How To Tell Whether A Company Is a Good Fit For You
2 min readAug 30, 2020
Choosing which company to apply or accept an offer at can be challenging. It is hard to tell from the outside whether the culture, people or mission will be a fit for you. But there are things you can do.
- Glassdoor — This is a great tool not just for getting tips on interviews / expected salary but also what the culture and management of a company is like. Just remember to take it with a grain of salt (it may attract views to the extreme on both sides), especially at smaller companies with less responses
- Talk to someone! — You should reach out to people other than the recruiter. This both shows interest and initiative but may also give you a “real” perspective on what it is like to work there and what questions you should get answered when talking to the recruiter. If you don’t know anyone at the company — go through the employees on LinkedIn and find someone who you have something in common with. If you send them a nice note, you’ll be surprised how many respond. We know this can be challenging so we are collecting interviews with young people working at organizations in Australia and around the world to make it more accessible.
- Other signals that can tell you whether it is a good place to work
- How long have people been at the company on LinkedIn?
- Is there any press about the company that gives a sense for their direction
- Are there any interviews with the CEO / other leadership?
4. What is the mission of the company? — If you are interested in what the company does and agree with their approach it is much more likely you will enjoy working there.
- Interested in animals? Why not work at Mad Paws!
- Like education? How about Edrolo
- Passionate about film? Why not work at the company that made the cameras and software for Game of Thrones — Blackmagic Design
- Want a change of scene from working in HR? How about a company that is working on the next generation of HR at a company like CultureAmp?
Check out https://www.ikigainetwork.io to see how others have evaluated companies — including choosing between small companies and big ones, working in the corporate world or as a freelancer.
