Questions Interviewers Ask When Looking For The Right Cultural Fit

What exactly is corporate, or organizational, culture? It seems to be a rather amorphous concept. So let’s start with some guidelines.
 
We found a pretty good definition of corporate culture at Wikipedia:
Ravasi and Schultz (2006) characterize organizational culture as a set of shared assumptions that guide behaviors. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviors and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving and, even thinking and feeling. Thus, organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders. In addition, organizational culture may affect how much employees identify with an organization.
 
When evaluating job candidates, hiring teams and HR professionals must be acutely aware of their internal corporate culture.
 
The last thing you want is an employee saying, “Wow, I made a huge mistake taking this job,” after several weeks or months of employment.
When new employees unexpectedly find a culture they consider toxic, they are highly likely to leave in the first couple of months. As pointed out by the corporate culture software experts at Jostle, “One of the most common yet often misunderstood causes of employee turnover is poor culture fit.”
Remember, employee retention is always the goal with every new hire.
 
In a previous post, we discuss evaluating corporate culture from the job seeker’s viewpoint. And we suggest that hiring professionals put themselves in the prospective new hire’s shoes during the candidate evaluation process.
 
Ask candidates questions that will reveal what they are looking for in an employer’s culture. Here’s an example:
 
“Define What Successful Employment Means to You, Personally”
Then follow up with some context by asking:
  • Describe the importance of feeling intellectually and professionally challenged
  • How important are advancement and promotion opportunities?
  • Describe the importance of workplace competition and camaraderie
  • How important are work/lifestyle benefits (flexible schedules, remote work, etc.)?
  • Is socializing and establishing friendships with your coworkers important?
These questions will help flesh out the candidate’s fit in your physical workplace environment, i.e., fully remote, fully in-office, hybrid, etc. The amount of face-to-face exposure carries enormous weight when evaluating a cultural fit.
 
The answers will also give tremendous insight into the candidate's personality type.
 
By evaluating the candidate’s answers, the hiring team will have some extremely useful insights—in the context of corporate culture, work environment, and job description.
 
Are you a hiring manager or human resources professional with a job search, or searches, underway?
 
At mCubed Staffing, we help clients just like you find that perfect candidate every day!
 
Call us today at (248) 817-2243, or get in touch online. Our expert recruiters are waiting for your call.