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Make Sure Your Next Hire Is a Culture Fit: 10 Tips

So without further adieu, here are the tips for you to take home to your company: 10 Tips to Make Sure Your Next New Hire Is a Culture Fit 1. Take Your Time The Zappos Family has learned that hiring the wrong person can have disastrous results, especially if that person is put into a position where they make the next decision about who to hire. Employees who are not culture fits will not only continue to hire non-culture fits, but these people can be toxic to your organization. Those who disbelieve in the vision of your company or the value of the work done by their coworkers and themselves can spread negativity that is nearly impossible to combat. Take your time to find the right person for every position and for the values of your company. 2. Open House When a candidate is brought onsite, tour them through the office. This allows them to see the work environment up close, and make the personal decision regarding whether or not they can work within your environment. Are they used to an office, a bullpen set-up, or the reverse? This way, there will be no surprises for a new hire when they start their new job, and prevent possible regrets.

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3. Did They Do Their Homework? Ask questions to see if the candidate is familiar with your company. Do they know anything about your history, mission, successes, challenges, etc.? If the candidate is excited about the prospect of working for your company and is familiar with these areas, it helps assure that they arent just looking for a job, but rather a long-time career opportunity. 4. Make It A Team Effort Essentially, if the whole team can back an applicant, failure on the new hires part becomes unbelievable because no one suspects that it will happen. The genuine belief in the new person will be reflected by the whole team, and helps set everyone up for success. Also, to make sure that the applicant is not just putting their best foot forward for only the important people, our recruiting team asks for feedback from everyone who interacts with the candidate. This includes our shuttle drivers, facilities team, as well as receptionists, and makes sure that all opinions regarding the applicant are consistent. 5. Its As Much The Candidates Decision As It Is Yours Be open and honest about what you expect, the work environment, and any potential challenges to the position (distractions, evolving processes, new systems, etc.). For example, within Zappos CLT, there is not a lot of flexibility with regards to scheduling, and this should not be a surprise when the new hire shows up to training on day one. It should also not be a surprise that the work environment within the Zappos Family is not quiet. 6. Find Out About Deal Breakers The earlier you find out about any deal-breaking issues, the less time and resources you need to spend continuing the interviewing process. Three big deal breakers for the Zappos Family are: the applicant is not willing to relocate, socialize with coworkers, and compensation (bonus structure). All of these are discussed in the initial recruiting Network the Hell Out of People: 6 Expert Tips How to Find a Business to Buy A Job Listing Should Be Like a Love Letter Secret to Getting Venture Capitalists to Come After You Real Estate Appraisal Demystifying Small Business Valuation Tony Hsieh: "I Fire Those Who Don't Fit Our Company Culture" Top 5 Start-up Acquirers of 2012 7 Tips for Masterful Negotiating How to Find and Leverage an Investment Banker How to Determine Which Franchise Business is Best for Y ou Before Y ou Launch Y our Business Idea Can Dr. McDreamy Turn Around a Failing Business? 5 Must-Ask Questions for Business Buyers Trusting Y our Gut Makes All the Difference Y our Start-up Name Matters (A Lot) Become a Master Networker: 5 Quick Tips

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Zappos: Make Sure Your Next Hire Is a Culture Fit, Page 2 | Inc.com

phone screen, at least in general terms. 7. Canned Questions = Canned Responses Make sure that your questions are constructed to elicit actual examples of the candidates past behavior in the workplace. Although this is a commonly known technique (behavioral interviewing), the Zappos Family applies it to less concrete concepts relating to our Core Values. As a result, there are unique questions that most candidates have not heard before, in addition to the more standard questions. This helps differentiate between the people who are simply good interviewers, and can say the right things, from those who have actually demonstrated the behaviors in previous positions that relate to our Core Values. 8. Do They Get It Does the candidate understand the importance of company core values? Have they had ideas to improve a previous companys performance and culture, and have the drive to implement them? If you want your company to continue to grow, and the culture to continually improve, you need people with the urge to take themselves to the next level. The Zappos Family believes a companys core values should influence every decision that the company makes, so it is important to employ people with ideas on how to leverage them in new and better ways. 9. No Cookie-Cutter, No Cult Employees will interpret the core values differently. They will exhibit each one in different ways and to different degrees. Everyone needs to be adaptable to the different levels of energy, humor, humility, spontaneity, etc. that everyone else has. Adaptability and openness is key. Dont expect everyone to be stand up comedians, but look for individuals that are open to interacting within the team and across departments, and are able to genuinely articulate points of interest about the position and the company. 10. Culture Fit Is Necessary, Technical Skills May Be Optional Within the Zappos Family, and especially in Zappos CLT, there are many positions that people are hired for based on their personality, passion, and drive. Technical requirements are kept to a minimum because people can be trained on the technical side. For people who are not culture fits, there is not a lot that can be done on the part of your organization to fix that. Of course, many positions require technical skills to start, but the applicant still needs to be a culture fit if they are to be hired. Reprinted with permission from Zappos. For more information, check out Zappos Insights

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