Cultural fit when hiring
Whether a business comprises a team of two or a team of two hundred, making the right decisions about who is hired into the business is critical to building a culture that aligns with its vision and mission. The challenge is then, how do you balance the technical requirements of a role and the cultural fit of the candidate? Or put more simply, what’s more important, skills or fit?
Over the past 10 years, millennials have moved into the work force and made demands of employers like no other generation in history. Young workers today are looking for corporate values that they align with and trust and a workplace culture that genuinely supports their employees and the communities within which they operate.
In order for businesses to attract the best early-career talent and to keep them, they can no longer merely pay lip service to ‘corporate culture’. They need to focus on and build a positive workplace culture as an essential strategy for business survival.
I recently had to find an IT Manager to join a small business in a remote location. The role required cutting-edge skills and was suited to a progressive, forward-thinking professional. But the small size and location of the office meant little opportunity for collaboration or socialising. It was challenging to find suitable candidates. One applicant had the competencies required and was excited about the role, but my screening revealed that he preferred working in controlled environments. Given the relaxed and easy-going nature of the small team, I suspected a possible cultural issue. The question was, do I put him forward and risk wasting my client's time, or not put him forward and potentially lose a great talent?
Most businesses hire on skills and fire on fit. Such hiring practices carry an enormous cost to the business in wasted time, resources and money. I try to flip this paradigm and encourage my clients to hire on fit first, as long as base-line competencies are met. Business managers say it’s simply much easier to train a person on skills than on attitude. Plus hiring on fit results in longer tenure and a more valuable, long-term contribution to the overall success of the business.
If you're considering putting forward a candidate that is a great fit but lacks some technical skills, try to safe-guard the decision by checking that the candidate is flexible, open to feedback and passionate about professional development. Also make sure that the role has career progression in line with their goals, so that they’ll be more likely to accept the role if offered, and stay.
With a role that’s harder to fill, if you have a candidate that is a great match on skills but not so great on cultural fit, you might still put them forward to the client but make sure you're clear on your concerns and why you have them. This will guide the client to pay special attention to fit when evaluating the candidate.
Sharing our opinions with our clients and providing key information about candidates is immensely important. This is what we’re paid for. Yes, we want to save our clients’ time and resources by only putting forward candidates we’re 100% confident about, but sometimes we need to make an educated guess. As recruiters, we like to think our experience and intuition is right most of the time, but sometimes we’re not. Cultural fit is an area that can be tricky. We may suspect a cultural clash that turns out to be real, or it might be nothing at all!
By putting forward candidates and sharing any concerns, we act as a trusted advisor to our clients. We demonstrate that we care about the right fit, but we’re not making a judgement call and potentially holding back a candidate that might be a useful hire for their team, their culture and the growth of their business.
Jess Pearson, Recruitment Specialist, OrgMent Talent Solutions