CULTURAL FITMENT - A KEY TO SUCCESSFUL HIRE

I am sure in this ever contracting employable talent pool in India, this is one question every recruiter faces every day.  “I have got a strong technical shortlist but he/ she might not fit in culturally in the organization? I am so desperate to close the position. What should I do? Should I ignore that part?” The Answer is a BIG NO. You should never commit that sin of ignoring something as important as that. A technically B candidate can become ‘A’ over a period of time but a cultural misfit can never become a fit in an organization.  At GrapeCity, this part of hiring is one of the most crucial and plays a big role in the decision to hire. Of Course, mistakes do happen but we should make honest effort to minimize the chances of making a hiring mistake. Also having burnt my fingers from those mistakes, it makes me feel more reassured that Cultural Fitment should never be ignored. 

How to Judge?

Look at your organization and look at the kind of people she employs (not all but 80% of the common crowd). You will know what kind of people your organization hires. Judge your prospective hire on those parameters namely things like outspokenness, aggressiveness, learn-ability etc ( of course this can change from company to company). The overall demeanor of the candidate plus the answers to the parameters would give you an answer in first 15 mins of discussion you have. The next 15 mins spend time in reaffirming those findings and finally concluding as some people ( 5-10%) take time to open up. So to conclude, I would say you can save your organization the blushes by investing 30 mins of your time in evaluating cultural fitment of the candidate. Do it religiously.

Implications of a wrong cultural hire

• Attrition: Not only the person himself but other gems of your organization influenced by that person.
• Under- Productivity: The productivity levels of employees in sync with the wrong hire might go down drastically with that person influencing the minds of your good employees.
• Negativity: Could create a overall aura of negativity within the team/ organization.
• Client/ Revenue Loss: All the above factors would in the end result in either client dissatisfaction or revenue loss.
• Botch in the career of misfit employee due to firing/ under-performance.

There can be many more worse implications than what has been listed above.

Mistakes you can avoid

• A  Candidate always tries to portray that he is best fit for the job and the company. Don’t fall for answers given by candidate, dig deeper. Cross question to ensure that your probability of making a mistake reduces drastically.
• Don’t get pulled into urgency of situation like project deadlines, incentives etc and make a mistake which can cost your company dearly.
• In case of doubt take second opinion from your colleagues in HR.
• By rejecting someone you aren't doing a crime, you might actually be doing a favor to that person unconsciously. A mis-fit in your company could be a possible super fitment somewhere else. Leave him/ her for that organization. 
• Don’t bow down to the pressures of the technical team. Be Strong and stand your ground and opinion. You would actually be doing them a favor in long run.

 So the next time you get into a situation like this, don’t have second thoughts, go ahead and say NO HIRE. 

Thanks

K Arun

Head- Recruitment

GrapeCity India Pvt Ltd