By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
This is not an easy thing to do because, like you, employers and the people who report to them are always on good behavior. But there is a way to do it.
How Can I Get an Employer to Accelerate a Hiring Process?
Hi! I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I coach people around job search, hiring, managing and leading, more effective in the workplace in general. Someone asked me a great question.
It’s how do you spot a bad company culture, environment, bad job scope before accepting an offer? What a great question and it requires some effort on your part and it starts off with the effort of noticing. So, for example, when you walk in on the interview, what are the people like? What’s the energy like in the room? How do they conduct themselves with you so that you feel as though . . . well, you notice how they feel. Are they energized or not? Do they seem run down, worn out? What’s going on? Now, one person, that’s not enough to judge by.
The entire office, two, three people, that’s something to notice and inquire about because it’s not just as simple as noticing. It’s perhaps something along the lines of, is there anything else you want to ask? Yeah, I’m curious about the culture around here. Like, for example, you seem pretty worn out today or you seem kind of tired.
I don’t know if that’s a normal condition for you. What’s it like working here? So, I just want to check what the environment’s like. You notice your future boss.
Do they seem irritable, cranky, annoyed? Hey, anything else? You know, I noticed that you you seem like you’re under a lot of stress. What’s going on? I’m curious what it’s like for the staff. Are they under a lot of pressure? It can be as simple as the questions that you ask.
Now, if you don’t want to do it at the interview, another way is to look for people who work for this firm and in this group on LinkedIn. Again, it requires some effort and may require that you send a connection request or join a group that they’re a part of so you can message them or you can, of course, pick up the phone and call. So, for example, what you might do in looking on LinkedIn is see someone who’s doing similar work to that which you’re going to be asked to do.
Do you have a job description? Pull out some phrases from the job description. Do a LinkedIn search. Narrow it down by company, as well.
And, lo and behold, by the way, you can also narrow it down by former employees, not necessarily current ones and thus be able to contact former employees and say, hey, you know, I’ve just interviewed at so-and-so and did you work for such and such there? No? Okay. I’m sorry. Is there someone that you know who did because I just picked up something about the environment there.
I just want to check it out because I don’t know if it’s true or not but I just want to get a sense of what it’s like working in that group. Oh, I could tell you about that. And they may share some stories.
It may be a group that interacts with the one that you’re interviewing with. No matter, the idea is always to investigate. To start by noticing what’s said and not said, the behavior and the personalities of the people that you’re speaking with.
Are they high strung and irritable, seemingly down and depressed? What’s the noise like in the room? Is it kind of energized or dead, you know, or some gradient in the middle? However it is, it’s always worth investigating. And, again, back to the notion of what it’d be like to work for that particular manager, I always remind people everyone’s on good behavior when they interview. You’re on good behavior and so are they.
So, understand they are not always going to be that nice pleasant individual that you’re talking with today. There are going to be days that they’re grumpy, grouchy or what have you and you recognize that. But the question is, what’s the overall trend with this person? I was talking with someone recently who joined the new firm who wound up with a manager from hell and he had turned over 60 people in the last year.
Now, even if that’s an exaggeration, it was 40 in the last year. That’s a hell of a lot of people to be turning over and you recognize that. You hear that story and you head for the hills because there’s no way you’re going to be the one person out of all of those who’s going to make it through.
You’re right to always investigate culture but like you, I remind you, they are always on good behavior and everyone’s going to tell you all sorts of happy stuff but unless you investigate and inquire both directly or indirectly about what it’s like working in that team, you’re operating on clairvoyance. And I know I’m not particularly clairvoyant. I suspect the same is true of you, too.
I’m Jeff Altman. Hope you found this helpful. My website is TheBigGameHunter.us. If you’re interested in one-on-one coaching, on the home page, you can sign up for a free discovery call or sign up for coaching, as well.
And there’s a lot more content in the blog that you can watch, listen to or read to help you find work more quickly. Also, if you’re watching on youtube, just click the little icon in the lower right hand corner and subscribe to my channel. You get lots of information delivered to me when I create it.
Have a great day and take care!
You Don’t Need a Job Description
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers
easier. Those things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3100 episodes.
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