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How to Interview for a Perfect Culture Fit

Written by Artisan | Aug 8, 2016 3:39:35 PM

Having a new employee fit into the existing culture of your workplace is undeniably important. Culture is the true heart and identity of your business; it’s the unique corporate personality that helps drive the productivity of your internal teams.

We’ve interviewed countless business owners over the years, and they all agree that finding a new employee who blends with company culture is just as important as finding a candidate with the right skill set for the job.

But how do you interview for the perfect culture fit?

Engage Current Employees in the Interview Process

As part of the standard corporate interview process, we encourage senior management to include representation from the teams who will actually work with the new employee. It empowers current employees by letting them know how much you value their opinion, and it also helps ensure the last candidate standing will have a better chance of fitting in.

Peer-to-peer interviewing allows candidates to meet the team they’ll be joining. It will also give them a better sense of what the role entails – from the people who are actually performing the work.

Including employees in the interview process takes coordination by management. If your company is large enough, it is always important to have one primary Human Resource Executive to facilitate the interview process. That executive will help ensure you are all on the same page by creating a unified process that will propel candidates through the interview.

When It Comes to Culture Fit: Trust Your Gut

The best interviews share a window into your business and open a door on a candidate’s personality and skills. They do this by not only documenting what the candidate says – but also how they make you feel.That’s why it’s important to feel the “vibe” of the interview by noticing the intangibles such as the body language and attitudes of the candidate.

Intuition can be a powerful tool. While we’re not suggesting a gut check should take the place of a scored, methodical interview process that ferrets out the skill set of a particular candidate, it should play a role.

Ask the Right Questions

About Money.com came up with some of the best questions to ask to assess the cultural fit of a job candidate. Here are some of our favorites:

  • What kind of management style will bring out our best work?
  • How would co-workers describe your work style?
  • What are your expectations of your management team?
  • Describe a time when you went out of your way to impress a customer.
  • What were the most positive cultural elements at your last job?
  • What kind of work environment would make you unhappy?

How do we know this? We’re Artisan Talent, and we make it our mission to find the right job candidates who have both the hard skills and the intangible cultural fit for your business.

We help our clients find the right creative talent at the right time. Contact us today to find out more.