Note: This post was updated in February 2023 with new research.

Company culture is an important consideration for job seekers.

In February 2023, I surveyed more than 1,200 employees. A whopping 95 percent said they consider a company’s culture before applying for a job.

Even after people apply, culture remains an important consideration. My research shows that 43 percent of employees have turned down a job offer because the company had a poor culture.

Culture is also a reason existing employees choose to stay or go, with 64 percent of employees indicating they’ve left a company due to the culture. (You can see that research here.)

So how exactly do job applicants evaluate your company's culture?

I posed that question on LinkedIn and got a lot of great responses. Here's a summary, along with some commentary of my own.

What is company culture?

Culture is defined as how people in an organization think and act. To job applicants, this often boils down to “What’s it like to work here?”

This might include a few things:

• What are general norms and expectations for the workplace?

• How do coworkers treat each other?

• Are employees proud to work for the company?

• How are senior leaders viewed by employees?

• What is a typical workday like?

Every organization has its own unique qualities. Candidates want to know if they can see themselves working for your company and if they’ll enjoy it.

Applicants do their research

Many job applicants do a lot of research before applying for a job with your company.

The employer review site, Glassdoor, is one popular resource. It contains anonymous reviews and ratings of thousands of companies.

Many also use LinkedIn extensively.

"I’ll review who the leaders are, Google them, find them on LinkedIn, [and] review their profiles," wrote Thomas Velasquez. "If I know someone, I will reach out and see if I can get an informational interview."

Aida Soleimani takes a similar approach. "It’s been helpful to reach out to employees on LinkedIn not involved in the interview process and ask them what they like or dislike about the company, what they would change and if they have thought about leaving the company. Sometimes it also helps to reach out to ex-employees and ask similar questions."

"One thing I use is the company’s hiring trends," wrote Greg Freeman. LinkedIn Premium users can quickly access information such as the company's growth rate and the average tenure of employees.

Some, like Jessica Hollo, check a company's social media accounts. "What does the company feel is important enough to portray to a wider audience?"

"I analyze the texts & overall narration on the website (mission, values, key concepts etc) & in the job description," wrote Anastasia Zarusskaia. "The language usually speaks for itself."

One way to make it easier for applicants to research your company culture is to include a culture page on your website. (See examples in this post.)

The interview process is important

Applicants evaluate the interview process itself to get a sense of an organization's culture. Does the organization seem to value them and their time, or are they treated poorly?

Multiple interview rounds can be a red flag, especially for applicants with jobs, school, childcare, and other responsibilities that must be juggled to accommodate several days of interviewing.

One-way video interviews are another turnoff. Some companies try to be more efficient by asking applicants to record short videos of themselves answering screening questions, but many candidates report having a bad experience.

The interview setting is also important.

I've seen job interviews happen at Starbucks and other public places, where the applicant is asked to respond to personal questions within earshot of other customers. It can be a jarring experience.

Applicants also assess the interviewer and other employees they meet.

"I try to make my impression from how [the] interviewing process is going," wrote Samer Mcshat. "I do my assessment usually when the interviewer gives me space to ask questions. That was always useful."

"I've asked to meet different team members across the company," added Marco Yim.

Many applicants are interviewing with multiple employers, and it’s a competitive process. You can stand out by making the interview process enjoyable, informative, and easy for applicants.

Interviewing the interviewer

Candidates frequently turn the tables on recruiters and hiring managers to interview them.

"How interviewers respond to questions about work/life balance, diversity, and salary negotiations during the interview says a lot about company culture," explained Jasonda Desmond. "I also like to talk to other people in the team. More often than not I am looking at how they react to questions or answers, in addition to what they say."

Brad Langebartels also looks for how people discuss the culture. He prepares questions ahead of time and then asks follow-up questions to learn more about the culture and check for inconsistencies. "If interviewer groups can demonstrate how their communicated vision is reflected in their public reputation and work culture, you will have one important factor to consider."

"One should also enquire about the team as you will eventually work with the team at the org," wrote Garvit Arora. "[The] company might have a people-first culture but as an employee it is important to know if that culture drills down to individual teams as well."

Interviewers can standout by proactively discussing culture.

“During interviews I speak about the company and department culture,” wrote Katrina Garcia. “I believe by opening the discussion proves we care about work/life balance, communication, and that we want to be a good fit for them equally as we want them for us.“

Conclusion

Culture is vitally important to job applicants, especially in a tight job market.

Employers can improve their hiring by making it easy for candidates to assess the company culture. Encourage people to do their research, share candid information about what it's like to work in your company, and make other employees readily available.

It's a bad idea to try to hide reality. "It's one of those intangible concepts that's really hard to fake comprehensively," wrote Scott Ontiveroz.

A better approach is to share the real culture, warts and all. This will help attract employees who really want to work in your company, while discouraging candidates who might be short-timers anyway.

You can use this guide to hiring for culture fit for more ideas.