Today I discovered Climber.com, an interesting career site that is different from the usual suspects. It’s like a matchmaking site for job seekers and recruiters. It’s a place where you can connect to people and companies anonymously and you can research companies and salary information.
A really cool feature of this site is what they call the Career Fingerprint™. This is where the matchmaking comes in. The website describes it as:
Completing the free Work Values Assessment ensures that you are matched with a company that shares your values and passion. The Career Fingerprintâ„¢ gives you a better idea of which companies and workplace environments will help you achieve your career goals.
Citing long-term research, the site illustrates the importance of a match between employees’ work values and beliefs and the companies’ culture, environment and work process. What they term a “person-organization fit†or “organizational fit†is evidently “an important determinant of turnover, absenteeism, job satisfaction, job performance, and training proficiency (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson, 2005.)”
This all makes perfect sense to me. I’ve worked for two companies in particular that are good examples of this idea in action. The first company had a completely different set of values than I did. It wasn’t my ideal work environment (and by that I mean not only the physical environment but the people as well). The other company I felt was a perfect fit for my values, work ethic and they offered flex-time and telecommuting- two things that were very important to me at that time. Guess which company got 110% from me? They gave me more of what I needed and I gave them more in return.
The research indicated that important components of organizational fit include:
- Interests in specific aspects of benefits the organization offers (flex time, etc)
- value of skills the employee has or perceives he/she has
- lifestyle, hours, time commitment, travel
- Rewards, salary, benefits
- Opportunities for advancement and growth, including potential for promotion
In addition, research showed the importance of the company culture, workplace atmosphere and logistics such as the work flow process, who makes decisions and how and other cultural factors. Some examples of these values are:
- Energetic vs. relaxed
- Planned and stable
- Well organized authority structure
- Innovative and creative
- Growth oriented
- Team oriented
- Perceived as fair and equitable by employees
- Concerned with and supportive of others
This approach to matching employees with companies could be particularly effective for those looking for a company that offers telecommuting options and flex-time. Check out the site, you may want to add Climber.com to your job search arsenal.
Tags: job searching
