This article is next in line to my earlier post – The challenges of evaluating employers and job offers ..
Just the way an employer, through its hiring manager and executives evaluate a candidate during a job interview, you need to evaluate your prospective employer.
If you are any bit good, professionally, and have some credentials in form of a good work experience, good academic past – these days you have a number of choices when you start looking out for a job. Yeah ! its not as easy as the last statement sounds, but well doing your home work – researching about your prospective employer is worth the wait in the long run. If you are not sure about an employer – it makes sense to let go the opportunity. Delay in getting the right deal is better that going for the wrong deal (Of course this may not be valid for those who are without a job at present or are in dire need for change – another subject of discussion). But well the implication of one wrong career decision can hit you, and impact you for next 1 – 2 years at least. Evaluating your employer becomes extremely important for middle and senior management professionals as there is more to loose and less time to recover from emotional distress caused by the wrong decision.
Evaluating an Employer – What all could it mean ? You need to look at these parameters – The Business, The Brand, The Growth Story, The Culture, The Employer Brand
(a) The Business: Industry in which the employer operates the nature of business, the business size in terms of expanse.
When I speak of “The Employer” the other related variables would be – Industry in which the employer operates, the nature of business, the business size in terms of expanse – revenues, work force and geographic spread. Size relates to opportunities – it can relate to future growth prospects, opportunity to learn new things, work on new projects, possibilities of enriched roles, possibilities of enhancing your work network, possibilities of making yourself visible to a bigger audience. Working on a bigger canvas has its own advantages, and well you have to decide if you need to be a fish in a big pond or a fish in a small pond. Both has their advantages. You take your pick. The safe option – Go for a large company.
(b) The Brand
Brand is important to many of us. Is it important for you ? The reputation of a brand and your association with the same also gives you an opportunity to make yourself visible and respected. Do you want to be a part of an established brand, would you rather go for an upcoming brand, or would you go for a brand that has a future growth potential or would you go for a relatively unknown brand and be a part of its growth story ? For some – working for a Brand – a recognized brand is important, for others being a part of creating some thing is important. For most people at workplace their company or the “brand they work” for is an identity for some others “their work” and achievements are their identity. This does not imply that achievement focus goes missing when you work for a top brand. It just shows your priority and need at a given point of time. The safe option – Go for a top brand.
(c) The Growth Story
Normally this factors gets missed by many, but this is extremely important if you are gunning for a key role, an important role, a leadership role or a C suite role. Its important to look at the growth story of a company. How has the business grown over a period of time ? Has it grown organically – slowly ? Is it a success story ? Is it an entrepreneurial success ? Who are the promoters ? Are the promoters having a professional mindset ? Have the promoters been successful entrepreneurs or the business has grown based on good family funding ? Is the business model sustainable and scalable ? Can the business afford to grow in the long run ? What are the businesses short term and long term priorities ? What’s the source of funding ? Does the business have some backing from well established funds / investors ? Are they going to be the next big thing ? Will they continue at a fast pace or go for a slow and stable growth ? There can be lots of questions regarding the business, and its growth story. You need to investigate the factors and seek justifications, so as you choose an employer that aligns with your career expectations. If you are going for a leadership role a good factor is – What would be your role in the future plans for the business ?
(d) The Culture
Organizational culture, is extremely important. In simple words, the way people behave in an organization can be stated to be the organization culture. This concept of culture starts once the thought process and work style of the founders, the promoters, the initial management, the leadership – starts getting mirrored across the organization. Over a period of time, there is a possibility that apart from some common identifiers and indicators of culture – diverse cultures start building up because of differing leaderships, different geographies, and different work styles that enable getting things done. Some examples: Some employees speak about their company as being entrepreneurial, some say people focused, culture of mutual respect, culture that rewards and appreciates performance, some say – customer focused, some say – aggressive, others mention – laid back, bureaucratic , innovative etc. The values of the company also converge into as well as contribute to the organizational culture. That is – the mindset of the leadership, of the top team and the way the mindset on values, business objectives gets translated into day to day behavior of employees at work place.
When you are evaluating an employer – it becomes important that you have an idea about the prevailing organizational culture. And you need to ask yourself – if you can align yourself, if you automatically fit in , of if you could just manage to survive in the culture.
(e) The Employer Brand
Employer Brand of an employer is the image of that business and perception regarding the business as a “great place to work”. There are many surveys and reports that speak about an – best employers etc. and you can explore the findings of the survey. I am not sure if survey reports can help you evaluate an employer on this parameter – so lets make it simple.
Now, once you evaluate an employer on the above mentioned 4 parameters – The Business, The Brand, The Growth Story, and The Culture – if you find the story great so far it’s highly likely that the employer is a good employer brand. Apart from the above you need to look for – any employer – that cares for its employees, allows them opportunities to perform, allows them opportunities to grow, supports them, and keeps them well engaged at workplace through challenges, opportunities & rewards.
You are welcome to add to the above feedback, thoughts, questions observations etc.in form of comments, e-mail etc.
Praveen is the Founder & Principal Consultant of KHEdge, a boutique HR & Business Process Advisory firm. Over last 15 years he has advised & worked with promoters, founders, business leaders, HR leaders in areas of - Business Strategy, HR Strategy, Organisation Design etc.