“Culture fit” has become a buzzword in recent years, but do you know what that reallty means and are you putting it to work for you in your interviews? If you’re not quite sure about the importance of company culture interview questions or are just uncertain how to get started asking them, this crash course might be for you.

Why Culture Matters

Skills and qualifications are very important, but how an employee pursues day-to-day tasks and interactions will prove even more important to their happiness and success at your organization. Your work environment and organizational culture, combined with their personality, will hopefully be a match made in heaven, but if not, you want to know before hiring. That’s where a fit assessment comes in.

Creating A Skills & Values Fit Assessment That Works

The first thing to understand about the importance of company culture interview questions is that they’re not as simple as the straightforward question, “How do you think you’ll fit in here?” Sure, you can ask that too, but if you want to do a real culture fit assessment, you have to force the candidate to show how they really feel. Usually, this means the culture fit assessment is more of a conversation than a series of questions. You can make your own list, of course, but this will stem more from the conversations you have over time while following a few basic tenets:

Know What You’re Looking For

Your candidate can’t be expected to fill in this blank for you. Are you seeking a self-starter, a right-hand man, a specialist, or a Jack of all trades? Be clear about this, as well as the traits that go along with it. Consider questions such as, “How do you feel about having multiple bosses?”

Communicate What You Are Looking For

By clearly communicating what you are looking for in a candidate for a certain position, you can ensure that the right people will apply to begin with. Adding this step to your hiring process will eliminate time in the long run.

Be Clear About Your Company Model

If you will be providing lots of oversight, such as in a call center model, the employee needs to be prepared. On the other hand, if you would ideally like to be left alone and have employees run their own show, express this. Their response, and their resume, will reflect whether they can handle it. Think about a question such as, “What do you do if you run into a question with no one around to ask?”

Be Upfront About Where You’re Flexible & Where You’re Not

For example, an employee who comes from a casual dress, make-your-own-hours environment is unlikely to fit into a 9-to-5 business attire setting. Don’t dance around the issue in the interview, because that just wastes everyone’s time. A question might be, “Do you accept that time off will be limited to what’s in your compensation package?” Questions like this will help you narrow down the pool significantly, and increase the chances a hire will stick with you over the long haul.

Check out our other blogs on culture to gain more insights.

Make Culture Your Top Priority

That’s where Premier comes in, setting a new standard for job placement and helping ensure you find candidates who not only stick around, they fit your culture like a glove. Learn more about finding the right candidate to fit your company culture today.

Are you ready to hire your next great cultural fit? Get started today!