Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame coach and baseball player, is alleged to have said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.” This statement is never more accurate than when checking out the corporate culture of a potential new employer. Walk into any company and look around. In 30 minutes you will probably identify the firm’s attitude toward employees, good or bad. It’s impossible to disguise.

Today, job seekers really want to know: Will I have a life of my own if I go to work for this company? If you have asked yourself this question and want to acquire valuable information on the corporate culture, then read on.

• Take time to compile a list of desirable qualities. Make an effort to evaluate each company utilizing the following six key factors: 1) products and services; 2) workplace environment; 3) financial performance; 4) emotional appeal; 5) social responsibility; and 6) vision and leadership.

• Check out the employee parking lot. If the lot is full late into the evening, you may conclude that long work hours are routine. While some new employees like that, it makes others shy away (before forming your opinion, make sure that most of the cars don’t belong to shift workers providing 24-hour technical support to customers worldwide). Consider this finding from a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 2,500 university students in 11 countries: 57% of the students listed “attaining a balance between personal life and career” as their primary career goal, up from 45% in 2001.

• Look at the employee handbook or policy manual. Does it only discuss rule violations and disciplinary actions? Or does it offer a positive message? At Perot Systems, a computer firm founded by Ross Perot, the policy manual leaves no doubt about the company’s attitude. In simple, direct language, it spells out a commitment to helping every employee achieve superior performance and growth within the company.

• Find out what the company truly rewards. The point of asking about the company’s reward system is that frequently a corporate culture will reveal itself through its reward system.

• Track down fellow alumni. A reliable method for getting a truer glimpse of an organization before joining is to track down alumni from your alma mater who have worked for the potential employer or who work there now.

• Find friends of friends. Don't hesitate to talk to people at the lower levels of the organization, people who have less of a vested interest in what is said. You could even speak with people who no longer work at the company ... but weigh their comments carefully since they may have an ax to grind. Most of the time, employees who have worked at the organization for less than six months are of little help; they’re simply too green to accurately read the corporate landscape.

• Does the company have a formal mentoring program in place? The cultural variables may involve the mentoring system. Some mentors may have more weight than others. Certain projects may have more weight than others. There may be favored areas, such as research and development, marketing, or finance. Also, a culture may dictate that if you step on people's toes or step on a certain person's toes, you will never get ahead, regardless of how well you perform and how smart you are. Or perhaps if you're not aligned with a certain network, it won't matter how hard you work, you won't get ahead.

• Don’t be afraid to ask tough piercing questions. Questions such as: What is a typical workday like here? Is the work environment friendly and supportive? How is optimum performance rewarded in this company? Is flexible scheduling available? What does it take to get ahead here? If being a mother is a future concern for you, then be sure to ask how much maternity leave is normally afforded to an employee. Ask if there is a working mother you can talk to before accepting an offer.

• Request to talk with current employees. The formal interview process is highly staged and not likely to put you in touch with the folks who could give you the real gritty details. Ask your potential employer if you could visit one of the facilities and chat informally with some of the people. If a company is reluctant to do that, it's a signal about what sort of culture they have. The best clue is how they deal with you when you push and probe a little bit.

It’s imperative to get a fix on cultural details like attitude toward disagreement, preciseness of job descriptions, and levels of autonomy before you sign up. But that's rarely easy to do. For one thing, there may be huge difference between what any recruiter or human resource type tells you and what really takes place. Example: How do you truly know from the outside looking in that you'll be free to openly disagree with your boss? You don't. Even if in your initial interview, they make a big deal of mentioning how open they are to criticism, they may just be trying to convince themselves that they are.

Since a company’s norms are likely to be unspoken and highly informal, only a fool would accept a job at an organization without first doing some serious investigation. But before you probe a particular corporate culture, you've got to probe within yourself to discover your own particular workplace needs.