Interviewing for Culture Fit

If you don’t think that each and every company has a unique corporate culture, then you should probably consider the fact that each and every company is comprised of different people. While there might be a lot of companies with similar cultures, the specific blend of individuals that make up your team will make for a specific sort of person that will fit in with that team. Even if you find somebody that’s completely qualified for a job and has a good chunk of experience doing it in the past, their personality might make them virtually useless when it comes to working with their immediate supervisor or co-workers.

Before you extend your next job offer, you need to make sure that the candidate’s personality will mesh well with the people that they’ll be working closely with, if not the company culture at large.

Okay, first thing’s first. If you can’t confidently sum up your department or your company’s culture in a few sentences, off the top of your head, then it’s time to start paying attention to what’s going on around you. Even if you can sum it up, it’s always good to re-examine your surroundings, especially if you’ve had a retention problem recently.

One of the main reasons that an employee will quit their job is some sort of personality clash between them and somebody that they work closely with, be it a manager or a co-worker. You need to take an objective look at your people and become aware of the things that could make them hard to work with.

For instance, is the team that your new hire would be joining highly competitive? Is their manager going to be kind of a hard-case?

Do you have a tight-knit department that might make a newcomer feel on the outside?

Try to view your staff through the eyes of a newcomer. This will help you to figure out what sort of person would feel right at home at your company.

The next step is getting some butts in that interview chair. To make your job a little easier, try including some of the most critical personality factors in your job description. While this might not magically draw in the perfect candidate, including strong descriptors like “outgoing” or “meticulous” can help to weed out those people who know that they won’d fit the bill.

“But what about the liars?” you might be asking, “What’s to stop these people from telling me exactly what I want to hear if I tell them what I want in the job description?”

Well, that’s what the last step of hiring for cultural fit is all about. When you’ve narrowed down your candidates to the last few individuals, it’s time to test drive them with the team in an informal, social setting. The best way to do this is to take everyone out to lunch at one of your staff’s favorite places. This will give you a chance for you to observe how well they mesh with their potential co-workers and whether they’ve been lying about their major personality traits.

You might find that someone who spent 10 minutes convincing you of how personable they were becoming prickly after a single meal with your upbeat staff. Another reason why this practical evaluation is great is that you can get feedback from your employees about which candidate they like the best. Who better to tell you who’s a good fit than the team that will be working with the new hire?

Finding a hire with both the skills and the personality to succeed in your company can be tough, but by using this method for making your ultimate hiring decision, you’re more likely to find someone who fits the bill.

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