By Michael Cruz
The hardest part of hiring is determining fit. By fit, we mean will they work well within this company. That means – Do they fit our culture?
Even people who have the competence for the job, sometimes do not work well within your company. If you have a hard driving culture, someone with a more laid-back personality might find the environment stressful. Perhaps you have a culture that prides itself on detailed analysis before acting. Then someone with a bias to fix things, may feel stifled.
That does not mean you want everyone to have the same personality traits. In fact, personality diversity will help your company in many situations. It does mean that you need to see how the personalities will blend.
I have been working with one of my clients – StoredTech – to help figure this out. We have been using a system from a company called CultureTalk. (www.CultureTalk.com) StoredTech requires candidates to take the assessment prior to a second interview. Now they are better able to ask questions that demonstrate how candidates have been able to react to situations that might have made them uncomfortable. Often, they can show how they have positively reacted. Sometimes, not.
This way, StoredTech is able to predict how candidates will behave under pressure. And, they have improved their “good hire” ratios. The candidate profile may indicate they like lots of structure. If your company does not have strict systems in place, they may be uncomfortable making decisions on the fly. You can learn in the interview how they felt in similar situations. For example, “Tell me about a time when you felt that you did not have all of the information in order to complete a task. Tell me specifically what you did.” This way you get to assess their cultural fit.
In this manner you can better determine the long term fit for their ability to thrive in your culture. And it improves StoredTech’s ability to hire people for the long term. It saves them money from making a bad hire. And, it saves stress on your mangers and other employees from having to work with people whose ‘fit’ just isn’t there!