Job hunting: Check out corporate culture

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By Leslie Jaye Goff

(IDG) -- The shiny cappuccino maker and hipster associates rushing around the office talking into their mobile headsets didn't impress Ron Szybowicz.

What did leave an indelible impression on the prospective consultant during his interview at the Dallas, Texas, office of a nationwide IT consulting firm was the fact that the interviewer didn't seem particularly interested in his career goals.

In choosing the consulting agency that he would use to land his first independent gig, Szybowicz was swayed more by a recruiter at a less-swanky firm who quizzed him at length about his aspirations.

"It was about substance over style," says Szybowicz, now a contract systems engineer at Directfit in Irvine, California, working on assignment at Verizon Communications in Dallas.

Selecting the consulting firm that will place you with clients is one of the most critical decisions you can make as an IT consultant. To get at the issue, Szybowicz's input was compared with that of Louis Verardi, an independent consultant incorporated as Neville Communications Inc. in Tottenham, Ontario, and Mike Pollitt, an IT veteran who joined Intrinsic Technologies in Lisle, Illinois, this spring.

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"As with any job search, networking is key," Pollitt says. His 12 years of working with and observing consultants at Chicago-based Northern Trust Corp. factored into his decision to join Intrinsic Technologies, he says.

"I had worked with about 50 percent of the staff here . . . so I had a general idea of how the company was run, who the partners were and who their clients were," Pollitt says. "When I thought of all the best people I knew in business, the vast majority were here."

Although Pollitt says he has had successful client relationships with other consultancies, they didn't pass muster when he considered them from an employee's perspective. "I didn't get the sense that they were a team of people working toward the same goal," he says.

Ask the hard questions

You want info on the company's client list, business plan, profitability, bench time and placement and billing rates.

How open is the consultancy is about clients? Financial information and other details can be telling. If the recruiter won't share this information, think twice about signing on with that company.

"Sometimes you can just smell the paranoia," Verardi says. "You have every right to know where they're sending your resume and how they found out about you. You can get a very quick sense of the culture if they're secretive."

Szybowicz says he didn't follow up with the first agency at which he interviewed because "they wouldn't even tell me who their clients were. The recruiter was like, 'Hmm, I think we may have placed someone with Verizon or Southwestern Bell a couple of months ago.' He wasn't even sure. I just considered it a bad sign that they weren't upfront from the beginning."

And although such information is often hard to come by, how a recruiter fields the question of what the billing rate is will speak volumes about whether the firm views its consultants as bodies-for-hire or valued contributors to its bottom line, consultants say.

Bond, baby, bond

Will the consultancy look for a long-term relationship with you?

Szybowicz, who was willing to continue in his job until an opening came up at Verizon, told the Directfit recruiter that he was "low-maintenance" and didn't require constant contact.

The recruiter struck a balance that made him feel that Directfit was truly looking out for him, Szybowicz says. The recruiter didn't call to dangle alternate opportunities in front of him but nonetheless kept in touch periodically. And when an opening at Verizon came up two months later, the recruiter immediately got him in for an interview.

"They could have treated me like a number, and if they got me into Verizon, that would have been fine," Szybowicz says. "But the constant care and the personal touch are a great benefit. The kind of contact, and the frequency, is a real litmus test to gauge what kind of relationship you're going to have."

It's a relationship

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Get a sense for the strength of the consultancy's relationships with its clients.

If a recruiter promises to place you with your employer of choice, get him to substantiate how he's going to do that. Ask how many people the company has placed there in the past, how many it currently has working there and how long the relationship has been in place.

Szybowicz says he went to Directfit partly because he knew the company had established ties to his preferred employer, Verizon.

"It was important to me that they had a fantastic relationship with Verizon," he says. "The person who placed me had intimate knowledge of the systems and software that Verizon was using, including the names of software and technologies they were using that most outside people wouldn't know. It was clear that they had a really tight, good relationship."

Follow the money

Find out how the agency's recruiters are paid.

Verardi notes that some agencies use independent recruiters who receive a commission for each placement they make.

"That sets up an internal competition, where two people are trying to place the same consultant with different clients," he says, "and that doesn't breed a very nice environment."

Verardi says he works only for agencies whose recruiters are salaried staff members; if you're not sure, ask point-blank whether the recruiter is on commission or salaried or both.

How deep is the ocean?

Consider how many layers of people you have to deal with.

Ask how the agency is organized and who your point of contact would be for problems and questions.

"Some organizations have a lot of people involved -- one person talks to clients, one deals with consultants, and you end up with a lot of overhead if a problem occurs," Verardi says.

"I want the person who represents me to be the one who talks directly to the client if there's an issue, whether it's about extending the contract, increasing my rate after a long time or [if] I just want to take a few days off."

How are the vibes?

Take notice of the general atmosphere in the offices.

As Szybowicz found, slick offices can be an indication that an agency is overcompensating for a lack of substance. "Beware of all the flash -- it may be smoke and mirrors," he warns.

Verardi agrees that the physical environment can offer some clues to the culture.

"Look at what kinds of computers, phones, copiers and fax machines they have," he suggests. "Is the equipment new or old? That may give you a feel for whether they're doing well or not. They could be doing too well -- charging huge markups on your rates."

Also, trust your instincts about the overall ambience in the office, Verardi says. "Bad culture is very difficult to put a finger on; in a good culture, you just get a good vibe," he says.

"It's in things like how you're greeted -- is it professional or unattended? Does someone walk you back for your interview? Is it in a cubicle or conference room?"

Verardi recommends that you insist on an in-office meeting with placement agencies. "If they refuse, or they want to meet you off-site, that's a bad sign," he says.