Do you love your job? Or…do you despise going into work on Monday mornings?
Regardless of your current situation, if your values and career goals do not line up with that of your company, you may have a problem.
What is your definition of success? If it’s working hard, and getting promoted based on performance, you might want to work for a company that has a similar career progression plan. If, on the other hand, your company promotes people based on tenure, regardless (or seemingly so) of performance, you might not be with the right company for you.
There are a number of ways you can determine if a company is a right fit for you, regardless of if you are about to enter an initial interview, or if you have been with your company for quite some time. Here is a sample question you might want to ask your future employer before you decide to tie the career knot:
What are your core values, and how were they established?
Often times, core values are created in a room of leaders who do not give much thought to how those core values will actually play out in the day-to-day of the company’s culture. If the person interviewing you has a solid answer, it’s a great first step to be able to identify if those values line up with your personal values.
For example, if you like to give back to the community in your personal life, it would be great if the company you’re interviewing with happened to have a “Community” core value. Not only would you be able to do more of what you’re passionate about, but you’d also be surrounded by other individuals who care about giving back.
This is just a teaser of an article I recently wrote for St. Thomas’s Career Link blog, outlining how to identify a great career culture fit. Check out the rest of the article here!
