2013-15

Recruitment for skill Vs. Recruitment for Cultural Fit

Submitted to:

NIKITA RAWAT

Mrs Kshitija Wason

Sub: Recruitment & Selection

PGDMHR
Roll No. 29

Table of Contents
S.No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Content Introduction What experts say When is cultural fit more important? When is skill more important? Context How does an IT industry test for skills? How does an IT industry test for cultural fitment? Personal Observations Avenues Ahead References Page No. 1 4 6 7 7 7 9 11 13 15

INTRODUCTION
What is cultural fit? Cultural fit is the way in which an employee connects with the organisational culture. This culture is formed from the values, vision, norms, working language, symbols, belief systems and habits of staff, along with their tacit agreement to a set of acceptable behaviours. When these elements are aligned, they create social cohesion, and a high level of social cohesion builds strength in the organisation.

What is talent? Talent in an employment context generally refers to one of two things: 1. Exceptional technical ability 2. High potential to develop exceptional technical ability

What technical ability a given employer may be looking for of course varies depending on the job, but the possession of a relatively scare or rare skill set or the capacity to develop one is highly valuable in the market place. Unfortunately, in the first case many employers often overestimate the transferability of talent (and spend too much time focusing on cultural fit); while in the second case they underestimate how important the right conditions are for talent cultivation (materially undervaluing fit).

CASE 1: If an employer wants to hire a world class actuary/computer programmer/project manager/compensation consultant/financial analyst etc. the employer shouldnt be looking at cultural fit so much as it should be measuring skill transferability. The asset that the employer is paying for in this case technical ability is likely to yield the needed value only if the technical ability the talent has is aligned with the needs of the organization. As such, I would argue that an interview (and job posting) process that accurately identifies and tests for the skills needed to be successful in a role are much more important than cultural fit in cases where companies are hiring for a specific skill or experience. CASE 2: Conversely, if an employer is hiring a candidate for his or her capacity to learn then cultural fit is *much* more important. In this case, an employer is hiring a candidate largely because of his/her cultural legacy. A candidates background (schooling/life experiences/work ethic etc.) makes him or her attractive training prospect. As such, if a candidate isnt a good cultural fit then the work environment will likely prove to be sub-optimal for training purposes (leading to unrealized potential and a presumably failed hire). If Im recruiting for a role where the incumbents existing abilities will define his or her success in the role (and any training is negligible or non-existent), then I am looking for skills and not fit.

Image Credit: <www.staffmills.com>

On the other hand, if much of what an incumbent does in his/her new role will be based around learning internal processes then cultural fit matters a lot more in the selection process. In the case of the former the incumbent defines the role, while in the case of the latter the incumbent is stepping into a pre-defined space where his or her ability to succeed will be determined largely by the ability to fit into what the employer does.

Not all work requires exceptional talent. Often a new incumbent just needs to fit in.

Researching on what some of todays top recruiting experts had to say:

Our talented recruiters work very hard to ensure we find the right fit for our open positions. There are plenty of people who could do the job, but we search to find the person who embodies our values and demonstrates the exceptional technical abilities to make the position and the person most successful. Tata Petty, AVP of Recruiting at Concentra. In our company, we recruit based on values first and then technical aptitude secondMaintaining our culture is my number one stress factor, and heres why: I care more about creating a great company than I do a big company. Lanham Napier, President & CEO of Rackspace Hosting. The right cultural fit is an absolute must when hiring new employees. You must, of course, have competencies for the right position, but we look for employees whofit our culture at Lenovo. Its much easier to train for skills than for cultural fit. Gina Qiao, VP of Human Resources of Lenovo More than ever, we needpeople who excel across disciplines and are capable of being more generalists than specialists. They need to embody strong and diverse character attributes, not just sets of functional skills. Mindset and work ethic are as critical as theyve ever been. Amber Naslund, co-author of The Now Revolution: 7 Shifts to make your business faster, smarter, and more social. No matter how talented a manager you are, you cant teach someone to have more integrity. Thats something life teaches you. Andas a hiring manager, I cant adopt you without these qualities [of work ethic, humility, integrity and maturity]. Garrett Miller, author of Hire on a WHIM: Four qualities that make for great employees.

It is no surprise that 90% of respondents rated recruiting for cultural fit as very important to essential. The fit between the employee and the organization is a crucial component of individual

and organization success. Results of numerous research studies illustrate the importance of this congruence between the values of the individual and the values and culture of the organization. While most respondents rate recruiting for cultural fit as a very important to essential. Only 36% of respondents indicated that their organizations always recruit for cultural fit. While a further 30% indicated they often recruit for cultural fit, more than a third respondents indicated that they only sometimes never recruit for cultural fit.

So far so good, but here comes the chills: Just over half of the respondents said that their organization does not have a clearly defined corporate culture. Defining and understanding a companys own culture is the essential first step in order to be able to assess cultural fit and quite frankly to measure it. Unfortunately, despite recognizing how important this step is, only a third of the respondents currently measure cultural fit in their recruiting process. This is most likely an outcome of not knowing their culture, which reflects a high degree of inexperience.
Recent SmartBreif Interview with John Taft, CEO of RBC Wealth Management, in which he focused solely on the importance of executives leading the culture of their companies: Culture is everything when it comes to responsible, long-term business success. Culture is what
exists before any given leader shows up, and its what exists after any given leader moves on. Culture is in the DNA of an organization. It is not something that a leader necessarily goes out and creates. A leaders job is to discover, communicate and reinforce culture. If you dont get culture right, nothing else matters.

WHEN IS CULTURAL FIT MORE IMPORTANT

Cultural fit is more important in following cases: When a candidate is a fresher with basic skills, then it is very important for him/her to culturally fit in an organization. His skills can be honed by trainings conducted in organization. If in an organization, instead of an expert work, work involves frequent job rotations; then it is a cultural fit is more important than skills. When the company work culture is backed upon team work, then its very necessary that the person you are hiring is a right fit with the culture.

I once hired a woman who really didnt have the right background or experience for the job, but who I hit it off with during the interview, says Rebecca Grossman Cohen, a marketing executive at News Corp.(NWS). And because we got along so well, I was able to train her easily, and she ended up doing great things for us.
Source: BusinessWeek article

As observed by the above and below statements, employers say that culture is now a top most priority not only for the recruiters but also for the new gen employees. Its easy to rain person who is culturally fit in an organization.

These trends are being driven by millennials because they care about culture, says Dan Schawbel, author of Me: 2.0. Research shows that millennials typically stay at a job for about two yearsand they have different priorities. Theyd rather have meaningful work over more pay, or work for a company that gives back or cares about the environment. They want a culture thats less hierarchical, more flexible, and more understanding of difference, because millennials are the most diverse generation.
Source: BusinessWeek article

WHEN IS SKILL MORE IMPORTANT

Recruitment for skills is more important in following cases: When the job contains more risk like the job of a pilot or a shooter. When it is a job for a very high post e.g. Commander in chief, CEO Etc. Individual task or some temporary job. In some cases, where experienced individuals are needed, then a critical element of the selection process should be selecting individuals who can perform specific skills better. E.g. ISRO Scientist

CONTEXT
I have taken IT industry for emphasizing the method used for recruiting.

HOW DOES AN IT INDUSTRY TEST FOR SKILLS

Technical expertise is being checked in regards to one of four areas mentioned below: 1. 2. 3. 4. Functional skills Domain Expertise Tools and Technology Industry Expertise

Lets look at them one at a time. 1. Functional skills are what a candidate started to learn in school, and has continued to learn on the job. This is where you must be wary of one year of experience repeated several times. Looking for people who have continued their learning in some way. 2. Domain expertise is all about the product. Solution space is how well the candidate has learned the internals of the product. Problem space is how well the candidate understands the problem that the product solves.

3. Tools and technology expertise is simply how well the candidate knows your tools and technology. Remember, this is the easiest expertise to learn. 4. Industry expertise is the implicit requirements that we expect people in our industry to know. If you work in the IT industry for a while, you know about the latest researches. Specially, whether you know about distributed systems as well as high-capacity, highperformance and high-reliability systems.

Skills tests are basically industry dependent tests. Various tests that are taken into consideration while testing candidates skills are:

1. Use an outside company to verify tech skills - Testing companies like Prove It!, Brainbench, Review Net Services, and eSkill Corporation tell you where candidates are strong and weak and how they compare to others who take tests covering popular technology like .net, Novell Netware and JAVA. 2. Borrow an IT expert: Companies may have a deep staff it can turn to for interview help, but when it needs to hire in new niches, it reaches out to its network to find someone in a different company in the same industry to help in the interview process. 3. Fake it. By asking IT questions and nod your head while listening to answers you dont understand, Reed says. However, thats probably the least effective way to test someones skills. Still, it can be done. Google .net interview questions and youll find plenty of things to ask a .net job candidate. Take time to research your interview questions, jot down notes about the correct answers and then listen for key phrases. 4. Hire someone whos been there, done that. Choose a candidate who has a proven performance record of accomplishing the task you need done and you wont have to worry so much about technical competency for a small or mid-size company implementation or build-out. Already existing members of the workforce can be a helpful way of deciding whether an individual have specific job work-relevant skills.

HOW DOES AN IT INDUSTRY TEST FOR CULTURAL FITMENT

Fig 3: Methods Used

Source: http://www.ddiworld.com

Fig 4: Effectiveness of methods

Source: http://www.ddiworld.com

This is an overview of all industries but in regards to IT if we see, the methods mostly used for checking candidates if they are culturally fit or not are:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Behavioural interview questions specifically targeting values such as Questions other than behavioural specifically targeting values Reference checking Cultural fit questionnaires Behaviour simulations Informal meetings with colleagues/team members Panel Interviews Personality tests

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In fig 4 we can see the effectiveness of the above mentioned tests.

Examples of Behavioural Interview questions

Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure with an example. Have you ever made a mistake at work place? What happened and what did you do about it? Give an example of your goal and how you reached it. Describe a team you worked on and your role in it. Has there being a time you disagreed with someone? What did you do about it? If you missed the deadline of your project, what you did? You did a coding mistake that nobody knew at that stage, what will you do?

PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS
Also according to me, its a blend of both cultural fitness and requisite skills that are important while recruiting and yes, Right skills are a part of the person who is culturally fit because culture in an organization is a mix of technology, people, resources etc. There is only one compelling reason for adopting a skill-based approach. That is to create a competitive advantage, because it leads the organization to perform better. By moving to skill based approach, organizations can create systems that proactively support the development of particular kinds of competencies. In addition to helping organizations develop particular technical competencies, the skill based approach can help an organization develop individuals who are capable of functioning with particular management styles. This is particularly apparent in the case of management styles that emphasize Total Quality management and Employee involvement. These approaches require individuals to have skills that are above and beyond those that are normally required in a command and control management approach. There are number of limitations and potential pitfalls associated with using a skill based approach. As per my readings and research, I would highlight cultural fit in terms of two fits; organisationperson fit and job-person fit. These fits are then broken into hard and soft categories. Hard fit are things like levels of subject matter knowledge, specific skills and cognitive abilities. Soft fit include personality traits, values and personal belief systems. When measured together they provide a more accurate assessment of the candidates true fit. With this in mind I am not sure why some organisations still focus on recruiting purely for skill set. I also think there is a middle layer to the two

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fits, so lets have a look at them together and the initial questions that we should be asking ourselves for each one: 1. Organisational Fit:

Does the individual have aligned values and beliefs to the organisation? Is their preferred modus operandi aligned with/to the organisation?

2. Team Fit:

Does the individual fit with the different styles and personalities within the team? Are they a team player? Do they value diversity of thinking? Are they able to respectfully deal with conflicting points of view?

3. Role Fit:

Does the individual have the skills, competencies and capabilities to competently perform the duties and responsibilities of the role i.e. can they do the job? Do they have the right mind-set? Finally, will they do the job?

The important question to ask now isDo you need to change any aspect in your current recruitment process to ensure that you attract and retain the culturally right fit people for your organisation, the team and the respective role? As managers we generally focus on filling roles within our teams and the organisation with people who have demonstrated their skills and knowledge in previous roles.

Skill fit is a subset of cultural fit.

Research over the past decade proves that you still need to the right fit to the team and organization. Candidates assimilate faster, which means they are able to actively contribute sooner, resulting in greater job satisfaction for them and increase the likelihood of retention within the organisation.

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Few more observations that I made:

1. The most expensive applicant is not always the most qualified one for the job. 2. Being overqualified for a job on paper doesnt mean a candidate will actually be able to do the work once he or she is in the role youve posted for (there are many different reasons for this that Id like to get into another time). 3. Hiring the Rock Star applicant (i.e. the ultra-experienced, high potential candidate with all the right skills who also just-so-happens to be a cultural fit) is not always the best business decision.

AVENUES AHEAD
Its not that technical skills arent important, but theyre much easier to assess (thats why attitude, not skills, is the top predictor of a new hires success or failure). Virtually every job (from neurosurgeon to engineer to cashier) has tests that can assess technical proficiency. But what those tests dont assess is attitude; whether a candidate is motivated to learn new skills, think innovatively, cope with failure, assimilate feedback and coaching, collaborate with teammates, and so forth. Soft skills are the capabilities that attitude can enhance or undermine. For example, a newly hired executive may have the intelligence, business experience and financial acumen to fit well in a new role. But if that same executive has an authoritarian, hard-driving style, and theyre being hired into a social culture where happiness and camaraderie are paramount, that combination is unlikely to work. Additionally, many training programs have demonstrated success with increasing and improving skillsespecially on the technical side. But these same programs are notoriously weak when it comes to creating attitudinal change. As Herb Kelleher, former Southwest Airlines CEO used to say, We can change skill levels through training, but we cant change attitude. The fact that there are so many workers sitting out there unemployed, we can find the skills we need. The lack of sharp wage increases in most job categories is further evidence of the abundant supply of skills. Technical proficiency, once a guarantee of lifetime employment, is a commodity in todays job market. Attitude is what todays companies are hiring for. And not just any attitude; companies want attitudes that perfectly match their unique culture. Google and Apple are both great companies, but their cultures are as different as night and day. Factors that will contribute in future as a challenge to HR: Social Media HR professionals today might use social media websites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, to get a better sense of job candidates. Challenged to dig deeper, HR will need to use social media for the organization's benefit in an extremely competitive job market for both candidates and hiring

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companies. HR professionals must be ready to grab the best talent before the competitor, and this could mean beginning the dialog even before the candidate applies. Social media participants often set their profile settings to private, so HR staff will need to develop in-depth knowledge of the social media tools and online search engines to uncover the information they need. Globalization The Internet has opened up the job market, extending the talent pool to almost every nook of the globe. In the 21st century, HR professionals recruit candidates from various countries who speak different languages and practice customs that may be unlike those of the company's local employees. This brings about changes to typical HR policies as the staff must address concerns such as cultural and ethnic sensitivity. HR also will need to pay close attention to wage disparities between local employees and their counterparts in other countries.

WHAT I WILL USE AS A YOUNG HR:

The current global recruitment landscape is changing. The global war for the best talent is real,talent is geographically mobile and happy to move for the best job; talent is more demanding, not only in pay but career progression and training and development; the experienced talent pool is shrinking in volume; convergence of talent, as recruiters fighting in a smaller talent pool attract candidates across different sectors; the graduate pool is scarily becoming less skilled as graduates come out of universities with watered-down degrees, ill-preparing them for working life; talent is less loyal and happy to switch companies every two years on average; competitors are getting smarter in mapping out talent pools and attracting your staff away; and recruitment agencies are failing to be creative in attracting unique talent to their databases, hence perpetuating recruitment chess of the same talent across companies. The growth of the power of the Internet and communication is unstoppable. The Twitter revolutions in the Middle East show that people are grasping and using technology to communicate their views, much to their anger of the elite. Social media and networks are on fire. Whatever you look at Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter the growth stats and usage is phenomenal. People talking, 24/7. So, keeping in view all the mentioned concerns and upcoming tools, I will be using a technique which will test the employees on cultural fitment which will include skill test too. The ratio of both may vary as per the job position requirement but yes, both are essential to make an organization a success. By employing social media as a tool, we can have a better idea about the candidate wholl a potential employee for the organization. Basically my focus will recruitment for attitude of the candidate as it remains the same over time and it also determines the level of satisfaction an employee have in the organization.

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REFERENCES
http://rorytrotter.com http://hbr.org/ http://www.ddiworld.com http://www.workforce.com/ http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/ http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/research http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/managing-tomorrows-people

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