Interviews can bring up lots of emotions. They can create a sense of flattery and joy because a company in interested in you. But, an interview can also incite panic and nervousness. The seminar on interviews that I attended really got me thinking about how I really shouldn’t just be applying to companies blindly and thinking about the prestige. Not only will aligning myself with the company help me get the job, but I would be doing my research in finding a company that aligns with my beliefs. So, it’s not all about showing the technical skills you have. It’s showing that you fit into the company culture.

I know that company culture sort of seems superficial. Since what is company culture and why does it matter? Company culture is really important. It creates an identity for everyone inside that company. Hiring someone who disrupts that culture can be disastrous. Here’s an example. Xerox had offices in the East Coast and West Coast, specifically in Palo Alto. Well the East Coast people were much more formal going to work in business attire, while the West Coast tech people were much more informal going to work in jeans and flip flops. Due to this difference in culture the two branches were in conflict as both sides felt like they other didn’t understand them. This eventually led to Xerox losing out in the tech race. The executives on the East Coast just didn’t understand the West Coast people resulting in them not realizing what breakthroughs they had. In fact, they had taken SRI’s Doug Engelbart’s idea of the mouse and evolved the concept. This resulted in them inviting a young Steve Jobs to look at the mouse they were working on. The people on the West Coast team at Xerox were against this, but higher ups pushed for it. Jobs was able to see the value in the tech they created that the East Coast people couldn’t, which allowed him to evolve the idea of the mouse.