The importance of Culture when making your career move: Find a Culture that Cares

Written by
Nick Clover - Director of Hospitality Jobs UK

Published
13 Aug 2019

13 Aug 2019 • by Nick Clover - Director of Hospitality Jobs UK

Following on from my previous blog referencing Pizza Pilgrims and the refreshing culture in their amazing business (The importance of culture… it’s not an overused word. How ridiculous!) I feel the need to highlight a few brief points.

As a candidate your decision in your next career move is crucial. It’s the difference between a step forward or a step back. It’s the difference between a positive step following all your hard work or a negative one. It’s the difference between being happy or being miserable.

An important decision I can hear you thinking!

It really is and the decision has never been so important. My advice would be to look at the evidence and ask the right questions. A company with a great people culture, focussed on their people. They put in the right incentives, the right training and listen. This is the key to a great people culture in my humble opinion and putting the feedback in place is the important next step.

Having worked in Hospitality Recruitment for some years I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly. As a candidate you need to know the difference because a good culture allows you to maintain a positive outlook, not only towards yourself, but towards others and towards the business itself. The bad and the ugly have the wrong toxic focus and normally put money over people, don’t care and get the balance completely wrong. If you make the wrong decision and end up in the wrong place, you’ll end up feeling bad about yourself, those around you and towards the company itself.

Knowing how to make the right decision is not easy because some less desirable companies put on a good front and it all seems rosy on the surface. Sometimes experience is the way to follow your gut, to ask the right questions and understand what a good culture looks like.

I would urge every candidate to think seriously about what company culture means and, in an interview, why not ask the employer ‘what does the company culture mean to you and how is it ‘lived’ in the business’. Listen to your gut and if the interviewer talks about success, recognition, opportunity, celebrations of team achievements, people (actual people rather than a hypothetical person) and if that person opens up, they’re genuine.

While this is scratching the surface (at best) in regards to the importance of company culture as a candidate, I hope it starts a thought process. We look forward to representing some of the companies with the BEST CULTURES and people in the market, who live their cultures and support their amazing people.