3 Ways To Make Sure Your New Hire Is A Cultural Fit

Dell Inc/FlickrIt's important to find the right fit.

It's important to find a job candidate with the skills you're looking for, but if they aren't a cultural fit for your organization, even the most talented people will likely be leaving your company sooner than you would like.

Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to determine someone's actual values during the hiring process, when candidates are likely to tell you what they think you want to hear rather than what they actually believe.

As author and sales consultant Tony Hughes puts it in a post on LinkedIn, "… skills are easy to measure and evidenced, but values often live behind a façade of salesmanship."

Here are three ways Hughes says you can get to the bottom of these values and find someone who will be committed to upholding your organization's culture:

1. Use references and résumés to screen out bad fits before the interview. Anyone who can't back up their claims without concrete evidence is probably someone you don't want in your company.

Hughes recommends eliminating all résumés that don't show the candidate successfully met quantitative goals such as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). He also suggests finding mutual contacts to confirm the line items in a candidate's résumé.

"Thoroughly research candidates and use social media tools such as LinkedIn to find connections within your network to further eliminate or validate someone in advance of an interview," Hughes writes.

2. Look out for people who say they have accomplished a lot in a short period of time. If someone claims on their résumé that they did great things at a company they only stayed with for 18 months, Hughes says it could be a red flag that they are not being entirely truthful about their achievements.

If something looks off, don't be afraid to probe a candidate for more details in the interview.

3. Ask for specific examples of traits that match your culture. If someone says they are a team player, don't just take their word for it.

Instead, ask them to name a specific instance in which they put their employer's interests ahead of their own. This will allow you to cut through the typical job interview salesmanship by forcing the candidate to show, rather than tell.

"Ask them about their most difficult situations and failures, then what they specifically learned," Hughes writes.

Click here to read the rest of Hughes' post on hiring for culture on LinkedIn >>

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