Work & Family / Working Family

As a young adult who has had its fair share of work experience, one is well aware of the reality surrounding job applications, interviews and work environments. As we are taught to separate and balance work and family parallel to growing as individuals and professionals, we spend half our time with a cluster of people who struggle and rejoice, just like we do on a daily basis.

In a recent experience, I engaged in a family business application process and a few things still excel after its getting-to-know-you-better meetings (rather than interviews) and I wish to list them as follows:

1. "Tell me about yourself from a personal perspective; and then, lets talk about your academic background and work experience". From the first approach, I knew I was dealing with people interested in people rather than employers looking for employees. As a developing psychologist, this became the first green flag for the initial approach lead to a rich conversation where I was treated as a person, not an asset.
2. "Yes we are a family business but...". Family business pride themselves on outlining how much of a family they are. This time, however, this characteristic was brought to discussion until I decided to point it out. Green flag #2: we wish, not want, to have you working with us, not for us, because of your qualities and strengths and not because we share ties; then, we want you to be a part of our family.
3. Principles and values. Countless times we see companies struggling with disengaged and unaligned team members due to an unclear company culture. But when you experience their own team work and communication, core values, working ethic and a warming- welcoming culture aligned with your working principles, I had identified my 3rd green flag just there.

Having a pleasant and heartwarming interaction with the hiring team lead me to comprehend they have transitioned from a work cluster into a working family... and that felt refreshing (green flag number 4).