‘Goodness of Fit’ is a child development term that refers to children matching their parents’ temperament. Children who are active are better suited to active parents, and more laid-back children get along better with laid-back parents. This principle carries forward into the work world: formal employees feel more comfortable in formal companies, and laid-back employees feel more comfortable in informal companies.
This is no small matter. As Boutique Staffing can attest, employees who feel at home at their work are more productive, less likely to call in sick, and more likely to stick around for a long time. People just work better where they are comfortable. So, how do you find that person who fits best with your company? Well, you can cycle through employees, testing them out at work until they find somewhere that they are happier, or you can screen them for ‘goodness of fit’ through the application process. Here are 3 ways that you do the latter.
1. Tailor Your ‘Help Wanted’ Ad
The first step in finding someone who will fit in your company is to advertise your position to people who would enjoy working with you. Make the tone of the ad fit the tone of your company: an informal company should use slang and a chatty style in their ad placements while a more formal company should use bullet points and avoid slang. Is your industry fast-paced and high-energy? Convey this as best you can with your ad placement. Describe your company culture in a sentence in your ad too. Using a tone that matches your company culture and describing it will let people know if they will feel comfortable working with you before they even apply.
2. Ask About The Culture In Their Last Place
People tend to gravitate toward places that they feel comfortable. When they don’t find their comfort zone, they often find excuses to leave. You can find what your applicant prefers by asking about the company cultures of the last couple of places they worked.
You can ask open-ended questions, such as ‘What was working for that place like?’ during the interview to find that part of their employment history. If they respond with something like, “It was so much fun! We were just getting things done and being friends!” they were probably enjoying an informal culture. If they tell you that they found the last place very stressful, they might prefer to avoid fast-paced environments. Granted, many people will try to make themselves sound like a better candidate through their answers, but you can detect the real answers by listening carefully and watching their body language.
3. Ask What They Do In Their Free Time
Nothing tells you what a person values like how they spend their free time. If a person prefers a quiet space and a calm environment, they will gravitate towards sedentary activities that allow them to enjoy those things. A person who loves the company of other people will seek them out when they can. These behaviors all tell you something about what that person will be like at work: the extrovert will probably work well in a group, the lover of calm will prefer a quiet workspace, and so forth.
We Can Help
San Diego Pro Staffing, Inc. dba Boutique Recruiting knows the importance of hiring people who fit in your company, and this is why we have developed a hiring process that allows us to sit down with each job candidate and assess where they will feel most comfortable. We get to know the companies that we are placing our candidates, and we take the time to ensure that the candidate we send to your company fits in. If you want to hire people who belong in your company, contact us. We will do our best to meet your needs.
