How do you make sure the people you’re hiring are the right people for your business?
It’s an easy question to ask, but a very difficult one to answer. After all, it can singlehandedly shed light on inefficiencies in your interviewing, vetting, and onboarding processes. Given how common this question is, it’s clear that candidate fit is something businesses everywhere struggle with.
In light of ATR’s 30-year successful staffing track record, I’m often asked how we’re able to ensure the candidates we present are such great fits.
Why Culture and Personality Matter
A business cannot hire for candidate fit without first understanding why culture and personality matter and how they work together. In many industries, especially ones like IT, there is a huge emphasis on hard skills. That makes sense; after all, a Data Scientist may not be able to fulfill the responsibilities of a role if they don’t have the right education, certifications, and experience. With such low unemployment rates across all sectors, it’s also clear that companies are in dire need of talent. Businesses require a skilled individual as fast as possible so they can avoid leaving a role vacant, hurting their productivity and bottom line.
This is the crux of many hiring managers’ problems. It creates tunnel vision that almost exclusively focuses on matching resumes to job responsibilities while neglecting cultural fit. After all, hiring a certified expert in any role will be meaningless if that person causes conflict, doesn’t work well with your existing teams, or ends up quitting after two months. In fact, studies show that when a new hire doesn’t work, 89% of the time it’s because of difficulties integrating into the workplace.
High-performing teams are the ones that get along. They excel at helping each other out on hectic days, communicating the status of projects clearly, and collaborating on solutions to problems. On top of that, every company has a unique corporate culture. Some may be more traditional and reserved while others emulate the colorful nature of Facebook or Google. Even within the same company, there can exist a different culture in different departments or different office locations. While there is no “right” culture that works for every organization, selecting talent based on your specific culture is how to reduce turnover, boost productivity, and enjoy a stronger hiring process.
How ATR Achieves the Right Fit
In order to understand what will make the right fit for your culture, ATR focuses on communication and education. We build relationships with our clients in order to dig in and reach an understanding of your culture and what type of talent thrives in your environment. The reason that ATR often unlocks cultural fit when a client has struggled to is because of our perspective. While you’re living your culture, we can see that culture the way candidates do. After all, candidates are outsiders before they become employees. Understanding and communicating these different viewpoints can help you discover parts of your culture you’re too close to fully see the impact of.
Education means learning as much as we can about your company. Talking directly to hiring managers and the supervisors who will oversee the new employee goes a long way. Taking what we see as the right fit and blending it with what you see as the right fit requires collaboration and discussion. However, determining an ideal candidate profile also means aligning hiring with company goals. Some organizations think they need a certain type of talent simply because a role is open, but after strategic discussion, they realize a different resource would better help them achieve their goals. The more information ATR is able to pull out of a client, the easier and faster it is for us to find that right fit. If there’s a secret to our success in staffing, that just might be it.
Finally, I can’t talk about cultural fit without also discussing the role our recruiters play. All members of our recruiting team are skilled, but they each possess their own specialties. When engaging with a client, we make sure the appropriate recruiters are assigned to accounts that will benefit from their exact knowledge and skillset. For example, if you’re a financial company, we make sure one of our recruiters who has worked with Fortune 500 financial institutions is working with you. This sets a strong foundation and starting point for the relationship, making all those subsequent conversations about cultural fit even easier.
Forming an Accurate Picture of Candidates
All the above activities make sure we’re on the same page with our clients, understanding exactly the type of talent needed. While that is most of the battle in hiring, it’s not the whole battle. The way we work with our candidates ultimately helps businesses like yours find the right fit.
It comes down to this: candidates have to accurately present themselves to you so, in just one interview, you can know exactly what they would be like on the job. It sounds simple, but even the most talented individuals struggle during interviews. Working through their nerves so they can be themselves when they talk to you is a big part of what we do. We also work with candidates to discover their true strengths, not just the bullets on their resume. When these strengths match your culture, that’s a candidate who gets sent to you. When they don’t match your culture, even if they seem perfect on paper, they don’t move forward.
That idea of forming an accurate picture of the hiring equation goes both ways. Candidates want to know what’s expected of them in any job or organization. The better we get to know your business, culture, and open roles, the better we can set accurate expectations for them up front. By knowing what both candidates and hiring managers want, ATR is uniquely positioned to quickly understand what makes a great fit.
Cultural Fit in Hiring
Finding those great culture fits who will help your business thrive is a process that is part science and part art. No two organizations or professionals are the same. Certain people excel in certain environments, and the details surrounding the hiring process matter. A staffing agreement is not about a transaction; it’s about getting to know your business and culture and delivering talent accordingly. It’s not easy, but it’s why companies rely on us to make it happen.
Want to talk about how ATR can help your hiring? Reach out to us or come find me at the NMSDC conference in Atlanta from October 13th to 16th!
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