{"id":999881390,"date":"2014-05-29T21:51:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T21:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dice.npgdev.com\/?p=513521896"},"modified":"2014-05-29T21:51:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-29T21:51:00","slug":"marrying-hot-tech-skills-with-cultural-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dice.npgdev.com\/hiring\/recruitment\/marrying-hot-tech-skills-with-cultural-fit","title":{"rendered":"Marrying Hot Tech Skills with Cultural Fit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gallup\u2019s recent State of the Global Workforce<\/span><\/a> analysis states that only 30 percent of professional workers in the US are \u201cengaged\u2019 on the job. The other 70 percent range from \u201cchecked out\u201d at work to \u201cactively disengaged\u201d. The implications of this analysis are particularly alarming for those of us in recruiting, as we tend to be the first line of defense for eliminating candidates who aren\u2019t prepared, either by competency, skill or motivation, to be successful in our organizations. In Talent Acquisition we also tend to be the first to come under fire if the overall talent in the organization is perceived as disengaged or the culture seems \u2018broken\u2019. We must have hired the wrong people, right? As recruiting professionals, without a crystal ball to see into the future, we are left to our own devices for developing a sourcing and screening process that effectively does just that \u2013 uses as much information as possible to be predictive about a candidates future success. To further complicate things, as Dice\u2019s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data<\/span><\/a> showcases, we\u2019re in a fierce competition for technical talent in the US with a shortage of skilled prospects and an ever-growing pool of new job openings. Understandably the emphasis for hiring managers is placed on finding someone with the technical skills they need to meet their goals, and snatch them up before someone else does. Sometimes you get lucky and that works \u2013 the technical fit also turns out to be a great cultural fit. But as we read more about how disengagement impacts the bottom line, and consider the undeniably bleak findings from the Gallup analysis \u2013 we are no longer in a world where we can hope for luck. Individuals who might have high technical competency, but low aptitude for collaboration, constructive criticism and consistent effort create more problems than they solve. It is no surprise, therefore, that for many companies hiring criteria has become heavily weighted on cultural fit and we are tapping into a plethora of resume, social and interview data to make informed decisions. At AOL we have taken a fairly direct approach to address the need for a broader fit assessment. We specifically designated and trained employees across the globe to be Cultural Ambassadors (CA\u2019s) for the company. These individuals are solely focused on identifying the cultural gems from a pool of candidates who otherwise prove technically competent. We consider these cultural assessments an additional level of information about a candidate\u2019s potential. Although it can be tempting for our hiring teams to make cultural allowances for candidates when their technical competency is outstanding, or the position is especially hard-to-fill, CA\u2019s help us hold the quality bar across the company. Since the program\u2019s inception 4 years ago, we\u2019ve noticed a significant increase in hiring manager and interviewing teams also commenting on culture fit in their assessments \u2013 which has culminated in a \u2018culture shift\u2019 around \u2018culture fit\u2019. As an HR leader, what should you be instructing recruiters to look for to aid in assessing cultural fit?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n