You already know that fitting in well in the workplace is important. It impacts your chances of being hired initially as well as your long term job satisfaction, so making sure you’re a match for company culture is critical – as is demonstrating this fact to decision makers at your prospective company. Here are four ways to do so.

1. Research the Company’s Core Values and Share How Yours Match

One of the best ways to show you’re a great match is to come prepared to speak to the organizational culture. Instead of learning about it there in the interview, you get to show you know all about it already, which has the added bonus of giving you the chance to opt out of an interview that won’t meet your needs. Read up on the company’s core values, it’s corporate culture and individual team members to know more and show more in your interview.

2. Go for Culture, Not Personal

Many prospective employees make the mistake of trying to show their interviewer that they are a good personal fit. They send the message, “You and I will get along great, just wait and see!” But while a brief discussion of the Eagles is fine, tailoring your responses only to your interviewer is a bad idea for multiple reasons:

• You guys may not work together all that much, especially if the interviewer is in HR rather than the department in which you’ll be working.
• Missing the mark on the company’s skills and values, which will be bad for you and your employers in the long run.
• You may look like a suck-up, which is a downside that speaks for itself.

By all means, make an effort to establish rapport with hiring managers, but then move on to demonstrate how you and the organization will harmonize together long term.

3. Follow Up the Right Way

While it’s tempting to beg for the job, and can feel impossible to wait for news, resist your urge to badger – even nicely. Instead, send a single, immediate thank you note expressing your gratitude for the interview and demonstrating that you’re still in the know. Perhaps you congratulate the hiring manager for a recent win, or comment on a news item you’ve seen, suggests The Muse. Other than that, however, you get one follow-up after two weeks… and that’s it. If they pass, they pass. Being annoying does not demonstrate a good match, so it’s pointless anyway.

4. Work with a Staffing Company to Determine Fit Ahead of Time

Pop quiz: Who do hiring managers trust more, you… or the recruiting agencies they work with? If you guessed the latter, ding ding! One of the absolute best ways to show you’re a fit is to come recommended by a staffing company, because then hiring managers know you’ve already passed a vigorous vetting process and were deemed a good match for their needs. We can help you there, so call Premier Talent Partners today.As with any other aspect of interviewing, proving your cultural fit does involve a little guesswork. Companies, like people, present their best faces online, and it may take a little digging both during your research phase and the interview to ascertain (and demonstrate) that you’re a match. These steps, however, will make the job a lot easier.

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