Making sure that new hire will be a good fit
by Steve Twedt / © 2016, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The applicant’s work history and references seem in order. But how can you be really sure they’ll be a good fit?
“Company culture” is an amorphous, almost undefinable concept for the chemistry among workers and their colleagues that evolves in sometimes unpredictable ways.
When it’s right, the result is a stable, productive workforce. Get it wrong and that new hire can turn the office into a Real Housewives episode.
Making sure it’s right is a key focus for Joachim “Joe” Woerner, founder and managing director of Q Works in Fort Mill[, South Carolina]. [Joe] says his company pays particular attention to the culture issue as it plays matchmaker for client companies and mid- to upper-management candidates.
Extensive evaluations
It starts with a comprehensive assessment of how the company works: How are decisions made at the firm? What steps does the company take to retain employees? And for the applicants: Are they comfortable collaborating with groups of people or do they prefer to work solo? Are they more interested in the job’s potential for advancement or their starting salary?
Reducing the odds
“A lot of companies overlook their own culture and their own branding to find people that fit into that culture,” Woerner said.
If it’s not a good fit, “They could do the job but it would take a lot of emotional energy to do that job. They are either going to burn out or leave,” Woerner said.
That means absorbing the time and expense of making a new hire sooner than expected or possibly paying to retrain the problem employee, all while productivity lags. Some estimates put the cost of a bad hire as equivalent to a one-time annual salary.
Assessing the cultural fit between company and applicant is not a perfect science, Woerner acknowledged. “Every person you add changes the culture,” he said. “Our job is to reduce the odds of a bad hire.”
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