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“Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

rachelbythebay.com

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Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#52
post #4

Cuture fit is a blank check to fail a person's interview just because you didn't like them in the first 30 seconds. Short of the candidate showing some glaring interpersonal issues (I once had a guy who used the word "fuck" during his interview like 100 times) it is categorically impossible to establish in a 45 minute interview whether a person is actually a "fit" or not. So it's mostly a legitimized form of hiring b…

> Cuture fit is a blank check to fail a person's interview just because you didn't like them in the first 30 seconds. I hear this all the time. Yeah, that might be true in some cases, but it's also valid in quite a lot of instances (like the example you provided). > it is categorically impossible to establish in a 45 minute interview whether a person is actually a "fit" or not I've run/sat in on several trainwreck in…

1/4 is homophobic.

Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#53

You’d be amazed at corporate ability to find excuses for their canaries departure. Sometimes to the degree that you could be forgiven for assuming their goal was downsizing without layoffs.

> downsizing without layoffs

It's the most destructive form of downsizing for the company, as the competent staff who have options jump ship and only the dregs are left hanging around.

Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#54
post #8

> Also, due to the continued rampant mistreatment of people under our visa situation (ranted about elsewhere), a lot of them have to put up with far more shit. That is perhaps the understatement within the whole article. The ability to push some people further than others before they tap out, results in an environment where that is the normal level of stress. And those who can survive it, but don't want to tend to be…

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out ...

Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#55
> Look at a statement of equivalence. You might say that "A is equal to B" or "A == B". There are two "flows" going on there: A has to match up with B, sure, but B also has to match up with A.

Weird way to describe the symmetric property of equality from discrete math 201

Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#56

Throwaway account for obvious reasons. I’m mid-way through my first experience with this. Some warning flags to add for anyone wondering if it’s them or you: - You’re beginning to wonder if it’s you that’s crazy, despite successful previous roles. - Their conversation has moved from “we” to “I” (or “you” and “us”). - Your number of known unknowns (usually people- or business-based) suddenly spikes for no apparent rea…

You might be living in the book Bad Blood by John Carreyrou.

Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#57

This is a great post and so spot on. At some point in my career my 'review prep' (which was the time I spent working on my own evaluation of my year at a company) became answering the question, "Do I still want to work here?" I categorize my 'review' in four sections (which are each rated at one of five levels, needs improvement, sometimes meets expectations, meets expectations, sometimes exceeds expectations, or con…

Amazing; this is just about how I approach it, except I have a bit more slack for the "CIP": 90 days is not a long time at many organizations larger than a certain size (say, about 100 people). I'm generally content as long as progress is being made to improve at a reasonable pace, and few or no regressions occur.

Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#58
post #4

Cuture fit is a blank check to fail a person's interview just because you didn't like them in the first 30 seconds. Short of the candidate showing some glaring interpersonal issues (I once had a guy who used the word "fuck" during his interview like 100 times) it is categorically impossible to establish in a 45 minute interview whether a person is actually a "fit" or not. So it's mostly a legitimized form of hiring b…

Anecdotally I've seen "not a good culture fit" used to fail an interview when the applicant was so stunningly incompetent that it was too awkward to tell the truth.

Inability to tell the truth is a failure of company culture!!

Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#59

This is a great post and so spot on. At some point in my career my 'review prep' (which was the time I spent working on my own evaluation of my year at a company) became answering the question, "Do I still want to work here?" I categorize my 'review' in four sections (which are each rated at one of five levels, needs improvement, sometimes meets expectations, meets expectations, sometimes exceeds expectations, or con…

I completely agree with this, but I often find that not everyone is in the same position to jump ship easily. Your attitude is often espoused by highly talented individual that could basically "work wherever".

A personal anecdote from someone I work with. "Alice" is a technical project manager at a large company. She's been with the company 8 years. While she's been in the role, expectations on her have been unclear, she's been promoted above her skill level due to bureaucratic incompetence and has been poorly mentored and led. Now she wants to leave, but how? She can't pass an interview for the other big companies in the region, and she doesn't have many growth or learning opportunities in her current position. Anywhere else is a huge pay cut. Is she happy? Nope. But digging herself out of the hole is a difficult task.

I am not disagreeing with you, but trying to communicate how the other half lives.

Re: “Culture fit” is a two way street (2018)

#60

This is a great post and so spot on. At some point in my career my 'review prep' (which was the time I spent working on my own evaluation of my year at a company) became answering the question, "Do I still want to work here?" I categorize my 'review' in four sections (which are each rated at one of five levels, needs improvement, sometimes meets expectations, meets expectations, sometimes exceeds expectations, or con…

This is excellent. We should all try to do something like this.

The only time I've stopped an interview and told them "good luck but I'm out" is when I realised they're a hot-desking joint. I mean, sure there's is a price point at which I'll hot-desk, but strangely (since hot-desking is always about saving money no matter what other bollocks they dress it in), nobody's met it.

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