Posted by Jim Nelson on March 28, 2017
Culture fit is code for I want people like me. Often hiring managers are not even aware that they are doing it, and the phrase cultural fit has given too much space. There must be a behavior or pattern of experience that makes you say cultural fit. We would do well to say specifically to help uncover our natural tendency to hire people like us.
Furthermore, we need to be thinking how to consciously avoid hiring people like us. We need to hire people who will make our culture better. See what Lars Schmidt in Forbes says:
“Companies are beginning to drop the idea of culture fit altogether. As more companies shift their recruiting focus towards intentional diversity and inclusion efforts, they’re reframing their thinking to how diverse candidates can add to their culture – not fit into it.”
Let’s Kick Out Cultural Fit
So great companies are already aware and many of the rest should kick out this idea and look for people who will add and not fit in. A small extra warning is that many leaders in China protect their jobs by hiring people that cannot compete with them. They are looking for culture fit that fits under them and will even use arguments like how these weak people save money because they are cheaper. Do not accept reasons like bad fit. Get real data. Then find out if the real data shows this person can make you better even though uncomfortable. (See also The Point of Diversity is Not Political Correctness and Diversity is a Good Word- Lets Think About it Different in China)
Finally culture fit can mean get all Han Chinese. You need more diversity here as well, and the cost gap has almost disappeared now in many cases.
So lets shove cultural fit out the door and seek to bring stronger people to your culture and different kinds of people who share the same values.
See also Ideal China Recruitment: Perfect Hires and Perfect Companies?
