Hiring For Fit?

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

You want to know how to make sure a candidate fits your company, right?

How you ensure they’re not just another cog in the wheel, but a cog that’s grooving in sync with the rest of the machine?

That’s what you’re asking?

Good. Because that’s exactly what we need to be talking about.

Forget about the standard interview Q&A charade. Anybody can Google “top interview answers” and regurgitate those in their sleep. You’ve got to get under the hood. You want to know what makes this candidate tick, what fuels their engine. You’re not just hiring a skillset; you’re bringing on board a human being with their own motivations, dreams, fears, and ambitions.

Now, let’s say you’ve got two candidates. One of them’s got the best credentials, a Harvard degree, interned at Google, the whole nine yards. The other one, not so much on the resume front, but their eyes light up when they talk about your company, they’re passionate about the industry, they’ve got ideas and aren’t afraid to share them.

Who do you hire?

It’s a no-brainer. You go for passion, for alignment.

Skills can be taught, but passion?

That’s as rare as hen’s teeth.

Once you’ve found that spark, that alignment, you nurture it. You make sure your company is an environment where that passion can grow. You give them a sense of ownership, a stake in the company’s future. You align their objectives with the company’s. Their success should be the company’s success.

If you want to ensure a candidate finds their fit, you’ve got to give them the space to carve out that fit. You don’t shove a square peg in a round hole and then act surprised when it doesn’t work out.

And remember, fit isn’t a one-and-done thing. It’s a relationship. It needs constant work, constant communication. If you’re not fostering that, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.

In short, if you want to find the right fit, you’ve got to get to know your candidate, nurture their passion, align their objectives with yours, and keep that relationship alive.

It’s hard work, but trust me, the payoff is worth it.