As many will agree, employees are among the most important elements of your business and brand, and having a successful hiring strategy in place is crucial. Get it right, and your people will drive your business forward, help you achieve your goals, and delight your customers. Get it wrong,and you can be left facing problems with morale, motivation and team cohesion. Someone who doesn’t fit in with your company culture can have a detrimental effect on performance, and hiring the wrong person can be a costly mistake to correct.

So what is the right fit –and how do you find out if an experienced, well-qualified candidate has the qualities that will ensure they slot into your team and align with the organisation’s vision and values? Here’s our top tactics to hire for cultural fit in your business.

Create job adverts that will attract “culture fit” candidates
It all starts with the job post. When recruiting for a new role,your job advert should aim to communicate your company vision and give jobseekers a glimpse into the workplace culture. The language of a job post should reflect your brand–if your culture is quite corporate, use formal language, and if it’s more laid-back, use more conversational language. You can also give candidates an idea of the culture and why your workplace is unique by including detail in your recruitment advert; for example, mentioning the office ping-pong table or regular social events will show you value fun and that ‘team’ is important. This detail not only gives candidates a better idea of what you offer as an employer, it helps them assess whether your values reflect their own.

Ask the right interview questions
The interview stage is a golden opportunity to assess whether an applicant fits into your workplace culture.A candidate’s CV can give you an idea of whether they’re a potential fit, as their Personal Profile section may describe their goals, strengths and approach to work-but an interview lets you dig a little deeper. 

Interview questions are not just designed to gauge the interviewee’s personality and strengths; they can also be used to determine whether they will fit into your company culture and motivate the people around them. 

Here’s five examples of culture-fit interview questions:

• What motivates you?
  ”This question can be a great starting point. It might seem like a basic one, but there’s a reason it’s so popular. Your candidate’s answer will tell you what drives them to succeed and what their priorities are–these should be broadly in line with those of your company.For example, if the candidate tells you they are mainly motivated by money, would a non-commission-based customer service role get the best out of them?
  
  
• What do you bring to a team?
  It’s important to understand how potential new employees will be have in a team environment so that you can assess the contribution they’ll bring to their department and the company overall. If you think your workplace environment will benefit from having more leaders, look out for the candidates who say they aren’t afraid to guide a group and enjoy taking the lead.
  
  
• What kind of corporate environment do you thrive in?
  Asking about a candidate’s ideal work environment lets you know if they will fit in and excel. If you have a fast-paced culture,it’s important to source well organised employees whose decision-making capabilities remain unaffected when under pressure.
  
  
• How do you like to be managed?
  This should give you a good insight you into the interviewees’ preferred leadership styles–it’s important to consider whether your company’s established leadership style can motivate them and help them succeed. If your workplace is fairly hierarchical with set chains of command, will a candidate who values autonomy and a hands-off approach to management be a good fit?Likewise, if you get the best results from self-starters who are encouraged to take the initiative, you should be looking out for this kind of language in the interview.
  
  
• What approach do you use for solving issues at work?
  Asking this question also enables you to identify a candidate’s critical thinking and decision-making skills. If your workplace is a busy, customer-facing environment, employees need to be quick on their feet and proactive in managing issues.It’s also useful to find out whether candidates prefer to solve problems on their own or to collaborate as a team and view the issue from all angles–your workplace culture may be much better suited to one than the other.

For some employers an applicant’s personality and qualities are just as important as their work experience and job-related skills. If a person has the right skills but doesn’t fit into your company’s culture, they can become frustrated and disengaged, leaving you faced with the cost of re-hiring when they move on.