Volume 9
Employment Essentials Volume 9: How do you assess a candidate for culture fits?
Today’s Recruitment Masterclass covers another simple, yet not easy challenge in the recruitment world.
Culture fits! Is this candidate the right culture fit for my team? The word culture is so loosely thrown around nowadays that it’s hard to pinpoint what every company means when they use that word in their hiring practices. Before disqualifying a potential rockstar, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what your operation values and what behavioral aspects make your team successful. While there is no universal definition for culture in the workplace, there are plenty of common factors many successful organizations actively look for.
Before discussing how we can assess individuals for our operation, we take a deeper look at common denominators you will find in most successful cultures.
Respect for others
This includes your demeanor, how you present yourself to others. Are you approachable? Des everyone get your mutual respect, or do you treat others different? A good team member/ co worker may not interact with every department but has the common sense and decency to politely engage with colleagues across all departments in a cordial fashion. At this point in your career, side chatter, or gossip should be a thing of the past and any and all interactions should be constructive. Make sure you maintain a reputation as someone who treats their work and others with respect.
Mindset
No Excuses- Accountability and ownership are priceless traits everyone should strive to develop. Being part of a team is recognizing you play a key role in the teams success or lack thereof. A lack of accountability only prolongs the team from coming to a resolution. Not everything will go as planned, and its in these moments where your team is relying on your transparency more than ever. Be sure to own up to any mistakes with the intent to fix them and grow from them.
Attitude
“It may not be my job, but it is our responsibility”- We’ve all heard it, maybe you’ve even said it! “that’s not my job” While true, not everything we SHOULD do is something we HAVE to do, like cleaning our rooms, picking up after ourselves, being courteous, etc. That mindset of only doing what you’re supposed to do has many limiting factors such upward mobility, skills refinement, networking opportunities, etc. Doing things out of your job description (within reason) speak to your character and your reliability as a potential future leader.
Now that we have a few key factors for a successful culture, how do we disqualify the bad fits?
Separate behavior from personality
As decision makers, its important we make a clear distinction between someone’s unique personality traits, and how they actually express themselves with others. Many people may seem different or odd for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to do the job or get along with the team. You many come across someone who keeps their words to a minimum, this does not mean they cannot work with others or communicate, but just a reserved personality. Incorporate questions that ask for specific scenarios involving behavioral circumstances.
Adherence throughout the onboarding process
How has this person comforted themselves throughout the screening and interviewing process? Pay attention to punctuality, hygiene, mannerisms, how they treat other staff during onsite visits, etc. These brief interactions can be very telling about the persons demeanor and level of respect towards their peers. Its been said that how you do one thing, is how you do everything. If you see any concerning behavior, these may be telling signs this could potentially be an issue in the future.
Thorough screening
Specifically, regarding culture, focus on their tenure and reasons for leaving. If you see many short stints, it could again be due to behavioral items. Be sure to also add questions relating to their ability to work with others and what types of projects they directly had a hand in executing.
While this list is not definitive, we find these core practices can put you in a prime position to make an educated decision to help the team. For the full experience and support with all your Sourcing, screening, and selecting challenges, connect with a FLAG Account Manager and find out how we are helping our clients identify their next big hire!
Employee Insights Volume 9
Interviews are tough enough, you are being asked tough questions about your experience, leadership, tenure, etc. this alone makes a tense experience! Now, add some questions about a job you left, a bad manager you worked with, and the dynamics just get more tense! This may make you feel outright discouraged!
Let’s face it, we’ve ALL had negative experiences at other jobs, like poor environments, bad managers, weak working structures, etc.
The reality is that not all companies are great places to work, and some people should not be in leadership or management roles but it’s the nature of our current workforce. The tricky part is not talking about these experiences, as weve all had them, but yet, separating the experience, from the circumstance.
Todays Masterclass shows us how we can use these negative experiences in our favor to highlight our growth and new added value to our repertoire. Remember, your goal is to highlight your positive mindset despite these setbacks and ability to handle adversity.
Lets get started!
Be honest!
If you were laid off, fired, let go, it’s ok. Acknowledge it, Focus on the circumstance of the situation and avoid using emotional or subjective language that can be interpreted as whining or complaining, lack of accountability, etc. Stick to the facts and end on a high note, such as a better successive job afterwards.
Use your career as a point of reference.
Most people leave companies, or get let go, usually due to differences with their direct managers. Instead of saying you were let go because the manager was rude or mean to you, you can say the same thing without sounding like you played no part in your separation. “The managers leadership and communication style made it difficult to produce my best work; I chose to look for employment where my skills and expertise would be better leveraged and where I could be an asset to the operation given my years of growth.”
Focus on the upside
Every adversity comes with it a seed of equal opportunity. What was it for you? Was it a better job? More learning opportunities? If in fact you’ve left employers due to poor leadership, you might have an opportunity to emphasize how you’ve learned and grown from that experience and demanded strong communication from yourself with other colleagues.
Stay professional and concise
Avoid getting into too much detail or focusing on the negative parts of your story. Pivot your conversation back to your skills and experience as quickly as possible.
Be impersonal
Yes, you had a tough situation. Don’t tie your identity to this experience and remain impartial to the story. The job simply was not a good fit for you, the managers were simply not the best for you to work with, etc. The more you tie yourself in personally, the more difficult it is for the interviewer to see you for who you are and not your resume.
Sounds like a lot? FLAG recruiters are highly in tune with the best practices in the recruiting world and constantly trained on how to best help you with your interview process!
If you need recruiting support, and access to exclusive opportunities, our team is a call away!