DISQUS

John Wasinski · 1 month ago

Rusty, you are absolutely right about how great it would be if company culture identification was as simple as Garanimals. I share that vision with you and I love your analogy.

We've grown accustomed, as consumers, to branding. We know what Hollister clothing represents or "feels like." Even our schools have become branded and easily categorized, and we teach students how to find the right college for them -- because we (as parents) pay the price when they come home dissatisfied. We know generally what to expect from a "Big 10" school, and how this differs from the culture at a cozy upstate college. These schools have probably even developed a webpage showing a generally accurate version of what the culture is like, because they know that if it was inaccurate, they wouldn't attract the right students.

Employers haven't come so far, Rusty. The larger employers in modern industries, such as Google, have developed a "brand name" for their recruitment process. Among teens, certain retail clothing enterprises have also developed a defined culture that is fairly consistent from store-to-store. But for most employers, the information is inaccessible. More so, when someone is looking for a first job, in a city or suburban area that doesn't have a Google type employer, or an Abercrombie & Fitch. Most small employers and organizations haven't gone so far as to define, or share their culture descriptively. The process of doing so honestly, of course, might demand them to change.

For entry-level jobs, or even some that are higher up the ladder, it is hard to get accurate information, because the existing employees may simply be similar to frogs to whom the temperature has gradually turned up -- they're acclimated to whatever the situation is, and often resigned to it. I know I've received bad advice from well-meaning people who thought a certain job was perfectly fine for them (given their personalities and aspirations) but certainly turned out to not be a good match for me.

We can generalize. When hiring, colleges will generally be more accepting and interested in diversity than many secondary schools. But, that fact might not be known to someone who hasn't worked at, or attended a college. Basically, our educational system does not teach us how to determine the right workplace for us, and, does not really inform us that workplaces need to match with our personalities, not just our "career interest." One dental laboratory could have a wholly different culture than another, but our young people graduating do not even expect that they will have to discern this.

Thanks for this piece. I would be very much in favor of a preliminary development of a classification scheme. Maybe within the next generation we will see a picture of a giraffe on the front page of a job application. I'd love it.

John

markskaggs · 1 month ago

Great ideas. Good for both the employee and the employer.