Ask These 5 Questions During an Interview to Learn More About the Health of a Company's Work Culture

Interviewers shouldn't be the only ones asking questions. Here are five questions that you, the interviewee, should be asking to learn more about company culture.

Interviews are staged in no man's land. You and your interviewer are virtual strangers, except for your brief phone conversations and what you've read. You negotiate over the information shared. And at the end of it all, you may never see this person again.

In this context, your strategic interview questions matter. Perhaps more than anything else, your questions get you an informed feel for the wellness of a company's culture.

Blunt questions about dysfunctional processes and relationships in the company may provoke a reaction you find informative. But with no guarantees that you've found an honest answer, you're more likely to make your interviewer uneasy than learn company secrets. After all, even if they felt inclined to be candid, most people don't want to look like they're bad mouthing their employer on the record—especially not during a team interview. So avoid putting your interviewer in an impossible position.

Ask interviewers these five discrete questions about employers and your new role when you want to learn about a company's cultural health.

1. CAN I MEET THE TEAM?

Hearing specific descriptions about the people you'll work with can tell you something about management's attitudes towards their teams. But meeting the people makes the team more real to you and lets you test for a sense of connection during your first contact.

Whether you meet them during a tour or a team interview, you won't find veiled hostilities and piles of festering frustrations sitting in neatly labeled piles. But you can consider whether these people might be willing to give you constructive feedback or listen to you. Quality communication helps keep inevitable workplace tensions in check, so pay attention to the tone of your interview conversations.

2. WHAT'S YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE?

Whether you interview with a direct supervisor or not, ask about management's leadership styles. Clear and specific answers suggest managers can imagine what it's like to work for them. And if you can't envision management's work style fitting with your own, don't ignore personal incompatibilities, which have about a 0 percent chance of disappearing just because you want them to.

Self-aware leadership grows from self-examination. And while everyone has their weaknesses, including management, leaders who identify their own blind spots are in a better position to find and address weaknesses in a company culture which can leave everyone hurting.

3. WHAT'S YOUR ONBOARDING PROCESS LIKE?

Thought-out training and introductions help you learn your new role so you can do it well and not have to figure it all out for yourself. Onboarding makes you a part of the team, and a clear process also lets you and management know you're meeting each other's expectations.  

A solid onboarding process can help companies invest in employee skill development because they already know what they're doing—or not doing—to help employees do well on the job. And when expectations and processes are clear, it's also easier to hold each other accountable.

4. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR COMPANY'S CULTURE?

While you can usually get a few blurbs about a company's culture if you check their website, prearranged statements aren't people. Quality communication, implemented company vision, strong leadership styles and accountability for all happen in real time, with real people.

When management and representatives are in touch with their work culture, they can give you clear and concrete descriptions. They're probably not going to flap their company's dirty laundry in your face. But if they can't give you the positive scoop, they may also struggle to identify weak spots in the culture.

5. CAN I HAVE A TOUR?

Seeing a company's workspace can leave you with feelings of ease or discomfort that you can't get from paperwork and hypothetical scenarios. Visiting their specific location is like tasting your favorite food—no one else can do it for you.

But more than a need for open or closed floor layouts and a quiet or noisy atmosphere, the quality of emotion and collaborative engagement among coworkers is harder to disguise when you see it for yourself. This is the case even though they're probably giving you their best first impressions.

Plus, remember that unless you're a building inspector, facilities which really look like they're about to go up in flames probably aren't going to change just because you've joined the team. If you can pick out obvious violations of safety standards during your tour, don't ignore that feeling of potential doom in the pit of your stomach. Hopefully, you won't even feel tempted.

If you have any concerns about the answers you receive, don't hesitate to make a note and ask follow-up questions during the interview or in a follow-up email.

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