April 2016 Issue # 194
Feature Story
WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN HIRING FOR CULTURAL FIT
Cultural fit is a concept that can be hard to define but, when it’s missing, everyone in an organization can clearly recognize it, an article in Business News Daily points out.
For example, imagine a company founder who believes that an open-office plan and team projects promote creativity and progress, but whose employees are overwhelming introverts. Or think about the ambitious employee stuck in an organization that offers no training, tuition reimbursement or room for advancement.
According to the article, at its core, cultural fit means that employees’ beliefs and behaviors are in alignment with their employer’s core values and company culture. Many employers understand the importance of hiring for cultural fit, and research shows that people who fit well into their companies express greater job satisfaction, perform better and are more likely to remain with the same organization for a longer period of time.
In fact, a 2015 survey of international employers found that more than 80 percent of managers named cultural fit a top priority when hiring new staff.
“We can teach someone to do a job. We can’t teach someone to love the way we operate,” said Lauren Kolbe, a founder of brand media agency KolbeCo. “An employee who is not aligned with the culture and is not committed to living it can wreak havoc pretty quickly, even if they bring a great deal of skill and experience to their craft.”
The first step in hiring for cultural fit is to be able to articulate what values, norms and practices define your business. Once that’s in place, it should be clearly expressed in all of your communication materials, including your website and recruiting tools.
Your job ads, in particular, must reflect your business culture and connect back to your core values, said Ian Cluroe, director of global brand and marketing at Alexander Mann Solutions, which helps organizations attract, engage and retain talent. “You can do this by emphasizing some of the qualitative things you want in a candidate,” Cluroe told Business News Daily, the publication that aims to provide solutions and inspiration to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Any members of your organization involved in interviewing potential employees also must have a good grasp of your business culture and refer back to it throughout the hiring process, Cluroe noted. It is not sufficient to ask candidates if they will fit into the corporate culture because “a smart candidate will know what you want to hear and give you the right answer,” he added.
To dig deeper, Barnes-Hogg recommended that interviewers ask probing questions that move applicants beyond canned answers and require them to demonstrate how they deal with uncertainty, solve problems and approach new challenges. Then, interviewers must determine how a candidate’s responses align with company culture and business goals.
Additionally, the article, by contributor Paula Fernandes, pointed out that employers can assess candidates for cultural fit by asking them to take personality tests like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and arranging for them to meet with team members from a range of levels across the organization. A potential employer may even ask prospective hires to spend a day in the office to learn about the inner workings and culture of the business or invite them to join the organization for a trial period.
However, employers should avoid confusing personal similarities with cultural fit. “When cultural fit is used to hire a homogenous workforce, the resulting lack of diversity will often manifest in poor creativity and undermine a company’s competitiveness,” said Pavneet Uppal, a managing partner with law firm Fisher & Phillips that represents employers in labor and employment matters.
“Focusing on hiring based on shared background or experiences may also lead to discriminatory practices,” Uppal added. “Refusing to hire someone because of an alleged lack of cultural fit will not save an employer from legal liability if the real reason for the employment decision is that an individual is perceived to be too old, too black, or too disabled.”
Asking candidates about personal issues — such as age, citizenship status, health, family history or ethnic background — can never be justified on the basis of cultural fit, Uppal stressed in the article.
The end goal, according to the article, is to identify and hire the very best candidates whose skills and attributes match the organization’s core values. Cluroe said this objective is achievable when organizations have a “culture that’s based on positive values that are open enough to enable a diverse selection of people to embody them in their own way.”
News from BLK
The second quarter of 2016 has seen a continuing increase in competition for top talent in numerous sectors. Leading specialties s experiencing the most competition include scientific, digital media, healthcare and engineering.
Although recent data suggests a small increase in the unemployment rate and a decrease in New Jersey job creation numbers. The overall direction of our clients continuous with planned additions to staff.
A sign that competition is increasing are the number of counter offers has increased greatly over the past few months. Employers using VORP models are sweetening the compensation as employees resignations trigger their current market value.