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The Mistake Hiring Managers Can’t Stop Themselves from Making
While it seems good for teamwork, seeking the “right fit” ultimately stymies much-needed creativity and innovation
Bringing people into your team or organization who ‘fit in’ with the culture and align with the prevailing values, mindsets and behaviours seems obvious to many leaders. Adherents to this view say people similar in outlook, beliefs and ways of working create and reinforce a results-focused culture with fewer opportunities for personality clashes, confrontations, and the cost of replacing so-called bad hires who fail to integrate.
Adding their voice to the chorus are recruiters, confirming that costs of training and on-boarding are reduced when fit is a hiring criteria — and that collaboration and teamwork balloon when new employees quickly step into a work culture they feel they belong in.
It’s notable how prevalent this perspective is: when it comes to sales, for instance, 45 percent of CEOs in Inc. 5000 companies believe cultural fit to be the most important characteristic in a salesperson. And in this 2018 study by Robert Half, nine out of 10 American and Canadian managers said a candidate’s fit with the organizational culture is equal to or more important than their skills and experience.
