{"id":85369,"date":"2014-12-05T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=85369"},"modified":"2014-12-04T17:04:03","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T23:04:03","slug":"on-culture-fit-and-the-job-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=85369","title":{"rendered":"On Culture Fit and the Job Search"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Rebekah Kati, Senior Assistant, INALJ North Carolina<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

On Culture Fit and the Job Search<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"RebekahKati\"<\/a>Whenever I was rejected from a job, my friends and family would try to reassure me that it\u00a0would not have been a good fit anyway. Often, this was true, but it made me muse on the idea\u00a0of a \u201cgood fit\u201d in the job search. What exactly does that mean and why is it so important?<\/p>\n

\u201cFit\u201d typically has two aspects. There is job fit, which is how well a candidate\u2019s qualifications\u00a0and experience matches the advertised position. This is fairly straightforward. The second\u00a0aspect is culture fit, which is how well the candidate matches the existing workplace culture.\u00a0A bad fit between employer and employee can make a working relationship very contentious,\u00a0which is why search committees pay special attention to it. The problem with culture fit is that it\u00a0can be amorphous and ambiguous. It is almost impossible to assess a culture fit as a potential\u00a0employee unless you have a pre-existing relationship with employer. How should a job seeker\u00a0navigate this important, but frustrating part of the job search?<\/p>\n

First, make peace with the fact that you may not know everything about an employer\u2019s culture\u00a0and how well you will fit, unless you\u2019re applying for an internal job. Fit is comprised of many\u00a0different facets and it is impossible to identify and assess them all. Some aspects of company\u00a0culture may not be overt, so the employer may not be consciously aware of them. Often, you\u00a0might have a feeling about how well the workplace culture matches your personality and comfort\u00a0level, but you won\u2019t know for certain. You certainly will not know the search committee\u2019s\u00a0assessment.<\/p>\n

Second, learn as much as you can about the organization, but don\u2019t try to force yourself\u00a0into the existing culture during the interview, as this can be detrimental to your chances\u00a0if done incorrectly. I once attended a presentation given by a job candidate in which the\u00a0candidate spent the bulk of his presentation time talking about the mission of the university\u00a0and his aspirations to work in a place with a strong mission. He likely wanted to show that he\u00a0understood the university and its culture, but he spent so much time on this that he neglected\u00a0to show how his skills fit the job. Although the library wholeheartedly supported the university\u2019s\u00a0mission, the search committee was more concerned with the candidate\u2019s qualifications and he\u00a0missed the opportunity to showcase them.<\/p>\n

Third, remember to ask questions during the interview that will illuminate the workplace culture.\u00a0Questions such as \u201cwhat is a typical day like\u201d, \u201ctell me more about why you like working here\u201d\u00a0and \u201cwhat is your greatest challenge in your work\u201d will not only help you understand more about\u00a0the workplace, but may give you talking points throughout the interview. It is a good idea to\u00a0ask these sorts of questions of people outside the search committee to give you a more well\u00a0rounded picture. You will likely be working with departments other than those represented on\u00a0the search committee and department culture might also play a role in the overall culture fit.<\/p>\n

Lastly, remember that fit matters for you too. Be your best professional self at the interview,\u00a0but remember that if you don\u2019t feel comfortable in the job, you may not stay in the position long.\u00a0Don\u2019t ignore signs that the culture may be a bad fit for you. Good luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rebekah Kati, Senior Assistant, INALJ North Carolina On Culture Fit and the Job Search Whenever I was rejected from a job, my friends and family would try to reassure me that it\u00a0would not have been a good fit anyway. Often, this was true, but it made me muse on the idea\u00a0of a \u201cgood fit\u201d…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":57201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,6698,6700,3627,6699,3860,16,266,4340,3952],"class_list":["post-85369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-company-culture","tag-culture-fit","tag-inalj-north-carolina","tag-job-fit","tag-job-hunt","tag-job-hunting","tag-job-search","tag-job-searching","tag-rebekah-kati"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/RebekahKati.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-mcV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}