The recruiting and selection process is slowly gravitating towards hiring based on core values rather than technical competencies. As explained in last months’ newsletter the reason for this trend may be due to Millennial’s entering the workforce, a group that puts more emphasis on work environment, culture and work flexibility than they do on salary and benefits.

This means that you need to clearly define your organization’s core values and culture, in order to attract employees whose personal values are in alignment with yours. Your core values may also naturally screen out non cultural fit candidates who will not apply for the positions since they do not share the same values as your organization.

Now that we have established that hiring based on cultural fit and values is important, how do we integrate those core values into the recruitment process? Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds, and most company don’t do it because they don’t know how to. Hiring based on core values can potentially create legal problems such as discrimination and facilitate biased decision making on who to hire as you may be asking candidates questions that tap into their private life. There are no defined steps on how to adjust your recruitment process using your core values, however, the following suggestions are best practices proposed by DDI from their “Recruiting for Cultural Fit” research paper:

Articulate the value proposition up front – Your recruitment advertising should communicate a clear message about the job and the organization, specifically addressing issues of culture. One of the most innovative ways I have seen this achieved is by Hiring Optics a NE Ohio company that helps privately-held businesses, promote their “employer brand” to potential candidates via videos with existing staff.
Help Applicants “Self Screen” – The use of Realistic Job Previews and/or ‘Day in the Life’ profiles are useful in helping applicants’ self screen, by enabling them to better understand the dynamics of a particular job and organization and make decisions early about suitability for the position.
Identify competencies that align with the core values and ensure that interview questions are constructed to address these. Most competency models often include constructs that are similar to those that make up culture fit. A good example is Teamwork. An effective competency model will include specific behavioral indicators that articulate how the core value of Teamwork applies to a job or family of jobs.
And finally, ensure all managers and individuals are adequately trained in recruitment practices. This should include, behavioral interviewing, motivational fit concepts, and interpretation/evaluation of recruitment data.

We have discussed why you should think about taking more of a culture-fit approach to your recruitment and selection process and given four ways on how to integrate core values within your hiring procedure. The best practice is to combine both the traditional job-fit interview questions with your culture-fit questions; you want people in your organization to live and represent your core values, but you also need these people to be able to deliver results that will help you and your organization achieve your goals.

If you have not developed Core Values in your organization or would like some help implementing Core Values in your hiring process, please call Simon at (440) 385-6737 and book a complimentary 90 minute meeting.