Maximizing Selection for Culture Fit: Part I

Interest continues to grow around the use of hiring assessment tools that measure culture fit. Companies want to evaluate the match between a candidate’s needs and what an organization has to offer in terms of its culture. While most pre-employment assessments are focused on predicting job performance, research continues to show that culture fit is another important piece of the puzzle. In addition to having an impact on job performance, culture fit can be even more critical for increased engagement and higher retention.

So, how can we predict a candidate’s culture fit early in the hiring process?

I will share five tips over a two-part article – the first three tips, shared below, are focused around using selection tools to maximize your learning.

1. Use Realistic Job Previews

Rather than focusing solely on selling a position or organization, be mindful that time and costs can be saved by providing candidates with a balanced perspective.  It’s important to share the rewards that are offered, but this should be tempered with a realistic depiction of the challenges as well. To the extent candidates perceive a match with what is offered, they may become even more attracted; at the same time, those who do not perceive a match can self-select out of the process.

2. Develop Culture Fit Measurement Tools

It’s critical to engage candidates in the hiring process to learn about how they might fit in a particular organization. Various measurement methods can be used to capture better candidate data about fit, and it can be especially helpful to use an approach that presents candidates with both sides of the coin – actual aspects of the organization’s culture, as well as some cultural elements that are not offered.

Candidate ranks importance of culture attributes

3. Summarize Results for Recruiters and Hiring Managers

Capturing a wealth of data on culture fit is only valuable to the extent that it can be summarized and easily interpreted by end users. Therefore, aim to focus on key cultural themes of the organization.  Reporting on culture fit should go beyond giving a ‘match score’ but rather help talent decision makers structure a dialogue with the candidate about key cultural matches or mismatches.

In Part Two, I will discuss engaging candidates and leveraging learnings.

This article provided by permission from Joseph P. Murphy of Shaker Consulting Group. Deliver an exceptional candidate experience with Shaker Consulting Group’s Virtual Job Tryout^®.  Obtain a work sample that predicts on-the-job performance. Identify best-fit candidates at the click of mouse. Click here for a 3 minute overview.