Hiring the wrong employee can be costly not only financially, but to your organizational culture as well. It’s no secret that the most successful organizations also have the best office culture—employees are the drivers of both. That’s why it is more essential than ever to keep culture fit top of mind during the interview process. Here are four tips to help you determine if a potential candidate will be a good fit for your organization.
Assess your culture.
Before you start interviewing candidates for your company, you need to have a good understanding of your organization’s culture and work style. Obtaining this understanding can be as simple as asking your employees to describe what it’s like to work for you or sitting down and thinking about the types of people that have succeeded at your organization. How do they describe the office environment? What qualities do the successful employees have in common? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you assess your actual culture and make sure you and your current employees are on the same page. You can’t hire an employee that will fit your culture, if you don’t have a realistic view of your culture.
Ask for referrals.
As discussed in a previous post, creating an employee referral program is a key to hiring for cultural fit. Employee referrals have higher retention rates, engagement, and performance than any other source of hire. Your current employees aren’t going to put their reputation on the line by recommending someone who wouldn’t be a good cultural fit.
Look for informal interaction opportunities.
Informal interaction opportunities like social media platforms are a great way to determine whether or not a potential candidate interacts in a way that fits your culture. You can learn a great deal about candidates’ communication skills and motivations by engaging them in conversation on LinkedIn or Twitter. Candidates who have connected with you on you social media networks and participate in conversations are likely a better fit than those that haven’t.
Fit test.
Many organizations have started using cultural and personality tests that streamline fit assessment and add a quantitative dimension to their hiring process. These tests are known to have a solid track record when used properly. Questions from personality tests can specifically match objectives of the organization to the candidate. Situational judgment tests can be used for candidates to outline how they would behave in specific situations based on a few scenarios.
The more time you can invest in making sure a candidate is the right fit during the interview process, the less likely you are to make a bad hiring decision.
Having trouble attracting the right candidates for your culture?
Let the experienced recruiters at BOS Staffing help. For more than 35 years we have helped clients throughout Northeast Georgia and nationwide complete work cost-effectively, hire smarter, and manage their workforces more efficiently. If you are looking for a better way to work, give BOS a call.
