While it often goes unspoken, culture is one of the most significant aspects of a business. It frequently comes into play during the hiring process, as recruiters and HR teams consider how well a candidate will respond to the beliefs and behaviors that define the company’s culture.

In recent years, trends have shifted from the cultural fit to the potentially more inclusive culture add approach. In either case, culture matters when bringing new people on board. Offering marketing solutions to help businesses boost recruitment efforts, AMNY Recruitment Marketing discusses what cultural fit means and how to factor it into hiring.

What Is Cultural Fit?

Every company has a distinct culture — the goals, management approach, overall mission, and employee behavior — that influences everything it does. The leaders and managers of a business are often responsible for directing culture, but all employees contribute.

For hiring, cultural fit means looking for qualities in candidates that may mesh well with your culture. From the perspective of your business, hiring for cultural fit is beneficial because it can reduce turnover. Employees who feel they belong are likely to stay with the business longer, which can lower the cost of replacing workers.

Culture also matters to candidates. According to Business News Daily, about three-fourths of job seekers consider a company’s culture before applying for an open position, and nearly the same wouldn’t apply unless they shared the organization’s values. In other words, most applicants find that culture is integral to experiencing job satisfaction.

The Benefits of Hiring for Cultural Fit

Incorporating cultural fit into the factors determining an ideal candidate can aid your business in several ways. Because it may increase employee retention, you may save money on recruitment training when you hire for cultural fit. However, you need a thorough understanding of your values, preferred working styles, and behaviors to reap this benefit — it must go beyond whether or not they’ll get along with the existing team.

It can also boost your brand, as the more employees you hire that suit your culture further contribute to these values and behaviors. When prospects interact with employees at job fairs or when visiting your site, their more likely to detect the culture and if they think they’ll belong.

The Drawbacks of Hiring for Cultural Fit

Hiring for cultural fit can be precarious, as well, because it assumes your business has a well-defined culture consistent across all departments. The problem is that decision-makers may understand the culture differently than the teams with which the prospective employee will work.

As important as like-mindedness can be for collaborating on projects, it can spur groupthink. When making decisions, it will be harder for employees to notice or point out flaws if their brains work similarly. In short, making sure every candidate fits culturally can stifle innovation.

Replacing Cultural Fit with Culture Add

One of the more significant downsides to hiring for cultural fit is that it can diminish workplace diversity. It’s possible that in always recruiting talent that matches your behaviors, values, and beliefs, you’ll end up with a very homogenous workforce.

For this reason, more companies are opting for culture add. Instead of looking for talent that fits culturally, they consider what’s missing from the existing culture. What new experiences and perspectives can this person bring to the table? Culture add not only enables more effective diversity but ensures organizational culture remains dynamic and open for improvement.

How to Incorporate Culture into Hiring

No matter your organization’s beliefs on cultural fit and culture add, one aspect is certain — culture matters to the workforce. If you fail to provide candidates with an accurate picture of your culture, they’ll likely search elsewhere. Those not sure where to begin with integrating culture into recruitment can start with these steps:

• Characterize your culture: A statement clearly defining your culture guides you when identifying talent that may benefit your business.
• Infuse hiring materials with your culture: Once you define your culture, include it on your website, in job postings, and in other materials used to communicate with prospective recruits.
• Conduct walk-throughs during interviews: Showing candidates the office set-up and how employees work and interact with each other can give them a sample of the culture.
• Be mindful of diversity and inclusion: Regardless of the strategies used to ascertain cultural fit, be sure to factor diversity, equity, and inclusion into the decision.

Enhance Your Recruitment Process with AMNY Recruitment Marketing

If your recruitment efforts have been fruitless lately, culture may be the missing piece. For assistance implementing workplace culture into your job postings and other recruitment materials, turn to AMNY Recruitment Marketing.

We deliver digital and print solutions to help businesses expand their local, regional, national, and global reach, and partner with The Job Network to enable organizations to connect with passive and active talent. Contact us today to learn more about our work and how we can help you with recruitment.