In the traditional hiring process, it’s common to narrow your focus down to a candidate’s talents, skills, and experience. However, this method of hiring may actually be costing your business both money and its reputation.
So, how can you ensure your hiring process is better than the old-fashioned method? Easy—focus on hiring for the right culture fit rather than ability. This may sound counter-intuitive, but believe us, it’s a proven way to ensure employee retention and productivity as well as a fantastic way to meet company goals.
Your Culture is Invaluable
Hiring for the right fit is so important because of the value company culture provides. Your culture is how your employees operate, communicate, and collaborate, paired with your organization's values and mission.
Bringing on employees who thrive in your company culture will lead to a company community, higher productivity, and an increased bottom line. Hiring a candidate who is highly skilled but a poor culture fit can actually harm or crush your company culture, leading to profit losses and a significantly decreased bottom line.
Skills Can Be Taught, Personality Cannot
While it’s habitual to choose the candidate with the most applicable skills and experience, a candidate lacking in some experience of skills (but who is a great culture fit) can actually be the better hire. This is because skills can be taught but personality cannot.
Yes, this might mean that your organization may have to put a little more work into shaping hires into company superstars—and that’s okay! When your organization implements dynamic training programs, not only can you give good cultural candidates the skills they need to succeed, but you can shape their skills the way you need them.
If you focus all hiring efforts strictly on skills and experience, your company culture may falter or worse—become toxic, leading to a high turnover rate as your top-performers and long-term employees scramble to find a position at a company in which they feel they can belong and thrive.
Culture Helps Adapt to the New Market
If the thought of a candidate who lacks experience but makes up for it by being a great culture fit sounds familiar—that’s because it is. Today’s market of hireable professionals largely consists of millennials who lack experience but possess drive, determination, and motivation. Because of this, they are ready and willing to learn new skills within their roles in order to succeed and make a career in your company.
In fact, 53% of Millennials say they would absolutely thrive (and stay) in a role if they’re provided opportunities for continued learning and training. What’s more, 78% of Millennials would rather work in a fun environment doing something they enjoy rather than hold a position with a considerable salary. Adapting your company to enrich its culture and help today’s hires thrive is single-handedly the best way to ensure business success, boost employee retention, and improve your bottom line.
How You Can Hire for Culture Fit Today
Traditional recruiting via LinkedIn doesn’t even come close to showing you a candidate’s personality. We, however, excel in it.
With GoGig’s cutting-edge technology, you can learn all about a candidate’s personality with the tap of a button. This allows you to make a well-informed decision with company culture at the forefront, in addition to having access to a candidate’s skills and experience as well.
Learn even more about hiring the right culture fit by watching this short webinar. Your company and the companies you hire for will thank you!
