It’s critical to learn about corporate culture before you accept a job offer but it can be awkward to raise such questions. Learn what to ask and how to ask it to avoid landing yourself in a bad situation.
A question I commonly hear when I’m talking about interviewing is, “How do I ask about the company’s culture?” It can be a tricky topic. It’s important to understand both the cultural fit and the expectations for a job (e.g., is this a forty hour a week job or do they expect people to be working much more?) before you join a company. Unfortunately, blurting out, “Hey, do you work long hours here?” doesn’t exactly convey you in a great light during the interview process. How can you walk that fine line?
Below are questions you can ask during the interview process to uncover these important topics. However, it’s not just about the questions themselves. When asking them there are a few critical things you should do.
It’s important to understand that a fit for a job goes both ways. For example, I’ve built startups where we did work for more than forty hours, and I was very explicit about it. If I hired someone and there was a misunderstanding about the weekly workload, team culture, or other expectations, I would have wound up with yet another vacancy to fill, or worse, a disgruntled employee. A good manager will want to be upfront. Of course, those not so good managers may hope to hide some skeletons. Let’s see how to open those closet doors without making too much noise.
First, you need to have the right mindset when asking. The key is to frame it not as, “Do I deign your company to be worthy of me?” but rather, “Let’s make sure we’re on the same page, so we know this is a good fit for us both.” Recognize that this is a two-way conversation between equals. Think of it like dating. No one wants to be on a date when one person feels superior and makes the other jump through hoops to seem worthy of the relationship. But a good date is where two people get to know each other and figure out if there’s mutual compatibility. You may find a dealbreaker, but better to find it early on when you’re dating, instead of once you’re already married. Likewise, better to find out now, during the interview process, than two months into the job. That’s preferable for both parties.
Second, how you phrase the questions is very important. Instead of the question above about hours, phrase it as, “I want to make sure I understand and can meet expectations for this job, what are typical working hours for the team?” This translates the mutual fit mentality into words and properly conveys it. By moving ahead, with the conversation after getting the answer you’re signaling that you’re fine with that answer.
You can preference the questions given further below with any of the motivating subordinate clauses.
Third, blame me. Yes, literally blame me. If you feel awkward broaching this subject, you can put the responsibility on me. This is a common negotiation tactic. “Hey, I just spoke to my manager and while I really want to give you a low price, he said I can only go down to $800, no less.” In this technique (often applied unethically in negotiating), he’s passing the responsibility off to his manager; it’s the big bad (invisible) manager who is tying his hands, making him do this.
You can (ethically) employ a similar approach. “The brilliant, wise, insightful, kind, generous, and really, really ridiculously good-looking career expert Mark Herschberg has a great list of questions he recommends candidates and hiring managers go over during the interview process to make sure this is a fit for both of us. I’d like to go over a few of them with you now.” (But, you know, use whatever adjectives you’re comfortable with.) Now you’re putting the responsibility on me. You’re saying, “I’m not trying to be a jerk, I’m simply following an industry best practice.” Blaming me will help you psychologically be off the hook.
(I must note I’m a very strong believer that we all must be responsible for our actions. And so should you be with the questions you ask, including these. There’s nothing wrong or immoral about asking these questions. This is a technique to help you let yourself feel comfortable asking the questions, rather than truly being about shirking responsibility for your actions.)
What are the questions? I’ve listed a bunch below, organized into categories. Like my career questions, it’s not meant as a comprehensive list, but rather as a starting point. Add your own. Don’t worry so much about the categories because you could easily debate which question belongs in which category; focus on what answers you need. Of course, don’t need to ask them all, pick the ones that matter to you.
I’ll be adding to this list overtime, so be sure to check out: The Career Toolkit Candidate Interview Questions for the latest list.
When asking these questions, order can matter as well as tone. If your first question is the one about struggling employees, the interviewer may flag that as a potential issue. If that’s question seven of nine, it may not stand out. Here again, starting that question with, “I want to better understand your management style by looking at exceptional cases. . .” helps to position it as, “I want to understand you and this helps me do it” instead of, “I may need help myself in the future.”
Finally, there’s a critical twist you can employ with all the questions above. As a candidate you may say things like, “Oh, sure, I know how to scale a customer service team. No problem.” Any halfway decent interviewer will immediately follow that response with a question like, “Can you walk me through where and how you did that?” Anyone can give a vague, unsupported answer; good interviewers want specifics, and rightly so. Turnabout is fair play so you can do the same. Ask for specifics. “We really value employee feedback around here; we have a monthly meeting where you can share ideas” should be followed by, “I’m so glad to hear that. Could you please share with me, what was the last employee suggestion from one of those meetings that the company implemented and when was it?” (Note the use of, “Could you please share with me . . .” instead of, “And what was . . .”. The former has a more collaborative tone to it.)
Some of those questions above might look familiar. For example, the question “What are the worst parts about working here?” sounds remarkably similar to that interviewer classic, “What are your weaknesses?” That’s no coincidence; some of these questions come from the other side of the table and have simply been flipped around. Two-way streets go both ways.
One word of caution. Some of the questions above may get you blank stares. A manager may be expecting a question about company culture. She or he may not be expecting you to ask about management philosophy or to <gasp> come up with specific examples. If you do get some pauses, and it feels a little awkward, again, go ahead and blame me, “I know you probably don’t normally get that question, but Mark Herschberg says this is an important one for us to cover.” A good manager will appreciate these questions even if he or she hasn’t heard them before. A poor manager will be put off by them. While it may hurt your chances of getting a job in that latter case, that’s a good thing, it helps you avoid the bad managers.
As the Great Resignation unfolds, we’re seeing the biggest rewrite of the capital - labor contract in a century. Employees are recognizing that engagement, culture, support, and overall fit matter in addition to compensation. Some companies are starting to wake up to that; those are the places where you want to work. These questions will become standard over the next few years but don’t be afraid to start asking them today. When you do, be sure to have a mindset of exploration, not confrontation, phrase them appropriately and in a sensible order, and blame me for needing to ask them. Good luck finding not just a job, but one that’s the right fit for you. Let me know how it goes.
It’s critical to learn about corporate culture before you accept a job offer but it can be awkward to raise such questions. Learn what to ask and how to ask it to avoid landing yourself in a bad situation.
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