Written by Cindy Nowack
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Beyond the Job Fit: Finding the Best Culture for You
Lisa Barrington
Lisa Barrington helps organizations and individuals as an ICF certified coach, workplace and engagement strategist, and speaker. She works with organizations to foster leadership effectiveness and improve employee engagement, and with individuals to help them reach personal goals and develop their leadership capabilities. Through her experience, she knows the importance of finding the best culture fit based on one’s individual values.
Lisa’s presentation included three important points in finding the best culture for you:
1. How important are values and a company culture match
2. How to identify culture
3. How to fit in with the hiring leader
Culture can mean many different things to people as we found out when Lisa began with the question, “What is culture?” Some of the answers from the audience included environment, how people work, their behavior, values, shared assumptions, myths, and history.
First, you need to know yourself and your top values. If you need more information to understand and know yourself, Lisa’s website offers the VIA survey to identify and rank the 24 character values. If you value teamwork, but the work at your new organization is done individually without any collaboration, this may not be the best work environment for you. If you value kindness or gratitude, but the manager is tough on his employees without recognition for jobs well done, you may want to keep looking for a better work culture.
There are many ways to identify a company’s culture. Look at many factors and research the company through various ways – online through the company’s website or other sites with company information, asking people who work for the company, observing behaviors at the company site when interviewing, and results of published surveys and rankings.
Some factors to consider when identifying a company’s culture include:
Promotions – Do they happen from within the company, ask about the criteria for being promoted.
Company practices – Review the policies and procedures, how the organization operates.
Physical space – Are there work at home options vs. being in the office every day? Are there cubes and offices vs. long tables? Are employees huddled and chatting together vs. quiet with little interaction? You need to determine what works for you.
Online reviews – Review Glassdoor or LinkedIn comments about your target companies. Review qualitative statements to figure out a company’s essence. Start connecting with people at your target companies.
Turnover – This is a key measure in employee engagement and culture. Ask the recruiter or hiring manager for company results, and how do their results compare to the industry average?
Onsite interview – Watch the hiring manager and others carefully. Are there only formatted questions vs. a conversation? Are they paying attention to you or easily distracted?
Mood and tone – Observe everyone you come in contact with, even the security person in the lobby.
Rituals – How do people dress? How do they communicate with each other?
Recruitment process
Community and media presence
Based on your research, you will want to choose five companies that reflect your values and live the culture you want. Once you identify your target companies and have an interview, you will want to confirm that your leader also reflects your values and promotes the company culture. To reveal the leader’s traits, you will want to question or research their following characteristics:
Communication style – Their tone and how they communicate. (Caveat: Just because you may have different styles doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work for them. Sometimes it’s the opportunity for you to grow. Know what you want and need.)
Behavior – How they interact with others in the office, and with you.
LinkedIn – Go to the leader’s LinkedIn page to see their interests, work history, connections, and groups.
Responsiveness – Do they respond with next steps at the expected time?
Followership – How do they interact with people who work for them? How do people speak about them online or through your shared connections?
Values – How do they treat you, respond to you?
Support – How do they support their employees? Are they more focused on goals, employees, or both?
Above all, listen to your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right, try to ask targeted questions that could reveal what is staying below the surface. You want as much information as possible so you can make an informed decision. Your next opportunity should reflect your values and the culture you want, so it’s a good fit for both you and your new organization.
HIRING COMPANIES
GM Financial
Meg Mercanti, Talent Advisor
GM Financial is the global captive finance company for General Motors. Their office in Chandler, near Price and Germann, has customer service, collections, finance and credit departments.
At GM Financial, teamwork isn’t just a buzzword. The company and its employees are committed to excellence, acting with integrity and promoting its culture. Besides health insurance and 401K, other benefits include tuition reimbursement of $30,000 for for a bachelor’s degree and $20,000 for a master’s degree, employee lease and purchase discounts, and a casual work environment.
Currently, GM Financial is hiring 20 people to fill their collections training class beginning on July 9. There is also a credit analyst position available for someone with the appropriate experience. For additional information on these or other open positions, go to www.gmfinancial.com/careers.
Insight
Eric Johnson, Talent Acquisition Manager
Insight is an IT solutions provider that recently went through a global transformation and rebranding. They jumped up 56 spots in the new release of the Fortune 500 companies to now land at Fortune 417. They help their clients “Manage today. Transform the future.” Insight has more than 7,000 employees globally with 26 offices across North America. Their office here at I-10 and Elliott has openings in sales, product management, marketing, accounting and finance. For a complete listing of job openings, go to https://jobs.insight.com.
Manpower
Honey Rivers, Recruiting Manager
Manpower is a staffing agency that takes a personal interest in working with their community partners to place people in the right roles. Honey can help you with openings in customer service, reception, administrative, warehouse, industrial and light industrial areas. If your job interests do not fall in one of these areas, Honey can refer to you one of the other Manpower divisions, such as Experis, which specializes in professional positions.
Manpower benefits include weekly pay, certification and education degree reimbursement, and an inclusive and helping culture. Manpower was recently named one of 2018 world’s most ethical companies.
Some of the current open positions include:
- Customer service agents
- Document processors
- Data entry
- Production/warehouse
- Packing/kitting/general labor
- Seasonal shipping/packing and sorting
- Administrative/clerical
To apply:
- Go to www.manpowerjobs.com
- Create an account and attach your resume
- Contact the office at 480-824-7976 after registering
RESOURCES
Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona
Bobby Ghisolfo, Director Business and Community Development
Goodwill’s mission is to end unemployment in Arizona. There are 22 career centers throughout Arizona available at no cost to everyone in the community. Goodwill works with more than 700 employers, and can help you prepare for your next opportunity through a resume review, mock interviews, and job fairs. There is a virtual platform coming at the end of 2018 which will give access to Goodwill’s resources from your own home.
You can find more information about Goodwill’s job openings and resources at www.goodwill.org/find-jobs-and-services.
CLOSING REMARKS
There is a free hiring event on Thursday June 7 from 11am – 3pm for veterans, transitioning military personnel, national guard members, reserve members and spouses at the University of Phoenix Stadium. For more details, visit recruitmilitary.com/phoenix. 120+ job offers are expected!
State Farm is hiring a variety of full-time positions with start dates in June and July. Claim associates and customer service positions include paid training and available annual pay incentives. To learn more, visit statefarm.com/careers.
Also, be sure to check the schedule for the dates of upcoming June events at careerconnectors.org. A few dates have been moved to accommodate summer programs at our host locations.
