Most of team leaders and recruiters will not argue that fit with the company culture is one of the most important factors during the process of hiring a new team member.
However, this is a very vague concept, and sometimes it is difficult even within one company to determine the criteria according to which a new employee will easily integrate into the company’s culture.
So what does company culture include?
– values;
– vision of development;
– specific business processes;
– language and style of internal communication;
– belief systems regarding the most important work and social aspects;
– habits;
– acceptable or dominant behavior within the team.
How to determine during the interview whether the candidate matches the team according to the criteria of the company’s culture?
1. Explore the company culture. Before evaluating candidates, it is important to know exactly the criteria of culture. For this, you can use the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) framework.
2. Determine the needs of the candidate. For example, using The International Personality Item Pool (IPIP-NEO) test. But compare them with the main criteria of your company’s corporate culture.
3. Add questions about cultural compatibility to the interview. Example:
– what do you like about the team you are currently working with?
– what is the most pleasant thing for you in your work?
– what was the biggest mistake in your work and what did you learn from it?
and other issues
4. Give the candidate a chance to feel for himself whether the company’s culture suits him. Take a tour of the office, give the opportunity to observe the work of the team and ask future colleagues a few questions.
5. Do not be biased in the evaluation process. We have already talked about the blurring of the concept of culture, so it is important to adhere to the framework when evaluating.
Do not rely only on the assessment of cultural criteria. It is equally important to assess professional skills, knowledge, productivity and effectiveness.