One of the most overlooked selection criteria when companies recruit new staff is cultural fit. Recruiting new members of staff that fit seamlessly into the existing company culture will not only ensure a smooth onboarding process, but will also help ongoing staff morale and ease future attrition. The biggest impact in your business is created by the people who work within it.
Take the most valuable employee in a business... If all the other employees were perfectly aligned with this person in terms of work ethic, values, behaviour and attitudes; just imagine the positive impact that would have on the company's overall productivity level. On the flip side, if new employees aren't aligned to the ideal personality and behaviour traits, it can have a noticeably negative impact on both staff morale and productivity - particularly in small businesses.
When recruiting staff in my experience, one of the things that's worked extremely well is conducting the first stage interview away from the office. A quiet hotel lobby area or bar is great for this. It seems simple, but just a change of location (away from the boardroom) can make the candidate feel far more comfortable, meaning the interviewer gets to see a truer picture of what they're really like, rather than their "interview front."
A few things to think about: -
- Would you describe your company culture as corporate, non-corporate or somewhere in between?
- What do you want your company culture to be?
- Do your company's mission, vision and values align with this?
- What are the personality and behavioural traits of your most successful employees?
If you're unsure of any of the above, there are plenty of tools and articles online that will help you to establish things like core values. Going forward, make cultural fit one of the key selection criteria when recruiting staff in the future. Getting this right will give you a happy, motivated and productive team.
I hope you find the above useful. If you have any questions about the blog or would like to arrange a chat, please contact us at [email protected] - we combine the headhunting expertise of an executive search firm, with the personalised, friendly and collaborative approach of an in-house recruitment team.
