Have you ever hired that dream candidate who met every criterion of the position, was courted by the hiring manager, negotiated that huge sign-on bonus, and then crashed and burned within a few months?
There are hundreds of stories like this. Candidates with a great education and experience and who have worked for all the right companies often fail miserably because they don’t fit into the culture of the company.
Fit has always been a concern and a part of deciding whether to hire someone. But it has become the most important concern, often overriding technical skills or experience. As we move to flatter organizations, more team and project work, and increasingly collaborative and remote work environments, finding people who get along with others and fit into corporate culture are essential to success. They keep harmony, they build community, and they create trust: All important ingredients for success in innovative global and competitive environments.
Personal fit should be an integral part of your candidate assessment process. Fitting into a culture, organization, team, or job is not always easy. Some people feel more connected and more included than others, and those who feel the most connected and involved tend to be the ones who perform well and stay. People who feel they belong to something important – something that engages and excites them – make the organization more successful.
Candidates experience the corporate culture almost from their first contact with the organization. They see it in how they are treated, how diligent and caring the employees are, and what the work environment is like. As soon as they meet the hiring manager, they are assessing his or her style and values. When these are in alignment, good performance follows.
Remote workers are not different. Through online discussions with fellow employees and their managers, candidates form opinions and react to how candid and personal the conversations are. Are they included when there are questions? Are their opinions solicited, listened to, and responded to with candor?
Likewise, recruiters and hiring managers subconsciously assess candidates from the moment they meet, in person or virtually. That gut feeling we frequently have about a candidate is probably based largely on how we see them fitting into our team and how well we think we will get along with them. This is often partly based on people who have similar interests or hobbies, who have had similar experiences, or who have known the same people. The more common connections with a candidate, the more likely they fit into our culture.
But the first step in more objectively assessing culture fit is to articulate what makes up the culture of your organization.
Know Your Culture
Most firms do a poor job of figuring out what makes up their culture and whether candidates would be comfortable in it or with a particular manager. Many factors make up the corporate culture. Some of those are as basic as how much online time is needed and the flexibility of work schedules. Still, perhaps more significant are the ethics and values the organization believes in, the style of everyday management, and how communication takes place.
Take the time to understand what the ingredients are of your true culture, not the espoused one, and then you will be able to assess candidates with greater success.
Four Ways to Assess Fit
Here are four ways to determine whether or not a candidate fits your culture.
#1. Realistic Job Previews
Some firms rely on realistic job previews where candidates get a glimpse of what it would be like to do the work. Previews allow candidates to select themselves “out” of the interview process and also, when combined with testing, allow organizations to determine the potential quality of fit of a candidate.
#2. Use Referrals & Internal Connections
Referrals have been widely written about They can be a gold standard for cultural fit because current employees, or even those who may not be employees but know your organization well, typically refer people who will fit the culture. You can ask employees to focus on people who would be a good fit rather than those with high skill levels or experience. The downside of referrals is that you can overuse your network and run out of good candidates, and it is always hard to get referrals consistently. It often requires a push effort to get people motivated, and once the push goes away, the effort falls back to low levels.
Leverage Social Networks
Social networks are a potentially highly effective way to determine cultural fit or at least to see whether or not a potential candidate communicates and interacts in a way that fits. By developing a Facebook or LinkedIn page and engaging candidates in conversations, recruiters can learn a great deal about communication skills, language ability, and motivation. The downside is that these require time and effort, often more than an average recruiter has available. However, it is probably true that candidates who have joined your network and participate in conversations at all are a better fit than those who do not.
Fit Testing
There are many tests of cultural and personal fit that can streamline assessment and add a quantitative dimension to the selection process. These tests have been around for decades and have a solid track record when used properly. Of course, the downside of testing is the candidate’s acceptance and the time needed on both the candidate’s side and the recruiters to interpret the results.
But whatever method or combination of methods you decide on, ensuring candidates will be comfortable in their work environment and with their hiring manager should be a key consideration.
By getting candidates who are aligned with your culture, you will experience faster time to productivity, deeper involvement in problem-solving, greater innovation, and less turnover.
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