We receive a lot of questions about how to determine if a candidate is a cultural fit for your organization. Our experience has been that one way to discover cultural fit is through the questions that you ask in an interview.
The typical interview of a potential candidate lasts about 45 minutes to an hour. If the interviewer does not ask the right questions, with the expectation that candidates answer giving specific, real examples of what they have actually done, it will be difficult to know if they are a cultural fit.
With that said, here are some questions that you could ask, based on your values and vision, when you meet these candidates. These are just examples so you can tailor these to your situation and values. It is critical that the interviewer is clear on the values of the organization and what living the values looks like. It’s important to ask follow-up questions to the original questions to peel back the onion and understand the values of the candidate.
If one of your values is a customer-centric approach, you may ask:
- Tell me about a time when you were not sure if a product you were promoting fit the needs of a customer
- What was the situation?
- What information did you gather?
- How did you know if your product was or was not a fit for the patient?
- What did you do?
If one of your values is to have collaborative team members, you may ask:
- Tell me about a time when you collaborated with another peer or someone in a different department
- What did you do?
- Who else was involved?
- What went well?
- What did not go well?
- What was the outcome?
In addition, here is a general culture question:
- Tell me about a recent work culture that you have experienced
- What did you like about it?
- What did you do to fit in?
- What did you do to stay engaged and motivated?
- What would you have changed about the culture?
Your key learnings will come in the follow-up questions that you ask about each initial question. Make sure you use the SAR method (Situation, Action, Result) when you ask questions. This interviewing method requires the candidate to provide real life examples of what they have done in an actual situation that they faced.
We would love to see your comments on what you have done to ensure a candidate is a cultural fit! If you like this video or think someone can benefit from it, share it with your network.
And as always, let us know if we can help you or anyone you know, with your recruiting needs!