Corporate Garanimals: How to Determine If A Company Is Right For You

Posted by Rusty Rueff • October 13th, 2009 • Comments
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I so wish that there would have been Garanimals when I was growing up. I would have been so much better dressed and think of all the consternation and worry that would be gone. It’s just a brilliant idea. As they say on their website, “Garanimals was founded on a simple but unique concept: to help parents and children coordinate outfits easily. Each animal represents a line within the collection.  Each of the distinct animal lines consists of mix and match separates, whose color and style coordinate with any piece within that same animal line.  Each animal then becomes an identifier for the simple piecing system.”  It’s so simple and so elegant.

And how I would love to see us have the same “garanimals” concept being used for how we match ourselves to companies when we decide to take a job or not.  Think about it. How great would it be to look in the front door of a company and see that they are a great company for kangaroos, hippos and zebras?  But, knowing that you are sometimes a lion and more often than not a panther, you wouldn’t even apply because the likelihood of getting the job would be low and if you did get into the company you would likely not succeed.  But, this is far from what happens.

I was recently reviewing a job description for a senior, very important, position with a company and I was focusing on the “personal traits desired”.  These were all good things and nothing to be argued.  But when I looked at other jobs that were posted by the company, I saw that the personal traits desired were different for each job. Okay, I get that a few could be different but there should be a lot of consistency and if they really knew who they were as a company, then they would all be the same, for every job.  They would be as clear as what a kangaroo is and isn’t.  So, how do you know if there is a good match for you?  Try these three things:

  • Use every resource you can to find and talk to a minimum of seven people who used to work for the company and then ask them each to give you five words that best describe the culture; five words that best say how to be successful in the company, and finally, five words that best describe why people fail there.  Then take your answers and find the commonalities and try and put together a picture for yourself of who they are.
  • Find three of your best friends, confidents, and straight-shooters and ask him/her to look at what you have found out about the company and ask them to answer your question: “Is this me, or not?” If more than one says it is not, then run, don’t walk, away.  No matter how good it sounds and looks, you will not solely change the culture.  If you are the CEO, then maybe, but beyond that, don’t think that much of yourself.
  • If you get past the two things above, call your references and ask them to please share your five words that best describe you and to ask the person who is checking the reference to tell them that this is a good fit or not.  If any of them get any hesitation or weird answers back, please ask them to make you their next phone call or email.

We aren’t going to get Corporate Garanimals any time soon, so do all you can to make sure that you are making the best decision about the intangible areas and I hope that you find the best of best match for you!

Guest Blogger Rusty Rueff is Glassdoor.com’s career and workplace expert and member of the Clearview Collection in addition to serving as a member of the company’s Board of Directors He was most recently CEO of SNOCAP, the digital music commerce provider for MySpace, until its sale to imeem in April 2008. Previously, Rusty led global human resource departments at PepsiCo and later Electronic Arts and is co-author of “Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business" (Prentice-Hall. 2006). Through the Glassdoor.com blog, Rusty contributes practical career advice for employees and job seekers and provides unique perspectives from an employer’s point of view.

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  • Rusty, you are absolutely right about how great it would be if company culture identification was as simple as Garanimals. I share that vision with you and I love your analogy.

    We've grown accustomed, as consumers, to branding. We know what Hollister clothing represents or "feels like." Even our schools have become branded and easily categorized, and we teach students how to find the right college for them -- because we (as parents) pay the price when they come home dissatisfied. We know generally what to expect from a "Big 10" school, and how this differs from the culture at a cozy upstate college. These schools have probably even developed a webpage showing a generally accurate version of what the culture is like, because they know that if it was inaccurate, they wouldn't attract the right students.

    Employers haven't come so far, Rusty. The larger employers in modern industries, such as Google, have developed a "brand name" for their recruitment process. Among teens, certain retail clothing enterprises have also developed a defined culture that is fairly consistent from store-to-store. But for most employers, the information is inaccessible. More so, when someone is looking for a first job, in a city or suburban area that doesn't have a Google type employer, or an Abercrombie & Fitch. Most small employers and organizations haven't gone so far as to define, or share their culture descriptively. The process of doing so honestly, of course, might demand them to change.

    For entry-level jobs, or even some that are higher up the ladder, it is hard to get accurate information, because the existing employees may simply be similar to frogs to whom the temperature has gradually turned up -- they're acclimated to whatever the situation is, and often resigned to it. I know I've received bad advice from well-meaning people who thought a certain job was perfectly fine for them (given their personalities and aspirations) but certainly turned out to not be a good match for me.

    We can generalize. When hiring, colleges will generally be more accepting and interested in diversity than many secondary schools. But, that fact might not be known to someone who hasn't worked at, or attended a college. Basically, our educational system does not teach us how to determine the right workplace for us, and, does not really inform us that workplaces need to match with our personalities, not just our "career interest." One dental laboratory could have a wholly different culture than another, but our young people graduating do not even expect that they will have to discern this.

    Thanks for this piece. I would be very much in favor of a preliminary development of a classification scheme. Maybe within the next generation we will see a picture of a giraffe on the front page of a job application. I'd love it.

    John
  • markskaggs
    Great ideas. Good for both the employee and the employer.
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