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The Company Research you Need to do Before your Interview

The Company Research you Need to do Before your Interview

by | Apr 11, 2017 | Career, First Job, Interview

So finally you have managed to score that big interview, and are looking forward to cracking it. Apart from all the preparation that you have already put in (LinkedIn Profile – check, other social media – check, a stellar resume – check, great communication skills – check, and everything else!), you also need to be thorough in your company research, or research about the company you are interviewing for. Imagine this scenario – you are interviewing for HP and if they ask you what HP stands for, you should be able to say it without batting an eyelid! Usually, in the larger scheme of things, we miss these details.

That however, isn’t quite acceptable since you are expected to know these things. So what should a thorough company research entail? Read on to find out!

Company Research Tip #1: The Company’s Mission and Vision

One of the most common interview questions that you are almost certain to be asked in any interview is – “why should we hire you?” Well of course for your skills, and everything else that your stellar resume says about you, but how do you put it in a way so that you are sure score? Keep what the mission, vision and values are, of the company in mind while answering this question. Tell them how you think your skills and capabilities are a reflection of what the company’s vision is, and compatible with its mission.

Read up all you can about the company’s mission and vision on its website, and on the various social media pages of the company. While you might have a vague idea, that probably will not suffice to help you come off confident during the interview. Doing this research will also help you do an honest assessment of whether you see yourself as a good fit for the company. And also whether the company is a good fit for you! That is probably the most important factor.

“Every workplace has a set of values that are important to them. Google looks for “ability and determination,” Zappos values “fun and a little weirdness,” and GE fosters “bringing ideas to life.” All are great things to value but quite different. When you’re considering different companies, think about their values and how your personality might fit in.” [Source: Levo.Com]

Company Research Tip #2: The Culture of the Company

It is simply not uncommon to be denied a job for no other reason apart from this – “You don’t seem to be a good fit for the culture of our organization.” And by no means can it be brushed away as a trivial reason. The culture of any company is about all those elements working in sync to sustain it. When you join it, you will be one of those elements. Do substantial research about this and keep asking yourself about how you “feel” about it. The culture of the company will have a direct influence on how you will be made to perceive your job.

Think about whether you would find it as an enabling experience, or whether it is something that would be difficult for you to ease into. Break it down into matching the approach you have towards work, and the approach that the culture of this new company would have. Is it compatible? Having this clarified before you appear for the interview will help you articulate yourself better, and will also put you in a good place where you have enough knowledge for informed negotiations – always a good place to be in.

Company Research Tip #3: What does the news say about it?

Just Google the company you are interviewing with and read up everything that it has been in news for. Remember that will very obviously be assumed that you are interested about the company (hint: you have made it to the interview!), which means you are expected to know the current affairs about the company. Even if you may not be quizzed about it, the knowledge will help you sustain or strike conversations.

Also check the company’s website for the recent news they might have made. Nothing can be more embarrassing than answering a question like, “So are your views on what the reason we were in news for, last week?” with a puzzled expression. Besides, you might also have a few questions of your own. Read up all you can about the company, and its latest news.

Company Research Tip #4: The Financial Health of the Company

While this may be a bit time-consuming, wrapping your head around it can be immensely valuable – for you personally, and for the company. The annual reports of all companies are usually made public on their website – which will help you more or less get an idea about the financial status of a company.

While this may be harder for older and settled organisations, it is comparatively easier in case it is a start-up you are interviewing for. In which case, it is all the more important for you to be thorough about your knowledge regarding the investments and the potential financial health of the start-up, so you have a fair idea about the benefits and risks you may expect from the company. The fact that you have done this homework should reflect in how you speak (but not in an incriminating, or questioning way at all!) during the interview and you will succeed in impressing your interviewer.

Company Research Tip#5: Feedback from ex/ current employees

It is a good idea to do a bit of (undercover) background research about the company’s culture, ethics and values through its current and even ex-employees. What they have to say might actually play the role of a heads up about your days to come at the company. If you have any friends there, talk to them, or do a bit of research to see if you can find someone who can put you in touch with someone. While doing this though, you might have to be careful. It is a good idea to get feedback from both a current, as well as an ex-employee.

Make a list of questions that you would want to ask beforehand, and keep them handy so you don’t miss out on any. Ask them how fair the HR policy is, what is the leave system like, how their work life balance is, and what their trajectory of growth has been like in the years that they’ve worked there. If it is an ex-employee you are speaking to, ask about why they left. While this information can be very useful, do remember to take it all with a pinch of salt. You can also use platforms such as Glassdoor to check out what the employees of a particular company have to say about it.

6. Company Research Tip#6: A sense of the overall trajectory – past and future

Analyze the growth of the company and get a sense of the overall trajectory of the company since its inception. Once again, this ground work helps not only you in getting a fairly good sense of what you are getting into, it will also impress the interviewer big time. This is important for two reasons, the first being your own knowledge about the company.

The second being, an inkling about how you may expect to grow in the few years you plan on spending there. This you may also bring up during the interview, and speak about how the company is growing and what the next big steps look like. Every company looks for people who are genuinely interested in what they do, and those are the people who get the most opportunities. If you are already one of them, all you need is a bit of preparation for that confidence to shine through.

It is also a good thing to be informed thoroughly about the different departments of the company (even those that may not directly be related to your profile or role). If you know who is going to be interviewing you, chances are, he/she knows a lot more about you than you would probably assume. Maybe you should do your own research on the interviewer as well – you never know how it may come in handy. And once you’ve done all of this, breathe easy because you really couldn’t be better equipped!

The Ethics for Working from Home – Some Guiding Principles

The Ethics for Working from Home – Some Guiding Principles

by | Jan 12, 2017 | Managing Yourself, Office Etiquette, working from home, World of Work

With the work from home culture gaining popular acceptance, we thought it is a good idea to talk about the guiding principles and ethics for working from home. While this option does guarantee a great deal of flexibility and comes with a promise of increased productivity, it also comes with a built-in premise. You are in a position of trust and with Trust comes Responsibility. As Oprah has said – Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.

From our experiences as an employee and employer operating in the remote working model, here are the ethics for working from home that we hold sacrosanct:

1. Adhering to work timings

If you are expected to work from 10am to 6pm, ensure that you are at your work table sharp by 10 and stick around till 6. The work from home option affords you a great deal of liberties and cutting down on your work hours isn’t and shouldn’t be one of them. Get as much as you can done within your working hours, focusing only work as your primary priority during these hours.

2. A strict no personal calls/ errands rule

This is something you would mind if you were operating out of an office cubicle, and something you should mind even when you are operating out of the comfort of your home. Take personal calls only when extremely urgent, and not without leaving a note for your team/ manager, explaining the reason. The same goes for running personal errands.

3. Being available and reachable

A prerequisite for working from home is always being reachable and available. Unlike a regular job, there isn’t a desk you can be found at. This means you always need to be accessible on phone/ email. There could be very little margin for error regarding the same, and scope for excuses like “my phone didn’t have charge”, or “there wasn’t internet connectivity”. In case you aren’t going to be available, make sure you find a way to send the message to your team. Do read this post where we talk about everything in terms of infrastructure that you need to start working from home, or as we would like to call it, the essentials for working from home – http://obolinx.com/resources/2016/03/start-working-from-home/.

4. Honesty

A work from home job is one which needs you to be honest with yourself, as well as your team. It is easy to compromise on the input, and make the output seem sufficient. It may be easy to pull it off at times, but in the long run it’s not going to leave you in a great place, or have you feel good about yourself. In our earlier posts, we have stressed continuously on the fact that work from home roles are strictly for those who have the ability for self-motivation and self-discipline. This probably, would be the most important of the ethics for working from home, and is a given expectation from you!

5. Making an effort to communicate

Having a job where you work from home can often become depressing, especially if you are a social butterfly. It isn’t the best way for an introvert to learn better communication skills, either. So regardless of what kind your personality is, it is important to make an effort to communicate with your colleagues on a regular basis and not isolate yourself. It is easy for communication to take place when you operate out of a traditional office environment. And what may seem as small talk, is often crucial to your own work, and the team’s work in general, because exchanging notes gives you a feel of where you stand with respect to your work and also a sense of cohesiveness with your team – which is very essential for you to be productive and happy at work!

 To Sum It Up

A work from home opportunity, is a great opportunity to get more done, with least investments, and the most output. Today, management leaders around the world are exploring this option to try to build amazing teams – remotely. Though written more from an employer’s perspective, “Remote: office not required”, by Fried and Hansson is an insightful read for how working from remote locations is truly an enabler, more than anything else. We hope that you agree with our take on the Ethics for Working from Home. We would love to hear back from you!

Note: At OBOlinx Tech, we provide flexible work from home option for our team. We have experienced firsthand the advantages and disadvantages of working in this mode both as an employer and as an employee. With clear goal settings, a strong process framework, much patience, some discipline and a steady flow of two-way communication, we KNOW this business model can work and is here to stay. This is the future of work and the future is already here.

Being a boss your team wouldn’t want to let down – Leadership Matters

Being a boss your team wouldn’t want to let down – Leadership Matters

by | Jan 5, 2017 | Career, Leadership, Management, Managing Yourself, Motivation

Now that’s a tough one, right? Not just how to be a “good” boss, but how to be a boss your team would never want to let down! Let’s state at the outset that very few bosses are able to find a place in that hall of fame. What makes it tough to be that kind of boss is maintaining very firmly, the delicate balance between being an amazing human being and a strict task master. The good news though is that it really isn’t all that tough to be that person. Thinking about it through these five key elements would probably set you off on a path to practice being that boss!

1. Lead

In one of our previous posts, we spoke about how to be a leader and not a boss. While all bosses can boss, only few bosses can lead. While a boss directs you, a leader empowers you and leads you by example. Your team sticks with you not just because they don’t have any other option, but because they like being in “your” team and they like learning with you. To be a leader to your team, is to exude a personality and a confidence which inspires and motivates your team to always go that extra mile.

2. Trust

Reposing trust in your team is a pre-requisite for your team to repose their trust in you. Trust is one of the most fundamental enablers. When you trust your team, there is an understanding that you have enough confidence in their ability to deliver. One of the most powerful methods of ensuring accountability, is in fact by investing trust in your team. This succeeds in acting as motivation for your team to take total ownership and meet your expectations.

3. Care

Why should being a boss, and in charge, pose as a conflict to your ability to be a good human being, who understands the larger dimensions of being in charge? When you are in charge of a team, you are not only in charge of ensuring the deliverables are met, but also in making sure that you help your team through the odds they may face in achieving those deliverables – which at times may even extend beyond the professional realm. At times, you may have to exercise discretion to figure how far you can really go. To care for your team is to make them feel valued, and secure – a quality that can change all that is wrong in the world of work.

4. Encourage

Not just for the sake of increasing productivity, or during appraisals – but make it a part of who you are as a person. Encouragement can be in many forms – it could be a few words, it could be a smile, it could be just an approving nod or a gesture. While it wouldn’t cost you anything, you never know how it may infuse someone with the energy he/she really needs.

5. Laugh

Be the boss who makes the work environment seem lighter. Wear a smile as often as you can, and laugh with your team as often as you can. Invest at least thirty minutes connecting with your team, sharing and laughing with them. The effect would be almost therapeutic – for you and for your team, resulting in a sense of cohesiveness which ultimately motivates your team to deliver the best.
To be a boss your team can’t let down, you’ve got to start by practicing all the qualities that you would like to see in a person you think you won’t ever be able to disappoint – and then, become that person! Let go of your need to invoke fear and hence get the work done (a tactic most commonly used by employers), and become someone who invokes the best in your team, simply by being all that you want to see in your team mates!

Resigning With Grace – How to Resign like a True Professional

Resigning With Grace – How to Resign like a True Professional

by | Dec 22, 2016 | Job Offers, Managing Yourself, Resignation

As professionals, it is only natural that we may want to quit the job we currently have, in order to move on and progress – for whatever reason we may have. There could be many reasons for us wanting to quit and we could be quite distracted/disturbed when the moment of truth approaches. Anger, nostalgia, pride, nervousness, a sense of loss, excitement are only some of the emotions you could be experiencing in your notice period, leading up to your last day. However, no matter how you feel, a graceful exit is a non- negotiable. Here are five things that need to be done, for resigning with grace, and leaving behind respect for you as a true professional:

  1. Resigning with Grace: Prepare them. And yourself.

    If it is in your control, prepare your manager/team in advance about your exit. It is bad enough for them that you’ve chosen to move on. The news should not be jolting. Have a conversation in person with your manager first. Be clear and courteous, and serve your notice period if that is what your manager needs. The time in hand will allow your work to come to a closure, a suitable replacement can be brought in and it is respectful!

 

  1. Resigning with Grace: Stay honest and polite in your exit interview

    Exit interviews are not venting sessions. But if you value your time at the organization and care for them, it is important that you give honest feedback about your experiences. Don’t trash talk. Tell them what you feel. You can be honest, but not rude. We believe many conversations must take place to make the world of work a better place. And if something needs to be addressed, exit interviews are the places to share.

 

  1. Resigning with Grace: Reach out to all the teams

    If you have been a person who has worked with multiple teams in the organization, and have some skills which others depend on, inform them about your exit. It is only fair that you make an open offer to them regarding working on transitioning anything that they need from you. That way they won’t be left in a vacuum.

 

  1. Resigning with Grace: Celebrate your journey

    For whatever reason you quit, once you decide to cross the bridge, know it is a new beginning. Your work stint would have brought you in contact with different kinds of people, allowed you to pick up skills, taken you towards your calling and helped you grow as a person. Celebrate that. The farewell might be a difficult time, an emotional time as well. But bringing in some joy, appreciation and fun will make your experience extremely worthwhile. And help reinforce the all-important friendships with the now ex-colleagues. Remember that it is these relationships that are the true assets that you take along with you.

 

  1. Resigning with Grace: Allow and acknowledge the possibility of a future association

    You never know when you may feel the need to associate in some way with an organization you leave, in the future. Be it in terms of work, or partnering with a colleague, reference from your manager, anything. It can happen. Don’t burn bridges. Leave a door open. Send appreciative emails/messages, be thankful. Tell your team/managers that at some point you would love to associate again. For an organization, it is always good when ex-employees come back to contribute again. As they say, it is a very small world!

 

Given the multitude of circumstances we may leave under, it may be difficult to leave on a good note. However, to end the post with the same note we started it with, resigning with grace is a non-negotiable!   Have similar thoughts? We would love to know! Do share your experience with us.

How to be a Leader not a Boss – Five Reminders and Quotes

How to be a Leader not a Boss – Five Reminders and Quotes

by | Oct 16, 2016 | Leadership, Management, Managing Yourself, Mentoring, Motivation, World of Work

Being a boss is easy. Said no one. Say it out loud, the word “boss”, and reflect on what it means, what it sounds like, and what it evokes in you. There are only a few words which can double as both a noun and a verb, “boss” being one of them. As an employer, you have infinite potential in you to get the best out of your employees. Alternatively, you also have infinite potential to extract the worst out of your employees. To be a leader not a boss is the key here.

Being a boss and being a leader could mean two wholly different things. The plan is, to show your team that you are very much a part of the team and at the helm of affairs. The best way to manage your people and motivate them to be their best is by being more of a leader and less of a boss. No to imposing yourself, stating through overt and covert ways, “who the boss is”, yes to communication, negotiation, trust and motivation. If you’ve ever been bossed by your boss, you know exactly what not to do. But, even the best of us need to be reminded at times. Here are five reminders and quotes about how to be a leader not a boss.

1. Give your employees the benefit of doubt

A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. – Russell H. Ewing

Most corporate environments today are eerily reminiscent of pre-industrial revolution hell holes. Of course that is an exaggeration, but you get what we mean. The work environment can get extremely stressful, and you do not know why an employee made a mistake he made, until you actually feel it is important to know the cause. Breathe, and communicate. Do not jump to conclusions. Giving your employees the benefit of doubt will also help you give yourself scope for improvement. Maybe you need to do something differently to help your employees perform better. Always be open to that fact.

2. Communication is truly the key

The art of communication is the language of leadership. – James Humes

Respond to emails, invest time in meting out detailed feed-back, organize team lunches and dinners, bond. Don’t assume that people know your vision, you ideas or plans. Communicate them often. And remember that two monologues don’t make a dialogue – communication is a two-way street. Take time to listen, to understand, to discuss. Being a boss can be easy at times, but being a mentor never is. But being a mentor is definitely more valuable for your organization in the longer run, than being a boss.

3. Micromanaging only kills productivity

A good boss makes his men realize they have more ability than they think they have so that they consistently do better work than they thought they could. – Charles Erwin Wilson

Not very long ago, we wrote about the importance of delegating tasks, if you have resources and a team at your disposal, learn how to delegate tasks. It will help both you as well as them. Being a control freak always has adverse effects on your productivity levels. It is impossible to micro manage everything. Also, do acknowledge and trust the talent of other people who have been hired because of their skills to handle the particular tasks. By delegating, you achieve two very important things – 1. The Trust of your employees 2. Productivity.

4. Applaud and motivate your People

If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it. – John C. Maxwell

The importance of motivating your employees cannot be stressed upon, enough. Letting your employees know that you value them for the great work they do, helps them bring out the best in themselves. You know you are a good leader and a good boss when employees don’t want to let you down. It is important to hold slackers accountable, but it is more important to make it a point to applaud your employees frequently, maybe on a weekly basis. Your employees feel valued when you start or end the week by personally communicating one thing you think each member of your team did a good job with. It may not even be something big. Gratitude does go a long way to inspire and motivate.

5. Apologize when you need to

A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. – Arnold H. Glasow

Remember that just because you are the boss, does not mean you are immune from making mistakes. Everyone is prone to mistakes and errors. What is more important is putting your ego of being superior aside, and admitting when things go wrong because of something you did, or could have done differently. Most often managers feel this quality makes them vulnerable. In fact, it is the exact opposite. It empowers you to lead your team in a much more productive manner. Humility scores way over hubris – not only for winning hearts but is also great for the bottom-line.

It can be overwhelming to be the person who is, at the end of the day, going to be held responsible or accountable for the way his/her team performs. This pressure to be a leader not a boss, more often than not gets to you. A little pressure, is of course is healthy. But ask yourself this, would you rather be a boss your employees absolutely loathe and detest? Or be a leader who they feel proud to work for. The world of work can never have enough of those kind!