THE RECRUITMENT EXPERIENCE
One of the most frustrating hiring challenges is to nail down whether a candidate will be a cultural fit. It’s a story we’ve heard countless times – the candidate who looked great on paper and cruised through the interview process, but whose promise unraveled within months of their start date. Estimates vary by role and industry, but anywhere from 20% to 50% of new hires fall short of expectations at best or flame out entirely in their first year. That is costing you time and money.
If you want to build the right culture for your business or organization then hiring the right people that fit the culture you want must be a priority. Businesses and managers have the tendency to hire people based on competence. Nothing wrong with that but eventually 6 months later you’re probably stuck with an employee that is driving you crazy and you’re looking let go of this person because they are not the right fit for your business, team or the position hired for.
So how do you stop this revolving door of frustration and employee turnover? How do you find and hire the right people to fit the culture of your business or organization?
First of all, you need to STOP ACTING DESPERATE. You have to realize your company is not for everyone. Not every candidate is the right fit for your culture. Many businesses hire people they like or believe to be qualified and then think they can mold people to fit their culture. Just because you tell people during orientation what the expectations are, the history of your company, your mission and core values does not mean your new hire is all onboard.
“The best your candidate will be is during the recruitment process. They usually go down from there if they are not the right fit.”
Here are some recruitment strategies to help you hire the right person that is the right fit.
- Hiring people is a 360-day job. Always be looking for the right people. They are out there.
- Make it overwhelmingly obvious what your company stands for and what your core values really mean. Don’t be generic or brush over your core values. I would tell people what the core values are and if they don’t believe in them whole hardily, they won’t like working for me or my company. Why, because I will be on them every minute making sure they live the core values every day.
- Make sure you have at least 3 different people interview candidates to get different perspectives on the right fit for the team.
- Get multiple people, especially your best all-stars, involved in the process. Ask them what the ideal candidate should look like.
- Perhaps if you can, have the candidate shadow your operation and then ask them what they saw, liked or would change if they were hired.
- Show them examples of people in your business that had a successful career path, opportunities. Have your people share their stories.
- Find out what research or investment did they make learning about your business and culture.
- Implement “undercover interviews”. Utilize receptionist, security people or others in your company who can come in contact with a candidate informally to observe their behavior, interactions, demeanor or presence. For example: What if a delivery driver accidentally drops boxes in the lobby area. Does the candidate even offer to help pick them up? Does the candidate interact with the receptionist in a friendly manner? If your candidate doesn’t act the way you would want during those examples, they probably are not going to demonstrate that behavior once you hire them.
- Conduct the interview while walking around the office or business and observe the candidate’s behavior. Do they interact with fellow employees or customers during the walk? Do they open doors, pick up trash, have eye contact, sense of urgency or the energy to do the job?
- Use behavioral interview questions to assess cultural fit during the hiring process. “Tell me about a time when you went out of your way to help a fellow team member or teammate.” Come up with questions that you will ask to understand what exactly a candidate did and how they did it?
Figuring out cultural fit is never going to be easy – but taking your time and being clear about the behaviors that you want to drive cultural fit in your business or organization will dramatically improve the odds that your new hires will thrive. Now that will be “MAGICAL”!
Need help? Contacting John today for a FREE DISCOVERY NO OBLIGATION CALL is the right decision.
John Formica is America’s Customer Experience Coach, team culture expert, keynote speaker, and Top 10 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Customer Loyalty. For information on customer experience evaluations and programs, leadership training, how to find and hire great people, affordable tailored training programs or to book John to speak at your next event, contact 704-965-4090 or visit our website at JohnFormica.com.