When Choosing An Employer, Culture Matters

When determining whether an employer is the right fit for you, it is important to find out about its culture. Companies are as different as the people who work there and run the business. For better and worse, culture and leadership are inextricably linked. Founders and influential leaders often set the initial culture of their organizations. Over time an organization’s leaders can also shape culture, through both conscious and unconscious actions.

We all, no doubt click with certain people when we meet them and don't click well when we meet others. Likewise there are companies that we will find ourselves comfortable working for and others where we will not. You don't want to join a company only to discover later that the organization belongs in the latter category.

Culture may not be a major factor when choosing an employer as what kind of work you'll be doing, the amount you'll be paid, and the benefits you'll be receiving. But your happiness and job satisfaction over the years will hinge on whether you’ve been comfortable in your employer’s culture. Comfort makes you more productive, and productivity always lies behind success, no matter the career. That’s why considering culture, a company’s living and breathing personality, is so critical when you’re looking for a job.

Defining Culture

Culture is the tacit social order of an organization: It shapes attitudes and behaviors in wide-ranging and durable ways. Cultural norms define what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected within a group. When properly aligned with personal values, drives, and needs, culture can unleash tremendous amounts of energy toward a shared purpose and foster an organization’s capacity to thrive.

Culture is a group phenomenon. It cannot exist solely within a single person, nor is it simply the average of individual characteristics. It resides in shared behaviors, values, and assumptions and is most commonly experienced through the norms and expectations of a group—that is, the unwritten rules.

Culture permeates multiple levels and applies very broadly in an organization; sometimes it is even conflated with the organization itself. It is manifest in collective behaviors, physical environments, group rituals, visible symbols, stories, and legends. Other aspects of culture are unseen, such as mindsets, motivations and unspoken assumptions.

Find The Right Fit For You

When you first begin your job-search and begin to interview, you might be tempted to accept the first offer from an organization that will hire you. But it would be a mistake to ignore the culture of the organization!

You might be a Type A workaholic; your new employer a laid back, quiet place that locks up its doors at exactly fifteen minutes past 5:00 p.m. If you are used to working late into the night, you can see where there would be a problem. Don't find yourself in that situation. Don't be so quick to accept a job offer. Getting an offer is a great thing, but for your long-term success, you need to at least consider culture fit.

If you’re an early-career job seeker, you may not quite know what sort of culture you’re looking for yet. But it will start to become clear as you go to interviews and listen to your gut feelings about whether you feel comfortable there.

In the meantime, you can ask your networking contacts about their views on the subject. Everyone has different priorities and preferences, of course. Some people will tell you they made their job decision based on the pace of the work or the company’s attitudes about work-life balance. Others may tell you about more unusual considerations. For my friend, a hedge-fund manager for a large investment company, the fresh juice bar in the employee lounge, and the culture of managers using that resource to build morale and have fun, helped make it a good fit. But regardless of the specifics, most, if not all, of the successful people you talk to will agree that culture is a crucial factor for any job seeker to consider.

Culture Indicators

So, how do you find out about a company’s culture before you work there? Sometimes a company’s advertising will aim to communicate something about its personality. But be careful of putting too much stock in these branding campaigns. They’re nowhere near as reliable a barometer of culture as your own intuition on interview day.

Notice people, not the ones you are interviewing with, but others you see in hallways and work-spaces. Do they seem happy? How much stress do you see in their faces? How are they dressed? Office space says something about the culture. Do people have pictures and personal items on display at their work-station or desk, or is the scene stark and cold? What are the facilities like? Is there an employee workout room or a really nice break area? What about other resources that are important to you? You can learn a lot from the company break room. Are there notices about the company softball team, a bowling league, yoga classes, or other activities that appeal to you? Does the company have family-friendly policies, such as in-house day care and good maternity and paternal leave (sometimes called family leave)? Does anyone even talk about subjects like these?

Some companies offer perks such as snack bars and gym memberships, which seem great—but can come with tradeoffs. Is the employer using these benefits as incentives to keep workers on the job from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.?

There aren’t strictly “good” cultures or “bad” cultures. It’s all about what works for you. Companies with a range of personalities can be equally successful. At one company I know well it seems to be “casual day” every day, and people meet in nooks and crannies off hallways or in the large, open library. Another company has a formal, buttoned-up look, with meetings held only in swanky executive offices. It’s like the difference between Birkenstock sandals and a Brooks Brothers suit. Each company is great at what they do. But depending on your personality, you’d probably be more comfortable at one or the other. The crucial thing is to figure out what your prospective employer’s culture is and consider whether it will be a good fit for you. Never ignore visible signs that you may not be happy there.

Remember, if you find an employer with a culture that you can fit into, its a great thing. Don't delude yourself into thinking that you can overcome the obstacles posted by some glaring culture issue. If it smells funny and it looks funny, try to avoid stepping in it.

It's almost 2 months into the new year and most people are still working on their resolutions and goals for 2019. When setting goals for yourself whether it's during a job search or to land a new job that will promote new opportunities and growth, it's important to set goals and work hard to attain them. To keep fighting even with the going gets tough!

Never have a lack of goals
If you're bored with life- you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things- you don't have enough goals. - Lou Holtz

Vision is everything
If you don't know where you're going, you will probably end up somewhere else. -Laurence J.Peter

Dream enormously big
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. - Les Brown

Persistence makes all the difference
Never quit! It's the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don't quit until you attain it. When you do, set another goal, and don't quit until you reach it. Never quit! - Bear Bryant

Goals gives our lives meaning
The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score. -Bill Copeland
Setting goals and then working ridiculously hard to achieve them sets you on the path of living a purpose driven life

True success is all about working toward meaningful goals and dreams
A goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at. -Bruce Lee
Achieving our dreams and goals is fantastic but that's not the most important in setting goals.
The most important thing is the type of person we become along the way.

*Stop playing small
*The great danger for most of us lies in not setting our aim too high and falling short;but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. - Michelangelo
There's no benefit from playing small and setting your aim too low.

Where are you headed?
If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. - Zig Ziglar
If you don't set your goals in life then it's almost certain that you will be disappointed with your results. You'd be setting yourself up for failure.

Stay Focused at all times
You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream - C.S. Lewis
Nelson Mandela was 75 years old when he was elected president of South Africa.
Another man in his 90's ran a 26 mile marathon . Don't ever say you're too old.

I suggest at the end of each week you set up a weekly review and analyze where you are in the process of achieving your goals. This will help you stay on track. I hope you enjoyed some of my favorite quotes. :)

Hi everyone!!

Food for thought for Life:
I feel in today’s world, man or woman is a success who has lived well; laughed often; and loved much; who has gained the respect of people that count and the love of their children; who has filled his or her niche and accomplished his or her task in life; who leaves the world a little better place than he or she found it.

Hardships, poverty, and wants are the best ingredients and the best foundation for the success of a man or woman. I feel our business in life is not to get ahead of other people, but to get ahead to better ourselves and the environment around us.

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience you lived in your life. You lived through the hard times. I want you to look fear in the face and you fight that fear until hell freezes over.

Don’t let life disappointments discourage you; you only live once, so let’s go get it!
Life is like a sport, play to champion your goals and to learn and grow from your loses.

Have a great day,

Bobby G

#faith #family #motivation #fitness #entrepreneur #ceo #world #gym #goals #career #jobs

If not you are doing yourself a disservice! Here are 3 reason to write your goals down TODAY.

More likely to succeed: According to a long term Harvard study on written goals; students with written and defined goals earn 10x as much money as the other 97 percent of the class COMBINED. WOW! (Forbes magazine)

Emotion Proof your days: When we are hit with a life blow or are just having a bad day, we can unknowingly panic and get off the true goal path. You may need to find a job before the next rent is due but today the stress is so heavy that instead of hitting your goal for applications submitted you start to look for quick money. Maybe you waste the day doing online surveys that never seem to pay you. At the end of the day your diversion from the goal path has taken you backwards. You lost focus on solutions and worked on short-term fixes. That means instead getting a new pipe under the sink you tape the leak. When we fall off the goal path just like a taped pipe the problem will come back in a worst state in the future.

When our goals are written we can refer to them and avoid the steps backward caused by emotional upheaval.

We know what to do at every moment! The incredible thing about goals is they provide us with a clear direction on action at every moment. We can at any time ask ourselves. “Will this get me closer or further from my goal?” From this point and magic question we can make the choice that empowers our life.

Action steps: Write down some goals that are based on what you desire and not so much based or just escaping the current situation. If you need work immediately set a goal that is passed you just getting a job and is more toward you having the resources you need already in hand. You are a powerful creator of life don’t sell yourself short when writing goals.

You Got This!

You know I don’t even get on this app for posting comments are what ever this app is really for I used this app too make a resume and for jobs . I’m not mad that I made a lot of mistakes in the past but ,I learn form my mistakes . I look around everyone wants something that someone has well I don’t . I like who I am today and I say this becuase a lot of people today are very negative it’s sad sometimes I don’t even think people know that there being negative and some know that they are but swear up and down there trying too give constructive criticism but it’s not really it’s just a power trip too make them selves feel good becuase really for real there not happy in there life are environment that there surrounded by every day . Well I may not be rich and I may not drive a fancy car but I have A high school diploma I’m very intelligent and I achieved a lot of goals in my life I still have more to come so too all don’t let nothing no one stop you stay #Blessed

The easiest companies to work for is one that has a clear vision. One that has a Captain that can see through the fog or over a horizon. Having a person at the helm that will not be detoured from their goal or vision for the company.

I have found this to be true for any sized company doing any type of business. When the passion of doing something great takes over, customers will recognize that passion and want to be a part of it. Employees are able to be more confident because they are certain of the companies direction and future.

A company without a strong vision is like a ship with no-one at the wheel, destined to let the market waves jostle it in every direction.

When life hits you in the face, fight back! When you want to throw in the towel and just want to give up. Pick yourself up, pick up the pieces and push through. You know, it's interesting! When you were a kid, there was no limits, and you constantly kept dreaming of what you wanted to be, how your life would look like or even where you would live. THEN! Life hit you in the face and reality started to set in. You started to think your passion, dreams, goals, was just an illusion, but it's not.