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CareerJournal | How Cultural Compatibility Can Enhance Your Success
CareerJournal How Cultural Compatibility Can Enhance Your Success
Rather than focusing on the pay level for a new position, how many employees you'll manage or travel requirements, ask a different set of questions,.
Start by learning what kind of behavior the company rewards. Ask questions, such as, "Who succeeds at this company?" "What accomplishments are celebrated there?" or "How do you determine what's a failure?" says Carol Kinsey Gorman, a Berkeley, Calif.-based industrial psychologist, and author of "This Isn't The Company I Joined" (John Wiley & Sons, 1997). "Those kinds of questions help you frame up the definition of the culture there," she says.
Sometimes, clues about corporate culture are evident before an interview starts. "I had my own idea of corporate culture," says Sonia Taylor, an account manager at Allison & Partners, a San Francisco-based public-relations agency about a recent job search. "I was gung-ho, aggressive, loud and, at times, blunt."
But at the new company she was eyeing, "everything from attitudes to dress was different. I noticed co-workers coming in wearing open-toed shoes, no pantyhose, and much more eye-catching outfits. Even the clients came in for meetings dressed in jeans and without a tie."
Ms. Taylor was concerned that the company was too individualistic for her - based on that first impression and her previous experiences in the executive world. These cues prompted her to ask additional questions about the company's culture before entertaining a job offer.
Rather than focusing on the pay level for a new position, how many employees you'll manage or travel requirements, ask a different set of questions,.
Start by learning what kind of behavior the company rewards. Ask questions, such as, "Who succeeds at this company?" "What accomplishments are celebrated there?" or "How do you determine what's a failure?" says Carol Kinsey Gorman, a Berkeley, Calif.-based industrial psychologist, and author of "This Isn't The Company I Joined" (John Wiley & Sons, 1997). "Those kinds of questions help you frame up the definition of the culture there," she says.
Sometimes, clues about corporate culture are evident before an interview starts. "I had my own idea of corporate culture," says Sonia Taylor, an account manager at Allison & Partners, a San Francisco-based public-relations agency about a recent job search. "I was gung-ho, aggressive, loud and, at times, blunt."
But at the new company she was eyeing, "everything from attitudes to dress was different. I noticed co-workers coming in wearing open-toed shoes, no pantyhose, and much more eye-catching outfits. Even the clients came in for meetings dressed in jeans and without a tie."
Ms. Taylor was concerned that the company was too individualistic for her - based on that first impression and her previous experiences in the executive world. These cues prompted her to ask additional questions about the company's culture before entertaining a job offer.
Workthing
Workthing: "Top questions to ask
Workthing polled several recruitment firms on the top questions for candidates to ask at interview
To find out about the company
Workthing polled several recruitment firms on the top questions for candidates to ask at interview
To find out about the company
Our advice is to ask lots of open-ended questions which would encourage the
employer to talk. Questions like: 'What is the vision for the company?' and 'How
would you describe the culture in the business?'
You can also find out a lot about the company by directing questions to the
interviewer in their capacity as an employee. For example: 'What attracted you
(the interviewer) to join the company?' or 'How long have you been here and what
has made you stay so long?'
Ask for more information on the company. If you have secured financial
statements, then ask for more information about them. Engage the interviewer in
a discussion about them. It is important to do this even if the position is a
non-financial one. It shows that you have keen business sense. Also, it shows
that you're aware that the meeting involves two parties. Similarly, ask
questions on the company's vision, mission statement, and strategy for the
coming years.
Office Team
In organisations with flatter structures, be careful when asking about
promotion. A better way to tackle this would be 'how can you see the role
developing?' Other questions to ask are: 'what circumstances have led you to be
recruiting?' and 'how long do people stay in the role?'
Working Careers
To find out about the role
Find out if there are consistencies between your ambitions and the direction
of the job by asking, for example, what development opportunities there are in
the role.
Cooper Lomaz Recruitment
1 I have read the job description, can you expand on the job I will be doing?
2 What type of training is provided?
3 How do you see me in the role?
4 Do you have performance targets?
5 How will I know that I am doing well?
6 What are team members achieving?
Working Careers
It's important that you find out about the role in the wider context of the
organisation. Asking questions about the organisation and the role will give you
an idea of whether it is indeed the right job for you. Questions like: 'What
will the scope for learning and development be?' and 'What are the opportunities
for progression?' allow you to determine whether the job will take your career
in the direction you have chosen for yourself.
Questions like: 'What can you tell me about my boss?' and 'Can you tell me
about the management/leadership style within the business?' should give you an
idea of whether the organisation's values and the way it operates will suit you.
It's important that candidates inform themselves about what they're letting
themselves in for. Often people will see a job advertised, and think I'd love to
work for that company, without knowing what the reality of life inside that
company is like.
Strategic Dimensions
To find out how well you've performed
I suggest that people ask for feedback at the end of the interview. For
example, what's the next step in the hiring process, what sort of chance do I
have, and so on. This shows that you're open-minded and mature enough to handle
any criticism and advice. It also shows that you're mature enough to learn.
Interviews have changed. It's not a secretive process anymore, where the company
invites you in to screen you. It's now a transaction. Asking for feedback tells
the interviewer that you see yourself as an equal party in a transaction.
Office Team
You must always close the sales process, so ask 'how do you see me fitting
in?' and 'what is the next step [in the recruitment process]?'
Working Careers
To impress your potential employers
Ask questions that are focused on embodying your enthusiasm, as well as your
willingness and ability:
1 What is the team working on at the moment?
2 Can I meet the team?
3 Can I look around?
4 What are your strategies for growth?
5 How soon do you want an employee in place?
6 If there was one major achievement that you would like to see happen within
the role from the outset, what would it be?
7 Can you describe what made the last person successful in this role?
8 What are the immediate improvements or priorities that need to be applied to
this role?
9 What changes would you like to see in the way the job is performed?
10 To ensure I would be able to hit the ground running would you be able to
supply any procedures, literature or other supporting information in preparation
for my first day in the role?
Ask The Headhunter: Due Diligence
Ask The Headhunter: Due Diligence
When you're considering a job offer, how's your "due diligence"? Do you do it in the job interview, or do you actually spend some time researching the company in advance, so you can form a clear judgment about it?
Most people research a prospective employer minimally. Some go no farther than reading a want ad or a job description, and asking the manager a few questions in the job interview. If they already know something about the company, they rely on their intuition. Usually, they're so glad to have a job offer that they fall prey to wishful thinking. But, it isn't just candidates that fail to carefully investigate employers. Companies usually don't check out job candidates very carefully, either. Diligence is typically lacking on both sides of the decision process.
In my opinion, the failure to research and understand one another is one of the key reasons why companies lay off employees and why workers quit jobs. They have no idea what they're getting into until it's too late.
Proper due diligence is extensive and detailed. How far you go with it is up to you. But, when you're considering an employer, I suggest that your minimum research should include the following.
Read:
The company's annual and quarterly SEC filings. (If you need help interpreting the financials, get it.)
The company's marketing and product brochures.
Articles about the company in the general business press and in industry-specific publications.
Articles about the company's industry, including its competitors. (The industry's problems are the company's problems, too.)
Competitors' marketing and product brochures.
The company's web site.
Competitors' web sites.
Talk with:
The hiring manager.
At least two people on the manager's team.
At least two people and managers in departments that would influence your success on the job (e.g., manufacturing, accounting, marketing).
At least one customer of the company. (Call a purchasing manager and ask his opinion of the company as a vendor.)
At least one vendor of the company. (Call the sales rep who handles the company and ask his opinion about it.)
At least one competitor of the company. (Call one of its sales reps, or a manager in a department related to the one you'd join. Be frank. Explain that you're considering a job there. What's their advice?)
At least two ex-employees of the company. (Find them through your own contacts, or ask current employees for names.)
Research is a funny thing. When it's part of our jobs, we do it thoroughly. When we need to do it for our own protection, we often skip it or we get sloppy. (We "trust our instincts".) As you do your research on a company, ask yourself:
What do I need to know?
What are the best sources of this information?
How good is each source?
Who can save me a lot of time by giving me the real inside scoop?
Have I really been thorough?
What could go wrong if I don't get good answers to my questions?
If all of this seems a bit much, remember that next to our friends and families, our employers represent the most important relationships we have. Remember that other people who have important relationships with your prospective employer practice due diligence: bankers, realtors, customers, vendors, venture capitalists and stock analysts. Can you afford to ignore it?
When you're considering a job offer, how's your "due diligence"? Do you do it in the job interview, or do you actually spend some time researching the company in advance, so you can form a clear judgment about it?
Most people research a prospective employer minimally. Some go no farther than reading a want ad or a job description, and asking the manager a few questions in the job interview. If they already know something about the company, they rely on their intuition. Usually, they're so glad to have a job offer that they fall prey to wishful thinking. But, it isn't just candidates that fail to carefully investigate employers. Companies usually don't check out job candidates very carefully, either. Diligence is typically lacking on both sides of the decision process.
In my opinion, the failure to research and understand one another is one of the key reasons why companies lay off employees and why workers quit jobs. They have no idea what they're getting into until it's too late.
Proper due diligence is extensive and detailed. How far you go with it is up to you. But, when you're considering an employer, I suggest that your minimum research should include the following.
Read:
The company's annual and quarterly SEC filings. (If you need help interpreting the financials, get it.)
The company's marketing and product brochures.
Articles about the company in the general business press and in industry-specific publications.
Articles about the company's industry, including its competitors. (The industry's problems are the company's problems, too.)
Competitors' marketing and product brochures.
The company's web site.
Competitors' web sites.
Talk with:
The hiring manager.
At least two people on the manager's team.
At least two people and managers in departments that would influence your success on the job (e.g., manufacturing, accounting, marketing).
At least one customer of the company. (Call a purchasing manager and ask his opinion of the company as a vendor.)
At least one vendor of the company. (Call the sales rep who handles the company and ask his opinion about it.)
At least one competitor of the company. (Call one of its sales reps, or a manager in a department related to the one you'd join. Be frank. Explain that you're considering a job there. What's their advice?)
At least two ex-employees of the company. (Find them through your own contacts, or ask current employees for names.)
Research is a funny thing. When it's part of our jobs, we do it thoroughly. When we need to do it for our own protection, we often skip it or we get sloppy. (We "trust our instincts".) As you do your research on a company, ask yourself:
What do I need to know?
What are the best sources of this information?
How good is each source?
Who can save me a lot of time by giving me the real inside scoop?
Have I really been thorough?
What could go wrong if I don't get good answers to my questions?
If all of this seems a bit much, remember that next to our friends and families, our employers represent the most important relationships we have. Remember that other people who have important relationships with your prospective employer practice due diligence: bankers, realtors, customers, vendors, venture capitalists and stock analysts. Can you afford to ignore it?
NewYorkBusiness.com - Powered by Crain's New York Business
NewYorkBusiness.com - Powered by Crain's New York Business: "Clock ticking for Time Inc.
Publisher races to bring titles into e-age, restart growth
By Matthew Flamm
Published on May 29, 2006
After three rounds of job cuts and a critical personnel change at its flagship magazine, Time Inc. stands poised to enter a brave new world of swimsuit shoots that appear on cell phones and advertising that bleeds seamlessly across print and electronic formats.
The changes are part of the company's long-awaited response to the surge in digital media that has magazine executives everywhere reaching for their Maalox.
continued below
advertisement
With its chief executive, Ann Moore, under pressure to return the company to growth, the No. 1 magazine publisher is attempting to outrun the new media avalanche and transform its world-famous titles into brands that can be consumed in whatever fashion readers like.
The transition can't happen fast enough. Profits for the Time Warner division plummeted in the first quarter, and namesake title Time is in danger of becoming obsolete. The question among some industry observers is whether the storied publisher waited too long before starting down the digital path.
'This is the first year [Time Inc.] has finally gotten that there are too many things changing at the same time, and that [the situation] isn't going back to the way it was,' says Peter Kreisky, chairman of Kreisky Media Consultancy.
Extending its brands
Executives at Time Inc. insist that the company is ready to extend its brands into the digital sphere and provide readers and marketers with a range of choices. A new corporate sales and marketing division is working to create advertising packages that will cut across titles and formats, including including podcasts and cell phones.
"We're going to deliver audiences through many brands at one time," says Robin Domeniconi, president of the new division. "Our job is to leverage our brands however the consumer wants them."
The company has little choice but to change. Time Inc. has been hit by a combination of forces since Ms. Moore took the reins in 2002 from Don Logan, who is famous for presiding over 41 consecutive quarters of profit growth.
The publisher's signature male-oriented titles Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Time suffered double-digit declines in advertising pages last year, as mainstay categories, particularly automotive, cut back on spending or shifted dollars to the Internet.
Business magazines such as Fortune and Money fell out of favor, while the growth of cable television and the Internet raised questions about newsweeklies. This year, advertising at Sports Illustrated has stabilized, and Time's ad pages grew 5% through April. Still, management is rethinking Time's mission, naming Richard Stengel the latest top editor of the newsmagazine.
Women's titles Real Simple, In Style and People have largely kept Time Inc. aloft.
Last year, with their help--and a boost from the book group--earnings for Time Warner's publishing division rose 5% to $1.3 billion, off revenue that increased 5% to $5.8 billion. For the first quarter of this year, revenue for the publishing division was flat at $1.1 billion, with earnings off 12% to $116 million. Revenue was not counted from the book group, which was sold.
"You have to become a content company," says Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners Inc., a mergers and acquisitions firm. "You can't make money anymore selling ad pages and giving away circulation."
Time Inc. has already had some successes with its new model.
CNNMoney.com, which combines content from four business titles, has become the third-largest business portal, up from eighth place, since launching in January.
Sports Illustrated's Web site, SI.com, has rolled out video downloads for iPods and mobile phones. So far this year, its ad revenue is up 100%.
Keeping promises is key
Industry insiders say that it remains to be seen how well the rest of Time Inc. can deliver on its promises to market brands, as opposed to magazines, especially when people are worried about their future.
The recent rounds of layoffs were notable for targeting the business side, including high-level publishing executives. Last week, Ms. Moore offered tepid reassurance to anxious staffers, writing in a companywide memo, "We do hope the majority of eliminations is behind us."
Says a former executive who recently left the company, "Employees are yessing the key executives to death for fear of losing their jobs."
Observers also point out that Time Inc. has a tradition of fiefdoms and decentralized operations, which make it harder to get different parts of the company to work together.
"They have not been good at [cross-media, cross-title programs]," says Roberta Garfinkle, director of print strategy at TargetCast, a media planning agency. "We're looking forward to hearing how they can make it better."
Publisher races to bring titles into e-age, restart growth
By Matthew Flamm
Published on May 29, 2006
After three rounds of job cuts and a critical personnel change at its flagship magazine, Time Inc. stands poised to enter a brave new world of swimsuit shoots that appear on cell phones and advertising that bleeds seamlessly across print and electronic formats.
The changes are part of the company's long-awaited response to the surge in digital media that has magazine executives everywhere reaching for their Maalox.
continued below
advertisement
With its chief executive, Ann Moore, under pressure to return the company to growth, the No. 1 magazine publisher is attempting to outrun the new media avalanche and transform its world-famous titles into brands that can be consumed in whatever fashion readers like.
The transition can't happen fast enough. Profits for the Time Warner division plummeted in the first quarter, and namesake title Time is in danger of becoming obsolete. The question among some industry observers is whether the storied publisher waited too long before starting down the digital path.
'This is the first year [Time Inc.] has finally gotten that there are too many things changing at the same time, and that [the situation] isn't going back to the way it was,' says Peter Kreisky, chairman of Kreisky Media Consultancy.
Extending its brands
Executives at Time Inc. insist that the company is ready to extend its brands into the digital sphere and provide readers and marketers with a range of choices. A new corporate sales and marketing division is working to create advertising packages that will cut across titles and formats, including including podcasts and cell phones.
"We're going to deliver audiences through many brands at one time," says Robin Domeniconi, president of the new division. "Our job is to leverage our brands however the consumer wants them."
The company has little choice but to change. Time Inc. has been hit by a combination of forces since Ms. Moore took the reins in 2002 from Don Logan, who is famous for presiding over 41 consecutive quarters of profit growth.
The publisher's signature male-oriented titles Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Time suffered double-digit declines in advertising pages last year, as mainstay categories, particularly automotive, cut back on spending or shifted dollars to the Internet.
Business magazines such as Fortune and Money fell out of favor, while the growth of cable television and the Internet raised questions about newsweeklies. This year, advertising at Sports Illustrated has stabilized, and Time's ad pages grew 5% through April. Still, management is rethinking Time's mission, naming Richard Stengel the latest top editor of the newsmagazine.
Women's titles Real Simple, In Style and People have largely kept Time Inc. aloft.
Last year, with their help--and a boost from the book group--earnings for Time Warner's publishing division rose 5% to $1.3 billion, off revenue that increased 5% to $5.8 billion. For the first quarter of this year, revenue for the publishing division was flat at $1.1 billion, with earnings off 12% to $116 million. Revenue was not counted from the book group, which was sold.
"You have to become a content company," says Mark Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners Inc., a mergers and acquisitions firm. "You can't make money anymore selling ad pages and giving away circulation."
Time Inc. has already had some successes with its new model.
CNNMoney.com, which combines content from four business titles, has become the third-largest business portal, up from eighth place, since launching in January.
Sports Illustrated's Web site, SI.com, has rolled out video downloads for iPods and mobile phones. So far this year, its ad revenue is up 100%.
Keeping promises is key
Industry insiders say that it remains to be seen how well the rest of Time Inc. can deliver on its promises to market brands, as opposed to magazines, especially when people are worried about their future.
The recent rounds of layoffs were notable for targeting the business side, including high-level publishing executives. Last week, Ms. Moore offered tepid reassurance to anxious staffers, writing in a companywide memo, "We do hope the majority of eliminations is behind us."
Says a former executive who recently left the company, "Employees are yessing the key executives to death for fear of losing their jobs."
Observers also point out that Time Inc. has a tradition of fiefdoms and decentralized operations, which make it harder to get different parts of the company to work together.
"They have not been good at [cross-media, cross-title programs]," says Roberta Garfinkle, director of print strategy at TargetCast, a media planning agency. "We're looking forward to hearing how they can make it better."
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