The importance of culture in hiring decisions

Every organisation has its own unique culture. No one may have consciously tried to create it, but there is no doubt it exists.

“The common denominator across all job descriptions relates to culture,” says Melbourne based Kelly Services Director, Steve Shepherd.

“Every client talks to us about cultural fit and it is certainly a reality that we are concerned with every day,” Steve explains.

Essentially, corporate culture can be defined as the beliefs, expectations and values shared by all the members of an organisation, and passed down from one generation of employees to another.

In the early years of an organisation’s life, the culture is normally based on the values of the top management or the founders or core people who build the organisation.

In many ways, it is in the culture, rather than in any formal, written company rules and policies, where the norms that define acceptable behaviour of employees, are set.

“It is not so much, what the fit is, the challenge is more a matter of identifying that fit during the recruitment process,” says Steve Shepherd.

“It is often about the values of the organisation, and the way people behave.”

“Of course, one of the things that recruiters have to be aware of is that when people come in for an interview, they are normally on their best behaviour. They are looking to impress. Often the values that they appear to have in an interview, are not their real values at all.” 

“Sometimes it is not until they are in the workplace, interacting with other people that their real values shine through. At that point it might be discovered that the recruit is not a good fit.”

Automatically, culture influences decision-making. It affects styles of management and what everyone determines as success.

Over time, as a new organisation becomes a stronger and larger entity in its own right, the actions of managers and employees are not always totally 'their own.' Rather, the socialisation processes of the organisation’s culture, largely influence the way people act within the organisation.

“Some candidates, when they get into a job, clearly adapt themselves to a workplace environment,” explains Steve Shepherd.  “They are influenced by their interactions with the people around and the way they are managed.”

“A lot of observation goes on in those early days and weeks, even in the way a person dresses. If an organisation has a casual environment, the new person will only appear in a suit and tie for a very few days  - there will very quickly be an effort to fit in with the rest of the personnel.”

Probably all recruitment specialists have had the experience of appointing someone who looks great on paper and in interview, but the culture fit turns out to be not quite right.

For the recruit, maybe it’s his or her style, approach or behaviour on the job that are simply inconsistent with the values and expectations of the organisation. Maybe the modus operandi of the recruit is foreign to new colleagues or subordinates.

While it is obviously important for recruiters to understand corporate culture, it is also important for job seekers to appreciate the culture of an organisation before accepting a job.

“Clients almost always know what behaviours they want from the recruitment process, but they don’t normally know how to identify that in a candidate,” says Steve.

“Of course, this is the role of a skilled interviewer, but people, being people, are unpredictable, so there is no magic formula that guarantees a perfect match every time.”