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Comment by coderheed | Hacker News Reader

Interviewing is a fundamentally flawed process for both parties. It's like moving in together after the first date.

That said, here are a couple of ideas that come to mind to get a better feel for a company. The nice thing about both of these is they benefit both the employer and prospective employee.

1) The best way I know of is if you're referred to a company by someone you know and can trust enough to tell you about the warts beforehand.

2) Failing #1, if you find a company you're interested in and who's interested in you, ask them for a contract-to-hire position with a 3-6 month or so contract. It's a great way to really get to know the culture without a huge commitment. They'll do it if they want you, but if they balk you should be able to convince them it's in their best interest as well. Just don't do anything drastic like relocating until you're fulltime.

Anyway, good luck.

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I agree with coderheed. A few months ago, I interviewed with several companies -- startups and large companies. The interview process is the same; it's broken.

And the way I ultimately picked my next job was to speak to people within the firm, who are not part of recruiting or management, and ask questions. You'll be surprised how honest the responses can be, especially from folks that are relatively new to the company (they're more empathetic since they were in your position a few months ago).

Keep in mind, an "awesome company culture" is largely a personal opinion. People instantly associate unlimited food, scooters and free gym membership with an awesome company culture. That's false. All the perks in the world won't matter if the job you're doing is not satisfying, or if the company's values don't align with yours.

Imo, one of the few companies that get "company culture" right is Zappos. They go beyond just offering perks and really do unique things to foster strong relationships within the company. Still, it doesn't mean Zappos is a fit for you. Not a lot of people are keen on going through "culture training" the first month on the job.

> 1) The best way I know of is if you're referred to a company by someone you know and can trust enough to tell you about the warts beforehand.

Another issue of course, is that the other person's baseline estimate might be screwed up. For example, a friend of mine who worked in the east coast where you had to wear a tie to work every day for a code job, finds the idea of dressing up in whatever he pleases at his startup amazing. That colors the perspective of how he looks at things.

> 2) Failing #1, if you find a company you're interested in and who's interested in you, ask them for a contract-to-hire position with a 3-6 month or so contract. It's a great way to really get to know the culture without a huge commitment. They'll do it if they want you, but if they balk you should be able to convince them it's in their best interest as well. Just don't do anything drastic like relocating until you're full-time.

This is probably the best way to do it. The problem then of course is what if things don't go well? One has a resume with a collection of three to six month long positions which makes HR people nervous. I guess one could essentially mark all that as time spent "consulting" but I don't know how that would fly with prospective employees.

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