Finding the Right Fit
At the end of the day its about finding the right fit –
When we look to commit to a personal relationship (whether a friendship or a love relationship) we always look for the fit. We don’t consider how much person has (I hope), whether their life business plan is viable, whether we will grow within the relationship, but rather whether we have a ‘fit’.
Unfortunately, when we look for a job we don’t look for a fit – in most cases we do little research into a company – mostly looking at balance sheets and turnover, or a company’s international status. We rarely try and find people who work fo this company to understand what and how they do business.
Clearly at an interview there is an exchange of ‘ídealised’ information. Very much like a first date (😊).
We usually put our best foot forward, over-emphasizing our strong points, trying to avoid questions we cannot answer (like why we didn’t change jobs in 15 years or why we changed too many jobs in 15 years) , and we try and say what we think will land us the job. As such, we never say we are “entrepreneurial “ so that we don’t appear as not being corporate, we don’t say we have never been solely responsible for a project so that we can appear as being self-motivated. We even go as far as saying we appreciate work-life balance but at the same time, we say we will work as long as it takes to get the work done.
The company on the other hand has the first phase with HR testing for character traits and competencies and giving a very “rosy” picture of the company. As such, we are promised career paths and development but very few HR Mgrs say the magical word “as long as there is a proper fit “ … unfortunately in many companies (I know a few) the position described at the interview is far from the job description. We are usually promised anautonomy, responsibility, authority but very offer we encounter a very different reality. We are rarely told at the interview stage that ‘you will be facing some integration issues as the organigram is fluid ‘ and it has happened to me to be shown a job of a specific seniority and then been told ‘for now we don’t want to disturb the current structure’ – needless to say I left after a limited time.
So my friends, especially the young career builders, if you do not feel you fit in an organisation, no matter how much the money is – leave. You will never fit and work will seem like a stress test everyday.