This is harder to answer than it might first appear, for two reasons. Firstly, you have to figure out what you believe your Company’s purpose and Culture really is. Secondly, you have to figure out your own.
Company’s Purpose
The Company’s is harder to work out than it should be. I don’t think anyone would accuse me of being cynical or negative with this comment, but in my experience, the Visions, Mission, Value statements etc. that a Company commits to on paper (and PowerPoint and on the walls) often bear little resemblance to the real Culture of the organisation.
In addition, the Culture you experience in your part of the organisation may well be different to other site/departments. Is your frustration really with the Company or just with one or two individuals that you have to work with?
Your Purpose
Secondly, being clear what you want to achieve with your day, your year and your life is not an easy thing to do. We all know school leavers and graduates don’t tend to know what they want to do, but the reality is most of us, with quite a few more years on the clock than this, are only a little bit clearer. Talent, appetite and hard work may have led us roughly in the right direction, but what defines us and what do we reallywant to achieve? That’s tougher to figure out.
This is not easy stuff, but if you are frustrated with your Organisation, I would encourage you to think more deeply about these two questions before you open the floodgates, tweaking your LinkedIn profile to “Casually looking”.
Why? Well, aside from anything else your next employer will want you to be running towards them rather than away from where you are now. Yes they’ll want the best candidate, but above all else they want somebody who will stay in post. They do not want to be re-recruiting in 12 months time. So you’ll need to be clear what you want, why “Current Co” isn’t right and why “New Co” appears really interesting (but you’d like to interview them first to find out more…)