10 Questions to Ask Instead of (the useless) “How would you describe company culture?”
A Newsletter from Dr. Jake Tuber
“How would you describe the culture here?”
When I was 22, I asked that exact question during a job interview. In fact, I asked that exact question of every person that I met with during the interview process. I had three reasons for this tactic:
I wanted to know the answer.
I thought it was really clever to triangulate what I heard and see what the culture was really like.
I was advised to ask questions during the process and didn’t really know what else to ask.
Each was a decent enough reason for the question! (My naivety around the last one is particularly cringeworthy. If I were interviewing for a job today, I’d probably have so many questions that I’d be disqualified due to sheer annoyance).
The problem: Asking someone “So what's the culture like?” is a pretty ineffective way to learn about the actual culture. You’ll probably get boilerplate answers. You’ll get answers about how they personally experience coming to work. You’ll get a rundown of the advertised culture rather than the real culture. My 22-year-old self was not much of an investigative journalist.
Google ‘questions to ask when interviewing to understand company culture’ and the top results include this article from Indeed which advises you to pose questions like “What are the main values of this company?” and “Is this a collaborative work environment?” This article from UPenn’s Wharton School of Business website suggests asking “What does growth and career development look like?” and even “How would you describe the company culture?”
The problem with these questions – including my own – is that they attempt to unpack a theoretical concept (culture) at a theoretical level. Instead, it’s best to solicit examples.
Culture can be rather abstract unless it’s described in terms of its more tangible manifestations, also known as its artifacts. Artifacts include physical objects, such as the company’s physical layout, how desks are arranged, the dress code, and even logos and company merchandise. It also includes observable behaviors like the rituals, ceremonies, and traditions that companies perform. These artifacts are the surface-level expressions of company culture – the outermost layer of the culture onion. Because they are easily seen, they are the first lens into understanding the deeper levels of culture.
To understand the culture during the hiring process you’ll want to observe as much as you can first hand. You’ll experience cultural artifacts as you go through the process – the office layout, the dress code, the formality of interactions, the hiring process itself.
During the aforementioned interview I had as a 22-year-old, I can still remember the interviewer (my eventual boss) pausing our conversation after a gong sounded on the main office floor. The gong announced a new sale and I got to witness the ritual wherein the triumphant sales executive regaled everyone with the story about how the business was won.
But to assess culture during an interview – that is, to get a second-hand accounting of the culture – you should ask questions that are designed to surface artifacts.
I’ve created a list of 10 artifact-surfacing questions which should help you get a much richer understanding of company culture:
What am I going to dislike most about working here?
What are the unwritten rules of the workplace?
What would happen if a random individual contributor sent an unsolicited email to the CEO (or department head) with feedback and suggestions?
If an anthropologist were to walk around your offices for 10 minutes, how would they describe the culture?
Tell me about a recent time when there was conflict between teams or departments, how was it resolved?
When people are hired and they don’t work out… what are the common reasons they failed?
How is feedback typically delivered in your team, and can you provide an example of this practice in action?
Tell me about a recent time when there was a significant organizational change… how was it communicated? What could have been done differently?
What would HR exit surveys say about the main reasons people voluntarily leave?
How has company culture changed since you started working here?
One note of caution: If you’re hearing an answer that doesn’t sync with your perceptions, investigate whether what you’re hearing about is really about company culture vs. the climate of the particular team that person sits on. Ideally, the two are closely aligned, but there may be a difference – and that difference could make all the difference!