3 Easy Tips to Interview for Cultural Fit, Skills and Experience
Ask almost any company about the value of hiring a candidate that will fit within the cultural environment, and most will state “It would be nice to have”. But notice that nice to have doesn’t meet the level of critical. It’s often the criteria a company will give up in order to secure the skill sets and experience deemed critical for a position to succeed. The sacrifice is high risk, with implications that impact an organization from employee churn, productivity, and even innovation. A good cultural fit doesn’t need to be a sacrificial lamb. So what are the barriers a company needs to address to increase the odds of finding not only the skill sets and experience, but a candidate who will compliment a team? It’s a tricky assessment, but here are 3 suggestions:
- Identify at least 5 culturally important attributes to your company
- Include Attributes Within the Job Description
- Create a Score Sheet
This exercise actually serves 2 great purposes: 1) If your company can’t quickly list the attributes, your organization probably can’t articulate to anyone the type of culture you’ve formed, and 2) this list will serve as a basis to measure how closely a candidate is aligned to your organization.
Once a list has been created, develop a situational questionnaire with a few questions with multiple choice questions. With the support of team and organizational leaders, come to an agreement on which answer(s) most closely align to your organization’s cultural attributes or values (both are important). This approach reduces subjectivity. It’s not perfect, but it will serve as a basis of consideration in the full assessment.
Candidates will usually spend some time reviewing a job description in their effort to self-select a good fit for the positions they believe will be a good fit. The more information shared within the description, the hiring company will find an increase in the selection of qualified candidates.
Provide each team member who will be part of the interviewing process with the list of attributes, skills, and experience associated to the position. When the interview is complete, have each interviewer apply a 1-10 score to each of the listed criteria after the interview is completed. Using this approach will help reduce subjectivity and allow the hiring manager to quickly capture consistency (or inconsistency) of the results. This practice actually increases the confidence level of all team members when making the final offer to the candidate of choice.
A good cultural fit doesn’t need to be sacrificed for skill sets and experience. At the same time, it’s important to reduce the amount of subjectivity applied to make that determination. We are each unique, and by virtue of that human factor it’s important to use a process that reduces subjectivity as much as possible, by managing through a measured and quantifiable approach.
At CultureFit Technology Staffing we recognize this part of the recruitment process can take additional time to an otherwise hectic week-call us today at 847-945-7600 to discuss filling your next contract or permanent Technology role.
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