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Considering Motivation and Culture Fit:
Hiring Finance and Accounting Talent

 
 

Culture Fit

You might have experienced this before - where you have sat opposite a great candidate, their past performance is exemplary, their responses to your questions are polished, but deep down you just know that as an individual, they wouldn't be right for your team or the business. 

Assessing a candidate’s motivation and cultural suitability is an extremely important part of the interview process. After all if you decide to hire the person, they will be spending a lot of time with you and  your team. Right now you are probably thinking that there is a lot to ­that goes into a single interview. We understand the concern, but if there is someone who feel really wants the role and who wants to work with you, determining whether or not they would fi­t your culture isn't something that can really wait for a later stage. Think about the values held by your business and then ask the candidate when they have been most satisfied working for a particular organisation or team.

Their response will start to reveal  why they were most satisfied - which will often be a result of the culture and work environment. Get them to elaborate on what specifically made it so satisfying. What you are really looking for here is whether the candidate felt a strong connection to the support or appreciation they received from colleagues or management.

Perhaps it was the learning and development they gained while working for that organisation.

Or maybe the strong sense of cohesive culture,

Or the fulfillment they gained from working on particular types of projects or with certain types of clients.

Will your position give them at least a similar level of satisfaction? Then ask them when they have felt least satisfied in the workplace. At this point if you detect that some of their frustrations may resurface in your own environment because you have similar procedures in place or a similar culture, then at least you know that the candidate wouldn't necessarily be right for you. Perhaps more importantly your role wouldn't necessarily be right for them.

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A Winning Interview Process

Structured interview, every time: Running a structured interview will ensure there is a framework to your questioning and a purpose for asking your candidate the set of specific questions you have selected.

Competency based questioning: Remember hypothetical questions are a thing of the past. Determine what competencies are most relevant for your role and then select the most appropriate questions.

Results focused assessment: Unless your candidate can describe real results and real situations from past experience, their answers shouldn't be deemed complete. Keep probing until you can see what the outcome was for every competency or behavioural based scenario.

Interview bias eliminated: Control your emotions, put aside any ­first impressions or bias (either positive or negative), and focus on asking questions based solely around the key competencies or the job criteria.

Process explained: Don’t let the candidate walk out of the interview assuming next steps. 

Timely feedback: Remember that on average people tell one friend about a positive experience and at least 10 friends about a negative experience. If you don’t provide feedback to your candidate and you just hope that by not hearing from you they will assume they have been unsuccessful, you will attract negative attention to your company and brand.

 


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