If you have successfully mastered the interview skills and Lady Luck has smiled on you, it is quite possible that you may end up with more than one job offer. Now, you have to make the critical decision to choose the right company. How do you choose the company that you will work for? Part of the decision would have been made at the time of sending out the application. Some time would have passed since then and you would, perhaps, know more about the company than what you knew earlier from what was said in the job advertisement (fast-growing, professionally managed company) and from the annual report (designed and printed by a large advertising agency), using a large number of superlatives.
There are many indicators you can use to make a final decision about which company to work for.
It starts with the receptionist. What image does she project? How does she handle visitors? Is her job a chore or an enjoyable occupation? Is the reception room neat and clean? It may not be stylish or expensive, but it should have the sparkle and neatness that shows that someone cares. Does the receptionist grumble about the job, the number and kind of visitors she has to handle? Above all, does she smile?
An even more interesting test is the toilet test – an accurate measure of the concern of any company. Ask to use the toilet, even if you don’t need to use one. There are many companies where the noxious odours of uncared-for toilets waft right into the reception room. The toilets are wet and dirty, with the flush not working. There is no soap and no tissues or towels. It would seem that the last time a disinfectant was used was perhaps five years ago!
There are companies where the one clean toilet is used by the managing director, or all the directors, and the keys are kept in a private, safe place. The director’s toilet is the sanctum sanctorum. All the others, from the general manager to the watchman at the gate, have to use the general, wet and uncared-for dirty toilet. A toilet caste system has evolved!
There are other companies where the executive toilet is cared for, but the general toilet is not. Our company had once recruited a female employee for a large construction company in the then Bombay, now Mumbai. She quit three weeks after joining duty. The company had no toilet for women and the few other women who worked there went to an office on another floor and used their ladies’ toilet surreptitiously. The new employee did not feel comfortable doing this. The company did not seem to care. These matters were too minor for top management. So, she had to fall in line or quit. She quit!
I attended my first job interview at Glaxo on a particularly rainy day in June. I was dripping wet after making the long trip from a Bombay suburb to Worli, and I felt, and perhaps also looked, like a wet rag. But one of the pictures etched in my memory is of Ian McKinnon, then purchase director, coming to the door of his office cabin to take my raincoat from me to hang it up, turning down the air conditioning, and waiting for a hot cup of coffee to be served before he smoothly began what he called a ‘very informal chat’. Mr
McKinnon was a director of the company, but he built a bridge, used empathy, and projected an image for the corporation. A genuine, sincere one. I did not have much to do with him after I joined the company; I was at a much junior level to have any interaction with him on a regular basis. But I always remember him as the one who influenced me to join Glaxo – not by words, but by example.
There are many other indicators which show the ‘cultural health’ of the company. How do employees talk about the management? Is there a general feeling that the management are exploiters, crooks masquerading as gentlemen in grey business suits? How do managers talk about employees? How do managers talk about one another? In multiple interviews, many managers reveal themselves subconsciously about how they feel towards some of their colleagues. If they seem to be constantly fighting, the possibility of being able to work as a team may seem difficult.
What do those who retired from the company say about it? Do they look back nostalgically? Do they go back sometimes to see old colleagues? Are they invited to the annual get-together? Do they have some friends whose friendship lingers on, even though the corporate bond has been broken?
What do suppliers of goods and services think about the company? Is it fair in its dealings? Or is it the type that never pays the supplier’s bill within 120 days (normal) and 180 days (if possible), using any excuse?
What is the company’s commitment to society and the community? Do they talk a lot about this and do little? Or is it the other way around?
Answers to all these questions will help you to choose the right company and to make the right decision. It is not going to be easy to find the answers because it is different segments that have to be approached at different times, and this is not easy.
But there is so much at stake in this decision that it is well worth the time and effort!
(Some part of this article is taken from ‘Planning for Executive Success’, written by Walter Vieira, Sage Publications)
(Walter Vieira is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of India - FIMC. He was a successful corporate executive for 14 years, capping his career as Head of marketing for a Pharma multinational, for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka- and then pioneered marketing consulting in India in 1975. As a consultant, he has worked across four continents. He was the first Asian elected Chairman of ICMCI, the world apex body of consultants in 45 countries, in 1997. He is the author of 16 books, a business columnist, an international conference speaker and has been a visiting professor in Marketing in the US, Europe, and Asia for over 40 years. He was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award for Consulting in 2005, and for Marketing in 2009. He now spends much of his time in NGO work - Consumer Education and Research Centre, IDOBRO, and some others.)
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I remember a patient's mother telling me how much she appreciated the fact that the security guard at the gate ran forward to help her carry a bag that appeared heavy for her while he simultaneously called for a wheelchair for her daughter, who was at the time heavily pregnant and in early labor .
I am convinced that every individual a patient or visitor comes into contact with becomes a marketing person and reflects the organisation's culture.
Culture is what we do every day, and it has to be reiterated over and over again with the leaders walking the talk. There are no shortcuts to this.