When hiring for contract positions, a candidate’s cultural fit may be low on the list of an employer’s requirements. For contract-to-hire and full-time positions, however, it becomes increasingly important. That’s because the right cultural fit can be the key to employee engagement, performance, and productivity. It’s been shown that employees who are able to identify with their company are happier, experience greater job satisfaction, perform better at their job duties, and are more likely to stay with the organization. In a climate where employee retention is paramount, especially within the IT industry, employers should be treating cultural fit as a key job requirement.
At the same time, though, employers will need to avoid the trap of hiring employees who are all carbon copies of each other. After all, a new employee is an opportunity to introduce new ideas and direction to your organization. You’d run the risk of losing this opportunity by staying homogenous. Furthermore, employees with diverse backgrounds can be a boon for a business. Studies have shown that diverse teams lead to improved results through a more informed decision-making process. They also lead to a melting pot of new ideas, thus improving creativity and innovation.
How then, can you be sure you’re hiring the right cultural fit for your organization? In this post, we provide 4 tips to help you assess a candidate’s potential fit with your company.
How to Assess a Candidate’s Cultural Fit
Define Your Company’s Culture
Before you can match a prospective employee to your culture, you first need to know what your company culture is. Begin with your mission statement. A mission statement is a simple statement that explains your company’s goals. Defined, it’s a formal summary of the aims and values of your company. From there, then take a look at the type of people who have been successful in the role you’re hiring for, as well as the ones who have not. This will better help you assess the candidate’s fit.
If you’d like to see an example of a mission statement, ours can be found on our About Us page.
Ask the Right Questions
Beyond the standard interview questions (“Tell us about yourself,” “Why should we hire you?” “What interests you about this role?” etc.), and questions that will determine if the candidate is the right technical fit for your position, you’ll need to mix in questions that’ll provide a glimpse into whether or not the candidate matches your culture. Questions such as:
- What’s your ideal work environment?
- Describe the management style that’ll bring forth your best work and efforts.
- In a workplace setting, what are your demotivators?
- How would your coworkers describe your work style and contributions at your former/current job?
- When working with people, describe your preferred relationship with them.
Research Beyond the Resume
A resume can tell you a lot about an individual, including their education, work experience, credentials, and accomplishments. Some even get into hobbies and interests. Based off of this information you may be able to make an assumption on what a prospective employee’s personality may be, but you know what happens when you assume. In years past, you’d make the hire off of the resume and how the interview went, hoping what was sold is what is delivered. In today’s world, and with the advent and popularity of social media, you can do so much more. So, do your research. Do any inappropriate pictures, posts or tweets come up? If the prospective employee holds no reservations to portraying themselves poorly on the internet, they may do the same for your company’s image.
Diversify Your Interview Panel
Remember, diverse teams lead to improved results through a more informed decision-making process – hiring decisions not excluded. So, diversify your interview panel and include employees who have shown to be successful within your company’s culture. Your employee’s opinions can be an invaluable source of knowledge and hearing differing views could help you realize a candidate’s potential that may have initially alluded you.
In need of hiring help? Contact the professionals at PSCI. We have the industry experience, and expertise, to help you reach your goals. By taking the time to understand your pain points, needs, and company culture, we’re able to effectively deliver talent that matches your requirements and that’ll help you reach your potential. So, contact us today!
