How To Choose A Company To Work For
You have the power to choose a company that you want to work for.
Too many job candidates think the recruitment process is one-sided. They think they have to impress the company, and that’s it. In reality, it’s a two-way street. The company has to meet your standards as well.
When companies decide that they’re going to hire for a position, they create a “target candidate profile.”
It’s basically a blueprint for the perfect hire. If the company could create their new hire in a laboratory, what kinds of key qualities and characteristics would they possess?
You should be asking yourself the same question, from the other point of view. If you could build your dream company in a laboratory, what would it look like?
Here’s how to choose a company to work for in four easy steps:
1. Start by answering all these questions honestly for yourself.
- Company size: how big is the company where you want to work?
- Product: what type of product do you want to sell?
- Culture: what do you look for in a healthy work culture?
- Coworkers: what qualities do you look for in the people on your team?
- Work-life balance: what’s your definition of work-life balance?
- Daily schedule: are you a morning person or a night owl?
- Time-off policy: is there a minimum number of vacation days that you will accept?
- Compensation: what range are you targeting for your compensation package?
- Benefits: which benefits are essential for your lifestyle?
- Promotion opportunities: is career growth important to you?
- Job security: is job security an important factor for your lifestyle?
- Training: is learning new skills a priority at this point in your career?
- Office location: is there a city where you want to live?
- Remote work: is remote work an important option for you?
- Commute time: what’s the maximum amount of time you would spend commuting each day?
This list is by no means exhaustive. There are hundreds of things to consider when choosing a company to work for. Feel free to add anything that’s important to you that was omitted from the list above.
2. Rank these factors in order from most important to least important.
No job is perfect. No matter what, you will have to make tough decisions about trade-offs between one job offer and another. For example, one company might have great benefits and job security, but another company is offering a better compensation package.
It’s important that you make a list of what’s most important to you before you receive your offers. This way, you can make sure you’re not suffering from recency bias and choosing what might seem good in the moment or what’s being sold to you by a recruiter.
3. Focus on your top five.
If you’re a recent college grad applying for your first job in tech sales, your top five might look something like this:
| Rank | Factor | Standard |
| 1 | Training | Strong foundation of training at the beginning of my career |
| 2 | Company size | Large and well-established company for my resume |
| 3 | Culture | Culture of inclusiveness to build my network in a new city |
| 4 | Coworkers | Veteran coworkers who I can learn from |
| 5 | Product | Product with a big market that I can build a career on |
4. Prepare your answer for this common interview question: “Why do you want to work here?”
Using the same example from above, your answer might sound something like this:
I’m just starting out in my career so I’m looking for a well-established and successful company with a reputable training program and a network of coworkers who can serve as my mentors.