What’s the culture like?

Nearly every candidate at some point in their recruitment journey asks: ‘what’s the culture like?’. I get why you’re asking it - often because you have had the unfortunate experience of being burned working for a company with a toxic culture, and you don’t want to make that mistake again.

It’s quite challenging to accurately describe the culture of an organisation, as it can only really be understood through experience. Culture emerges from the way that people interact with one another.

Here’s how to assess a company’s culture for yourself based on data points you can collect during the recruitment process. I’ll split this into two stages: desktop research you can run outside of the interview process, and then the interview process itself.

Stage 1 - desktop research

How do they treat their customers?

Externally facing behaviour is often a mirror to internally facing behaviour: it’s hard to be sweet to customers if you treat your employees badly. So a good way to road test the culture is to try the product (if you’re going for a Product role, this should be a given anyway). Go on their website, download their app, try the product out. Speak to customer success or support. How quickly do they get back to you? How do they manage your query? Are they focused on solving your problem as best they can? This can speak more about their values than any statement posted on a website.

How diverse is the company?

There’s lots of evidence now that companies with diverse leadership and teams have stronger cultures and perform better than those which are homogenous. See if you can find the leadership team on their ‘About’ page - do they all look the same? What are their professional backgrounds? Are there any Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or networks for different interest groups? As you progress through interview you can follow this up by asking what these groups have been able to accomplish - have they successfully implemented policy changes, or are they inclusivity washing?

What external validation do they have?

This isn’t one that I would take on its own at face value, but it can help validate other data points you collect. What awards or recognition does the company have for its culture? What accreditations does it hold with professional or industry bodies? And for some industries, what is the regulatory environment (e.g. Financial Conduct Authority) and their apparent attitude towards compliance?

Interview process

How do they treat you during the recruitment process?

It’s frustrating to put so much effort into refining your resume and applying for the role, only to get an automated rejection or worse, be ghosted. You can use the early stages of the process to understand how they treat people who actually work there: are they respectful of your time and effort in applying? Do they communicate clearly and promptly at each stage? Do they offer any sort of feedback at each stage, whether your application is rejected or successful? And are they consistent in these factors across all stages and every person you meet?

What are the people who work there like?

To properly assess this you need to meet a varied cross section of people. Companies with a strong culture will have a process that enables you to meet several people in different roles, and if that’s not part of the process and you ask, will gladly accommodate. As well as Talent and the hiring manager, as a minimum you also need to meet one of the senior leaders and a peer that you will be working alongside. When you meet them, there’s three things I recommend assessing: their honesty with you about the positives and challenges of the company, their mindset (is it a growth or fixed mindset?) and how relaxed the conversation is. With that last one, there is a fine line to be drawn between being too formal, and being too relaxed. Remember that the company should be putting their best foot forward during an interview, and always maintaining respectability. A friend once told me a story about how she once interviewed for a Product role in a pub, and the founder got very drunk. She got offered the job, but turned it down because it was so inappropriate and made her feel uncomfortable. Please don’t excuse that kind of behaviour by thinking that’s just a one off, people will show you what they are like more realistically than they will tell you.

What benefits do they offer?

This data point cannot be used on its own, as smaller companies and startups may not have such an extensive suite of benefits to offer as larger companies. However, you can get a feel for culture and values by asking what benefits they have. Do the benefits support you to maintain good health and work-life boundaries, such as private medical, flexible and remote working, generous leave (be warned about unlimited paid time off (UPTO))? 

A final word

When assessing a company culture, it’s a very personal decision as to whether it’s the right one for you. Plenty of people like the challenge of working with a company who’s culture needs some work - it may even be looking to turn it around and want to bring in folk with positive mindsets and strong leadership to support its transformation. You have to start with understanding yourself and your needs: what are you prepared to compromise on? Ultimately wherever you go, culture is ever evolving and depends on the people and how they interact with each other, meaning it can change if people leave or new people join. 

And that’s empowering: it means you have a role to play in creating the culture you want to see in the company you want to join.