Determining whether you and a company are a good fit for each other requires some effort to establish alignment on a few fronts which can make the hiring process very smooth when the research is done adequately and market conditions are favourable.
- Skillset: Are your skills sought after by the employer and is there a business need for your expertise?
- Values: Do you share anything in common with the values of the organization by default?
- Identity: Can you identify with the company and do you see yourself getting along with staff and growing with the organization?
- Communities: Are there communities within the organization that allow you to continue pursuing hobbies with colleagues or meet up regularly around a shared belief or interest?
- Career Interests: Does the organization stimulate you intellectually and strike one of the chords that light up your career interests?
- Career Goals: Does the organization bring you closer to achieving your career goals and does it measure up to your own definition of success?
- Personality: Does the organization allow you to bring your whole self to work and express your personality traits freely? Do your colleagues have similar personalities and are those personalities an extension of the values and culture of the organization?
- Work Style: Do you have the agency and autonomy to execute your own work style as you see fit or are you under constraints or some form of micromanagement?
- Learning Style: How does the organization go about distilling and disseminating information throughout the organization especially when it comes to upskilling? Is this done in a way that allows you to learn optimally and fits your learning style? If not, can adjustments be made to work with your learning style instead of against it?
- Leadership Style: What style of leadership will your department/division/unit be directly under and how will it influence your experience working at the organization? As well as that, how will the leadership you are directly under fit into the overall leadership at the organization? Is this a leadership style you are familiar with and if so, how did you fair under this style of leadership the last time? Did it suit you? Why or why not?
- Cadence: How frequently does the organization go through a work cycle to accomplish a project? Does it move at a pace you are comfortable with? If not, how will you compensate for that during times of stagnance or hurry?
- Priorities: What receives priority at the organization when it comes to the business bottom line and meeting quarterly targets; innovation, moonshots, product, operations, projects? How do you perceive the organization’s priorities and what will you do about their conlcusions?
- Organizational Objectives: Do the organization’s objectives sit well with you and are you able to help it achieve them?
- Job Satisfaction: Will you derive satisfaction from your job in a holistic sense? Fulfilment from work, pleasantries with colleagues, stimulating work environment where you can thrive, impactful tasks, reasonable superiors, opportunities for growth, etc.
- Opportunities for Growth: Do you have facilities to upskill by yourself as a self-service funded by the organization or provided through on-the-job training? Do you have resources to make yourself more employable to better position yourself to accomplish the tasks asked of you through professional development?
- Work-Life Balance: Are you able to find the sweet-spot between the elusive work-life balance by having enough things going in your life that form harmony and give you a sense of serenity throughout the day.
- Excitement and Alignment: Notice when your happiness comes out and what makes it so. Pay attention to what piques your interest. These are signs which indicate alignment with your purpose and direct you on your path. Does the organization resonate with you?
- Trust Your Intuition and Commit All into God’s Hands: Right Place, Right Time, Right People, Right Projects, Right Champions along with God’s Grace and Favor for Alignment