This post first ran on the HRCloud blog on September 30th. It was such a big hit both on the blog and LinkedIn….I thought I’d include it here as well. Excerpt below….catch the rest of my post here: http://hrcloud.com/how-to-identify-cultural-fit/

We talk about cultural fit often, but what does it really mean? How do we actually assess this during an interview?

What is it?

Cultural fit is the ability of an employee to work comfortably in an environment that matches his own beliefs and values and then taking that same candidate and determining if they can work within your own culture. This can be a difficult task, especially if you’re in a hurry to fill jobs and meet deadlines.  Have you heard the term “butts in seats?” If your goal is to staff your project with a team that has the right skill set, but fail to understand cultural fit, you may find that you’re opening that same requisition a few months later.

Save yourself some time and money by using cultural fit as one aspect of the interview process.

Finding Balance

Interviews don’t always provide the information we need to make the right hiring decision, unless you’ve tailored the questions appropriately. For example, I remember interviewing for a job with no real questions. The manager assumed I had the right skill set and experiences for the job, so he just proceeded to tell me about himself, the job, and the company and then asked if I had any questions.

I left the interview with two perceptions. 1) That was a whirlwind. I didn’t have much of a clue as to whether I was the right fit for that role, and 2) I felt like there wasn’t significant interest in me, as a person. Did the interviewer really have a good understanding of me, my career goals and what I was looking for? I received a job offer, but declined it. I felt the process was sloppy and left me disinterested and with no desire for that “second date.” If this was what the candidate experience was like, what would the actual job experience look like? I didn’t want to sign on to find out.

In this scenario, the manager failed to give insight into culture, team makeup, or expectations. It’s more of a “let’s read the job description” and go from there interview.

catch the rest of my post here: http://hrcloud.com/how-to-identify-cultural-fit/