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Smart candidates realize that the interview presents an opportunity to not just sell yourself and your capabilities but also to gain authentic insight into the candidate company’s culture. The keen interviewee will keep eyes and ears peeled for warning signs of work environments to avoid, ranging from uninspired to downright toxic.
While most interviews conclude with the predictable, “What questions do you have for me?” too many candidates overlook this valuable opportunity to help peel back the layers of what can be a pretty sterile, carefully curated façade and instead help expose the cultural DNA that drives organizational norms, expectations and morale.
Admittedly, there are no perfect questions, and interviewers are clearly wired to present the organization in the best light possible, but even minimally ethical interviewers should feel some responsibility to be reasonably truthful. Beyond the words they speak, much can be gleaned from their body language, tone of voice, level of enthusiasm or lack thereof. It’s also important to note what’s not said and which topics are avoided or minimized.
To get a sense that the company you’re interviewing with might be one to avoid, consider these five questions.
1. How would you describe the corporate culture?
Yes, there’s nothing wrong with simple and direct. This question is purposely broad as it offers a great starting place. It allows the candidate an opportunity to observe where the interviewer focuses in their response. Do they hone in on the highest standards of excellence and competitive spirit or focus immediately on employee wellness and inclusion? If they mention wellness and inclusion, is it a passing, perfunctory mention or are they comfortable discussing specific initiatives and examples?
The AntiHR, HR Lady, S. Anne Marie Archer is a recovering attorney and human resources (HR) executive who teaches employees how to voluntarily exit discriminatory hostile work environments on their own terms. She particularly warns against candidate companies who refer to themselves as a family. “A company that refers to itself as family is a company that has no boundaries. It’s a company that’s going to expect you to work around the clock without additional compensation because you’re doing it for the ‘family,’” she insists. “They usually also cut corners and ignore labor and employment laws. Run!”
2. Can you describe the type of leader who would thrive in this environment and contrast that with one who would not?
Leaders and leadership style can truly make or break corporate culture. Arguably, organizations adopt the type of culture that its leaders reinforce daily through their tone, style, decisions and expectations. The interviewer’s description if accurate should offer clues as to the organization’s leadership philosophy. A great follow up for many of these lines of inquiry is asking for an example. If the organization is full of highly engaged, supportive, empathetic leaders, it shouldn’t be difficult to provide some real-life situations as examples (without names of course), but if the interviewer seems to have difficulty finding a real-life example, that may be an indication that their response is more likely a talking point than a reflection of daily life.
3. How does the organization’s commitment to equity and inclusion show up in corporate priorities and day to day work life?
These days virtually every organization will be ready with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) talking points, but that certainly doesn’t mean they have any real commitment to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment. Instead of prompting the interviewer to rattle off the standard high-level messaging, this question asks how DEI is actively showing up in the workplace. That’s a better barometer for assessing an organization’s level of DEI commitment. This wording is also a great way to ask for examples without explicitly asking for examples (although that’s certainly fine as well). This question helps you move beyond platitudes to understand what inclusion and equity look like in their workplace. As always, if the interviewer struggles to provide specifics, that’s a red flag.
4. What processes are in place to encourage candor and speaking truth without fear of retribution?
A hallmark of a toxic environment is a pervasive fear of speaking up. Problems are left unaddressed, and harmful, ineffective managers are untouchable because there really is no recourse for employees. In contrast, healthy organizations have cultivated cultures of candor where employees feel free to speak up without fear of retribution. These ultra healthy environments are not just rare; they also don’t happen by accident. Instead, they’re cultivated through the painstaking implementation of actions and habits designed to create that specific culture. Organizations who have achieved this should easily be able to detail the processes that they’ve established to support candid employee feedback.
5. Could you recommend a few current employees who might be willing to provide insight into their experience?
No matter how many questions you ask, there’s no substitute for hearing directly from people who actually work there. Of course, it will still likely be difficult to get brutally candid feedback, but the more people you talk to, the more informed you’ll be. If the interviewer provides one or two names, talk to them and ask them to recommend a couple others who might be willing to chat with you. Reach out to any of your LinkedIn connections who might work there as well. When you talk to employees, you’re obviously not trying to put them in an awkward situation, but asking them to share how they’d describe the culture and what they view as advantages and disadvantages of working there are fair questions. And of course, if people are particularly hesitant to discuss the company culture, that’s a huge red flag.
The time to find out about a toxic work culture is before you take the job, not after. So, don’t waste the opportunity to ask these critical questions during the interview process. Feel free to spread them around, over multiple conversations with different people perhaps, but one way or another, this is the type of information you want to secure to help you steer clear of a toxic workplace.
