What do you look for in a company?
Salary, work hours, position responsibilities, and long-term career development are all important factors when deciding on a company. However, candidates may often overlook culture fit–a crucial piece to the hiring puzzle! In fact, a survey found that 71 percent of participating employees were willing to take a pay cut for their ideal job. Yes, those corporate values matter.
A company may ask “what do you look for in a company” to check if a candidate’s values align with those of the company. Additionally, the interviewer gets a sense of whether the company will be able to meet the candidate’s expectations for personal and professional growth.
While the primary reasons people look for jobs is for the income and stability, finding the right match will help your overall well-being. After all, why settle for a sub-par company if given the choice? A job application process should be just as important for you (the candidate) to screen the company for their core values and culture.
The Core Values to Look for in Every Company
For example, values at top tech companies may center more around innovation and advancement. GoDaddy stresses the importance of diversity in its recruiting processes to help promote innovative ideas. Meanwhile, healthcare company values may stress treating others with respect and honor. Dignity Health encourages its team members to treat patients and coworkers alike with dignity.
Overall, however, any great company will highlight some basic corporate values.
- Integrity – If a business has integrity and insists that all employees live within that same value, management will lead with strong moral conviction.
- Accountability – For a company to have success, everyone who works for the company should share accountability for all tasks failed or achieved. You’re all in this together, so do your part!
- Diligence – A company should have a great reputation for diligent employees. This mean everyone does a thorough job on every task and exhibits hard work and determination to do the best job possible.
- Perseverance – Of course, there will always be obstacles that spring up in the pursuit of achieving goals. So, how well does the company culture stress overcoming challenges and persevering when things get tough?
- Discipline – Maybe you’ve worked with the dilly-dallying coworkers who would rather scroll through social media than focus on their job. Discipline ensures that when people are at their job, they’re at their job.
Do Your Personal Values Match?
So, after some research you find that a company looks great and all the employees have smiles in pictures. Yet, the question still remains – what do you look for in a company? Are there any other values not listed that you would also want in a potential employer? How does your specific work ethic and style match up?
Do you prefer strong leadership and oversight? Look for: Mentorship and teamwork.
Do you prefer customer serving positions? Look for: Empowerment and customer commitment. A purely revenue-driven company is a red flag.
Do you prefer a long-term career trajectory? Look for: Professional development and a learning culture.
Employees who consider company values when looking for a new job will have a more sustainable future at the company. Remember that salary and work hours will only do so much! Your overall happiness and fulfillment are what will truly determine how well you’ll succeed at your new company.
Be sure to check out some companies with stellar values hiring now in Arizona!
