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If you were to look in your hiring and firing logs (as well as your log for those employees who left on their own accord), you’d probably find that a good majority of workers left your company within just 12 months of being hired.

What’s more, many of those who left – whether by your decision or theirs – left because they didn’t fit in with your company’s culture, not because they didn’t have the skills for the position.

Candidates who do mesh with your company’s culture have a much better chance of becoming productive, happy and long-term employees.

Read below for four-plus tips on how to interview for “fit.”

  1. First, you’ll need to look at your successful, long-term employees to see what kind of traits they tend to possess. While you don’t want a company full of cookie-cutter employees, if your business is a team-oriented one, you’ll want folks who play well in teams. If yours is a business full of mavericks, you’ll want employees who can stand on their own.
  2. Let’s say your company is huge on teamwork. Then you’ll want to look for candidates who talk about how comfortable they are working with teams. Perhaps they even prefer it. You’ll want to hear candidates describe and articulate their strengths working on a team and how an individual candidate sees his or her role within that team. Do candidates talk about “their” achievements, or do they describe goals met in terms of “we met them” (the team)?
  3. What if one of your company’s primary values is providing excellent customer service? Do the candidates answer your questions in ways that demonstrate their commitment to meeting/exceeding customer needs? Do the candidates talk about their co-workers as deserving of respect? Do candidates talk about how important excellent customer service is to a company’s success? Do they have specific examples of when they handled difficult customers well, or when they went out of their way to give customers an above-par experience?
  4. As for questions to ask that will help you get an overall look at what types of work environments make a candidate happiest, consider some of the following:
  • Tell me about the type of company culture and/or work environment in which you thrive.
  • What type of manager style brings out the best in you?
  • How do you feel about becoming friends with people at work? Did you find your best friend at work?
  • How would your co-workers describe you?
  • What is the one thing that must be present in your work environment for you to be productive and happy?

If you’re looking for workers for your NYC-area company and want help finding employees who fit right in, call upon the recruiters at Winston Resources. We’ve been sourcing, vetting and placing great candidates with great companies for more than 45 years – we’re good at making the perfect match! Try us and see how we do it!


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