You can’t develop humility overnight.

Some things are learned more easily than others. Skills can be taught: your employees will eventually pick up the tools and rules of your workplace, no matter their background. But conforming to culture is far more difficult. It’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole: core values can’t be easily changed, so hiring a candidate whose principles differ greatly from those of your company sends them hurtling toward lackluster performance.

What it is

Seeking shared values during your recruiting process is called hiring for culture fit. Employees who fit your company culture integrate more easily into a team, have a greater desire to contribute, and are happier with their roles. They’re also more likely to stick around for a long time, saving costly turnover and hiring expenses.

Plus, building strong working relationships is more important than ever: the Harvard Business Review found that over the past two decades, the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has increased by more than 50 percent. Recruiting employees who share your culture’s values kickstarts these relationships.

What it isn’t

Be careful, though, that “culture fit” doesn’t become another buzzword that hiring managers use to justify a biased decision. Many traits, like “friendliness,” “sociability,” or “positive attitude,” are open to interpretation, and it shouldn’t be one hiring manager’s responsibility to make judgments about a candidate’s personality. When we think about others, we tend to evaluate them based on how similar they are to ourselves. To mitigate this risk, it’s important that we develop objective ways to determine fit.

In a related vein, hiring for culture fit doesn’t mean hiring candidates that behave exactly like your existing employees. Growth can’t occur in a homogenous workplace. MIT Sloan professor Evan Apfelbaum found that because there is a higher tendency to conform in homogenous groups, mistakes are more contagious. People are more likely to back a poor decision. By prioritizing both diversity and culture fit during your hiring process, you can lay a foundation of values upon which to build teams that challenge one another, embrace new perspectives, and deliver better results.

Finding this balance can be difficult, but Instill makes it easy. Our software uses psychometric data to predict how well a candidate will add to your company’s culture, taking subjectivity out of the hiring process. Save on hiring and turnover costs, put together a standout team with great innovative potential, and find candidates that will enhance your workplace. Click here to schedule a demo today.

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