Organizational Culture: You Can Only Be Who You Are

One of the hardest things to do in any job search process is to be yourself while also being polished, on point, and focused on delivering a targeted message to your potential employer about how you will are the perfect “fit” for an open position.

Clients sometimes ask me how they can convey their sense of purpose and desire for a position without coming across as phony. My answer: quit trying to prove yourself and spend your time being yourself.

The logic behind this is simple enough. If you conveyed your qualifications well enough on your resume, cover letter, and other application materials, then the interview is less about that and more about two things:

1. Whether you presented your qualifications accurately, and

2. Whether you will fit into their organizational culture.

If you have presented your qualifications accurately, you do yourself a disservice by presenting yourself as someone you’re not. So try as much as you can to go into each interview “comfortable in your own skin,” and let the details settle themselves.

The truth you must be most comfortable with is that the most qualified candidate on paper often is not the successful candidate in the process. By the time an interview happens, you have been given a so-called “equal opportunity” to state your case, and the assumption you should take into each interview is that all candidates meet the basic qualifications for the job. This will allow you to meet your potential employer on a more equal footing. A good job match will be dictated as much by your potential fit into an organizational culture, or your ability to navigate the nuances of such a culture, in an emotionally intelligent and productive way, as it will be about your actual skills, experiences, and qualifications.

Understanding organizational culture is tricky.  You must be ready to separate your interest in a particular job from your possible fit, and accept that a rejection doesn’t label you as “unqualified” for that type of position, or even for another position at that institution. It just means that wasn’t your day, and that wasn’t the job.

This will allow you to move on toward exploring other opportunities, and clear the path to a position and an organizational culture that will hopefully be a better fit for not only your qualifications but for you.

How do you assess your potential “fit” into an institution’s organizational culture? For some thoughts on the subject, watch the replay of my presentation “Mastering the Interview” at StudentAffairs.TV or visit this brief tutorial “How to Fit Into a Workplace Culture” on eHow.