Unfortunately, it’s a common dilemma; hiring the candidate that has the right experience, qualifications, and work history, only to find three months later that their style, approach or behavior are inconsistent with the values of your organization. While skills and experience are critical, research increasingly points to organizational fit as a key differentiator in who will contribute faster, perform better and stay longer. So how do you balance the importance job fit and culture fit in your selection process?

In a webcast today with Ken Lahti and Tracy Kantrowitz from Previsor, we explored the significance of culture fit, how to identify the right match, and the new techniques and tools available for assessing candidates. We also discussed how organizations have effectively aligned measurement for culture fit, skills and experience to ensure the candidate hired is the best for the job and company.

What is “fit?” 

According to Lahti and Kantrowitz, “Job fit refers to the alignment of individuals’ characteristics with those required by the job.”  Whereas, culture fit is “the compatibility between an individual and a work environment that occurs when their characteristics are well matched.” (*Kristoff-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005)

Of course, culture assessments rely on solid analysis- and just like job analysis require research and commitment to get it right.  The outcome is pleasant, however, as Kantrowitz shares that higher alignment to culture fit also reveals improved engagement, satisfaction, and turnover.

Are you evaluating your talent for culture fit?  Job fit?

According to Dr. Ken Lahti, in today’s webcast, “[i]nterviews are an integral component of selection, yet they remain highly subjective & inconsistent, creating potential exposure to legal challenges.”  

What is a “good” interview?  Simply speaking, a good interview does what it says it will do:  actually predicts amongst candidates who will be successful in the job and who won’t.  Designing a good interview, however, is not so simple, but it should always be scientific, and hinges upon a couple of key components.

Job Analysis: What are the requirements necessary for the job and how is the work performed?  It is such a basic statement, yet it is shocking how few companies have current and accurate job analyses.  This process is work intensive, but is so critical for a majority of other human capital management practices.  The challenge exists to workforce scientists to invent a way to make this process take less time.

Interview Structure: Poor interviews lack consistency, and are unable to reproduce similar results from one session to the next.  Not surprisingly, this leads to an inability to fairly assess a group candidates.   Inconsistent interviews also leave mortar-sized craters of legal and compliance fears and true risks.

Interviewer Ability:  I used to begin every hiring manager interview debrief with this rhetorical question:  Is it a fact or is it a feeling?  It is woeful how inadequate most interviewers are at assessing talent quality- especially when coupled with how good they think they are.  As a profession, we really need a group or organization to design and offer a certification process for interviewers.  Any takers?  Training can easily address such deficiencies as interviewer bias, lack of skill, and proper preparation.

Let’s not forget the endgame of interviewing:  hiring the right person.

Today’s webcast will focus on work/life initiatives and how to measure the impact of these programs.  What does work/life have to do with talent acquisition?  We’ll discuss that in a bit.  First- let’s define what “work/life” is.  According to our presenter, Dr. Amy Richman of WFD Consulting, “[w]ork-life is a perspective. Companies that take a work-life perspective regard employees from a whole person point of view. They acknowledge that it is not just skills, abilities, and career goals but also work environment and personal and family life that give employees the energy and commitment to contribute fully. “

Creating, fostering, and nurturing a healthy work/life strategy is a competitive edge in talent acquisition- especially amongst semi-retiring Boomers and smart young Millennials.

Dr. Richman encourages organizations to ask this question: Does your company’s work-life effort have these components?

•Dependent care programs & policies

•Health and wellness programs & policies

•Education benefits and programs

•Financial and legal programs

•Flexible work practices

•Organizational culture that enables employees to work efficiently and manage work and personal responsibilities

•Workload and work redesign efforts to eliminate low value work and achieve business results

•Community focus and collaboration to leverage investments

Are there any  missing components?  Do you disagree with any?

Finally, Dr. Richman demonstrates how to measure the impact of work/life programs, and share some metrics from a case study at IBM.  And those metrics are pretty darn powerful- through the lens of an employee survey, IBM found that over 40% of their employees ranked work/life balance as the 1st or 2nd reason for continuing to work for the company.