Are you hiring based on culture fit in addition to skills, experience, and background?
If you’re not, you should be. Culture fit is one of the most significant factors in the success of new hires. According to the Harvard Business Review, employees who mesh well with their company’s beliefs, attitudes, norms, and co-workers have greater job satisfaction and perform their jobs better than employees who don’t. And they’re also more likely to stay. In other words, they’re happy, top performers who aren’t going anywhere. And isn’t that exactly what you want when you make a new hire?
Hiring for culture fit starts with defining what your company’s culture is. But that’s not so easy. It starts with a company’s core values and mission, but then it veers off into ambiguous, intangible territory. It’s the vibe around the office. How employees interact with each other and if they socialize outside of work. The level of office politics and unspoken rules. Whether or not the top brass really believes in a work-life balance or just says so on paper. How transparent the top leaders are about the company’s successes and failures. How mistakes are handled. The dress code or lack thereof. The company’s management style.
It’s a thousand different things that all boil down to one question: Will this job candidate fit in?
Oftentimes, culture fit is determined by the hiring manager’s gut feeling. But because making great hires is so vital, don’t leave it to chance.
Here are some questions to use in an interview to determine whether your promising candidate will fit with your company’s culture:
- What is your ideal work environment?
- Tell me about the best boss you’ve ever had.
- Would you rather come to work in a suit and tie or jeans and a t-shirt?
- What sort of management style will compel you to go the extra mile?
- Would you be willing to answer work emails on weekends?
- Would you rather work in an office or at home?
- What was the best thing about your last job?
- How would your co-workers describe you?
- Do you prefer working alone or as part of a team?
- Do you usually make friends with your co-workers?
A candidate’s answers to those questions will shine a light on whether he or she will mesh with your workplace.
Schedule a team Interview
In addition to a pre-employment screening, an HR-led interview, and an interview with the candidate’s manager or boss, schedule a sit-down with a few of the people your top candidate will be working with on a daily basis. What’s the vibe between them? Do they click?
Have lunch
Take your top candidate to lunch with the team he or she will be joining. In this informal setting, people’s personalities tend to come out. How is the team getting along? Is there laughter at the table?
This article originally appeared on TrustedEmployees.