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One of the challenges in a job search is finding a company that has not only the right benefits, but also the right atmosphere as well. How can interviewers assess the culture of a company they haven’t yet participated in? A few cues can better help interviewers understand the company they’re interested in.

Managers have long paid close attention to the impression an interviewer conveys through their use of language, dress, and credentials. Interviewers pursuing a job that will be the right fit for them for the long term should use that information to advance their best career interests as well. The interviewer who conducts a mental interview of their own will have higher chances of selecting a position that’s a great match, equating to higher job satisfaction rates and better longevity per company.

Interviewers who prefer highly structured, corporate atmospheres will tend to have the best working relationships with managers who suit up for interviews. Interviewers who want more casual environments should look for managers who sport a business casual look to interviews. When posing interview questions, do managers use more formal language, or do they feel comfortable with a more casual verbal approach? Language can be another cue to candidates as to whether or not they want to continue the relationship past the interview.

At AVID, many of our IT jobs are filled on a project-by-project basis via contract work. A prospective candidate for these types of IT roles might never meet his or her technical recruiter face to face – or even the project manager, for that matter. For IT jobs that are fulfilled via telecommuting, the above-mentioned cues may not apply – the contracter potentially has only an impression of the recruiter and manager formed via phone interviews. In these cases, the verbal & communication style cues become more key, but at the same time, the culture fit may be less important or irrelevant if the job is primarily telecommuting-based. In scenarios where interaction with management doesn’t play into the job, the job description and duties become the central focus, and as long as the skillset is a good fit for the candidates’ background and interests, the candidate is free to count culture out of the equation.

Lastly, it’s common knowledge that interviewers should look their interviewers up on Linkedin or other professional networks to get a little background on them before the interview. Rather than assessing the interviews purely from an informational perspective, however, candidates should pay close attention to their interviewers level of education and past experience from a personal angle, to determine how high the likelihood of common ground would be if the interview goes well. The takeaway? Interviewers – start thinking a little more like you’re on the other side of the hiring table.