Beyond ensuring a candidate has the right skills to do the job, hiring managers face the difficult task of gauging how the person fits in with the company’s culture.
Without finding the right cultural fit, the manager may end up hiring a skilled, qualified employee — but one who’ll be unsatisfied, won’t get along with co-workers and, most importantly, won’t stay in the job very long.
The solution: Devote more interview time to discussing the types of environments candidates do or don’t thrive in. Here are two simple questions managers can ask, according to recruiter Kris Dunn:
- Tell me about when you’ve been most satisfied in your career, and
- How about when you’ve been least satisfied?
Make sure you or the hiring manager fishes for a lot of details — Dunn recommends spending at least five minutes on each question. Use probing phrases like “Why?” and “Tell me more,” and stay quiet to force the candidate to keep talking.
