You!
I am passionate about helping you reach your career goals so I have an offer for you; a free resume critique and LinkedIn audit. I will offer you a no-obligation, no sales pitch, LinkedIn audit and resume critique. However, I do warn you, I am realistic and I will say it as it is, I am tough because I want you to learn what I’m going to tell you and I will remove all the red flags for you so you have a complete bank of green flags, so it will be clear sailing if you have to go into career transition.
Are you interested? If so, email me in the message section on LinkedIn. Or send me a message using the link posted below.
Leave a Reply