KNOW YOUR WHY BEFORE JOINING

In this article you will learn the art to chose your next boss or company for a job. A few years ago I came across the article "Employee Retention - Why do people leave?" and when i studied the research, the top reason for people to leave their current job was: 'Most people leave their jobs because of their supervisor or team leader'. Now my question to you is: if you believe that this is actually the reason why you switched in the past or planning to switch in future, did/will you actually pay any attention to this aspect before accepting different offer? Did you really understand who will be your potential boss in the next organization and what are his beliefs and values? What are the companies beliefs and values and do they match to yours?

I used to often wonder why do the HR sometimes ask questions such as "Why should we hire you?" or "why do you want to join ABC company?" Most of us google the perfect answers and mug it up. Now i realize that these are the most important questions that you must sincerely and honestly answer to yourself. The reason why the interviewer ask you this question is not just to know if you have visited our website or not or have you memorized what/how they do what they do. Main agenda of the question is to know your WHY. Instead of the HR, we should be equally focused to sort out our Why before any interview. To get your WHY answer below:

• What are your core beliefs and values?
• What motivates you, what is your aim or purpose in life?
• Why does the company you are interviewing exists? Why do their customer love or hate them?
• How can you help the company achieve what it plans to achieve?
• Do yours and company core beliefs and vision match?

Now we can all get answers to above if we introspect a little and do some research. The problem is despite being burnt by the number one reason of leaving, we still overlook that and run after money or brand alone. Not even once we think what if i get the same kind of boss in the new environment? Some might say "Oh, I changed because of money only. My boss was great." You might have changed the company because of money but don't you feel that this problem which the whole world recognizes can fall upon you to?

While you are thinking about all the above, let me highlight the case of Art of Living Foundation. The Art of Living Foundation is a volunteer-based, humanitarian and organization founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Please note the word volunteer-based. It might be probably world's biggest organization with presence in more than 150 countries with a volunteer base of over 4 million people. Why do you think people join? They are joining the WHY of the organization. All 4 million people have their belief systems matched with their Guru. I am sure you will not find many unsatisfied employees (volunteers), as they are all connected together with a common WHY. The why has a strong power to unite people and achieve greatness.

Simon Sinek in his TED talk (Watch the full video) has mentioned that it is very important for an organization to know their WHY. All the great leaders from Henry Ford to Mahatma Gandhi to Steve Jobs had a clear vision (their Why of life). They used to surround them with people with similar beliefs and purpose. Beyond the structure and systems a company is nothing more than a collection of people. You want to be around people or companies who are like you and share your beliefs. If you closely look at the bunch of your close friends, you will realize that you all have something common which is still able to hold you together. We are drawn to leaders or organizations that are good at communicating what they believe. Next time when you are asked at the end of the interview: do you have any questions for us?, instead of asking nonsense questions about when can i join or what will be my salary, try to get to know who will be your reporting manager and ask him/her these:

• Why did he/she join this company? (Pay attention to the answer - does the leader knows what is the company's WHY)
• What motivates him/her to come to work daily?
• What is his/her vision for his team and organization? (Look closely if he/she seems to be happy to see you here? Does he/she smile often?)

At the end if you have more than 1 offer, always chose to join the company/leader who has a vision and which matches with your life goals and beliefs. I am sure even if the pay is slightly less, you might end up with a more satisfied life and career. I am sure that is what matters to you at the end of the day!

To end I would like to quote an interesting incident which i read in a book:

Robert Thomas, manager in one of the US based company told how he had successfully found the right applicant for a hard-to-fill position:

'I was desperately trying to recruit a Ph.D. in computer science for my department. I finally located a young man with ideal qualifications who was about to get graduated from college. After several phone conversations I learned that he has many offers from other companies, many of that larger and better then mine. I was delighted when he accepted my offer. After he started on the job, I asked him why he had chosen us over the others. He paused for a moment and then he said "I think because managers in the other companies spoke on the phone in a cold, businesslike manner, which made me feel like just another business transaction. Your voice sounded as if you were glad to hear from me..that you really wanted me to be part of your organization.". You can be assured, I am still answering my phone with a smile.'

Appreciate your time reading this article. Hope it will help you in your next Job. Till then keep looking for your WHY if you haven't sorted it yet. Please do leave any comments/suggestions.