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If you’ve ever watched ‘The Apprentice’ you’ll know that Lord Sugar attracts potential working partners by dangling a tempting carrot in front of them – in his case, it’s a quarter of a million pound investment! That’s a great start to get the attention of future candidates. But, more importantly Lord Sugar continually looks for someone who shares his values – we’re often left speechless when he points his finger to fire someone who we believe to be amazing, but if they’re not going to fit in with the way he works, then it’s not going to last.
Fitting in with a company’s values and cultural beliefs is key to a great future working relationship.
The Culture Fit
A company’s culture must be a reflection of its ultimate goals and align with its values, so it makes complete sense to make culture part of the recruitment process.
According to Forbes, 84% of recruiters surveyed agreed that a cultural fit is one of the most important recruitment factors, and nine out of 10 recruiters have passed on applicants who didn’t align with their company’s culture.
Defining Values & Culture
Before the recruitment process begins your company must identity exactly what its values and cultural beliefs are. To do this successfully:
Consider how you want your company to be seen
Understand the organisation’s purpose and what it stands for
Define your core value framework
What behaviours are needed to grow the business
Clarify the vision
What does your dream organisational chart look like and how can you achieve this
A Bad Fit
Hiring purely on the basis that a candidate has the experience, qualifications and technical skills you are looking for can have negative repercussions if they simply don’t share the same values and beliefs. Don’t be fooled by that perfect looking CV!
It can lead to poor quality work and low productivity
The employee may have low job satisfaction
They are less likely to forge good relationships with co-workers
Often the employee will lack interest in the growth of company
It can potentially create a toxic environment impacting on others
And the repercussions don’t end there. If your company’s hiring team keep getting it wrong, the existing workforce aren’t going to be happy or trustful of their leaders and that’s a completely different blog all together!
The Interview
One of our top tips for recruiting and to secure employee retention is to hire slowly – it’s not a process to be rushed as careful consideration must be taken over who you let into your company.
Let’s think about ways to find out more about your potential colleague during an interview:
Take them on a tour and meet your workforce. Do they make a connection, are they showing interest?
Invite them to have lunch or coffee with the team. Do they look comfortable talking to others and are they asking questions about the team and the organisation?
Include a diverse selection committee to help with the screening.
Ask the right questions, such as:
What motivates them?
What is their preferred working method?
What do they like most about working in a team?
Provide examples of when they have supported a team member.
Give examples of when they have created a positive customer experience.
The Complexity of Recruiting
It goes without saying that if you follow the same exact recruitment process to the tee you run the risk of hiring the same type of person over and over again. This is where the hiring process becomes complex as the last thing a company needs is to become stale. Diversity brings new skills, ideas, perspectives and experiences.
A HR professional will be able to advise on your culture fit decisions and ensure that your recruitment process does not overlook the value of divergent interests and opinions. Having differing views does not mean that they are not respectful of each other – quite often you will find that these differences will make a shared mission stronger.
How we can help you
If you’d like to discuss any of the issues detailed in this blog, get in touch with us today. We’re here to help.
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