Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Your fit with the organisation will be the key to your success…

It is a cliché, I know, but your personal fit with the organisation is the primary key to being successful. In these rapidly changing times, the job you decided to pursue will alter over time, your reporting lines will change…but what will not rapidly change is the organisational culture.
Consequently, one of the key defining factors when assessing a job opportunity is your fit with the company culture.

Let’s start with the beginning: there are many definitions around organisational culture, one being even fluffier than the other. While researching for this blog, I came across a definition that to me sums it up correctly: ‘It is the way we do things around here’.
It consists of factors such as the shared values of a business, the beliefs and norms that affect every aspect of working life, the typical day-to-day behaviour. All of these are unspoken rules that define the unique ways of working within an organisation.

The difficulty of assessing a company culture prior to joining an organisation lies in the fact that the rules are unspoken. Does it mean that you just need to take your chances and hope for the best? Not at all, it merely indicates that you’ll need to focus in order to detect the company culture during the selection process.

It starts by knowing who you are and your own ways of working. You may have qualities that thrive in a structured, well-established organisation but that will set you up for failure in a start-up environment.

Once you know your own ‘culture’, you can start by reviewing the website of future employers. This will give you a first glance of the values a company has. But the proof of the pudding is still in the eating so…close observation during the selection process will reveal the true ways of working within an organisation.

Pay attention to the way you are treated at the reception. Have a look as well on how the working space is organised, you may not like an open space office environment. Are people dressed in a casual way or will a suit be your daily uniform?
All of these small factors will give you a first impression on the organisational culture.

Your interviews will provide you with additional information. The way a company approaches recruitment will tell you a lot about the qualities they value: are the questions oriented towards the technical aspects of a position or will they focus more on your personality? How do the different interviewers interact with each other? Do they all tell the same story? How quickly do they decide whether you make it to the next round? Do you get to meet the other team-members?




I look forward to hearing from you,
Isabel

Through a personalised and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be
Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch