Tell us why you think you’d fit into our corporate culture. Hey youth of today. This is a red flag. When they pose this prompt they are letting you know that the company is into the ‘work is family’ culture and how well you fit in will determine your success. They will expect long hours and lots of your personal time. Many of your dreams will rely on a set of arbitrary requirements that shift often and, well, it’s basically high school all over again, but now you can starve if [not real names-example only] Bentley and Mercedes don’t like you.
Also avoid: open workspaces (those are used to eliminate privacy and monitor your productivity, not to mention they are distracting and signal your company does not give a [Insert your own thought] about employee well-being) offices that offer a load of in-office ‘perks’ like cereal bars and foosball tables (those are meant to keep you there longer without noticing it and foster unhealthy work-life balance) and the aforementioned ‘cool corporate culture’ that’s actually a high school disguised as an office. While I’m ranting, get every promise in writing in a signed offer or in an email. Never take someone at their word. Look for signals like ‘are you willing to work overtime?’ And ‘are you willing to cross train?’ These signal a company that will work you overtime and load about 7 jobs on you for the first job’s salary. Sorry not sorry and a catastrophic thanks for the life experience. Mic drop.
