[Talking Cultural Fit] Your Resume Fits in Perfectly, but Do You?

You’ve graduated college with flying colors; you’ve built your resume concrete strong, but there is potentially one more obstacle standing between you and that shiny new job, to fit in, culturally.

Defining ‘Cultural Fit’

When searching ‘Cultural Fit’ on the Internet it is described as where a company tries to define their beliefs, attitudes and behaviors to be what makes up an organization, and through these aspects they bring together a collaboration of individuals who have the same values and genuine belief for what their company stands for.

Okay. Makes sense, I dig it.

An award-winning international assessment and developing consultancy, Cubiks, did research on jobs and cultural fit and they found that 78% of employers agree that it is easier to develop people with a lack of job fit than to develop people with a lack of cultural fit.

Fitting in sounds like a piece of cake

HR professionals today are measuring candidates based on their cultural fit over other qualifications.

The Young Entrepreneur Council wrote a list of questions they collected that were based on cultural fit. Being asked, “What was the best way you delegated a task?” is something I would expect to be asked but being asked, “How would you fly a helicopter full of peanuts?” isn’t.

Although you worked hard to get to where you are today via endless hours in lectures and being put to work in internships, your personality should be one of your top selling points by being able to make conversation in an interview. For the helicopter question, there isn’t necessarily a wrong answer but it can be asked to see how their core values align with how you would solve the problem.

Even if you are more qualified than the next guy in the waiting room, you might not get hired because your personality and personal perspectives do not mesh well with their current employees or company itself.

Research from Cubiks found that 82% of employers say that Cultural Fit is an important part of the recruitment process and 59% say they have rejected a candidate because they “lacked cultural fit.”

Although companies have goals and want to be the best in their industry, there is no “I” in TEAM. Working together in a group and getting along at work can be the most effective thing and beneficial quality in a new employee.

What to do, what to do?

Trying to fit in goes against everything that I have ever been told to do while growing up, and would tell my future nuggets. No one tells their child to try and fit in, they should be told to express who they are, and embrace standing out in a crowd. Even if that means wearing striped stockings with a polka dotted skirt for the first day of school.

Well, thankfully that should still be a rule of thumb when going for an interview… but maybe re-question the outfit choice? When you go to an interview today, be prepared to have it potentially feel like a first date versus employers questioning why you got a C+ in Intro to American History (yawn).

Last but not least

Another way to express yourself prior to an interview apart than your resume and information you give them is by having a personal website. .ME’s survey found that 67% of recruiters believe that a personal website provides more insight than a resume alone.

That your resume can’t do it all shows the data that 68% of HR professionals are looking to assess personal qualities that aren’t perceptible from a traditional resume. A personal website can be a beneficial way for you to express yourself by being able to freely post and share anything you find interesting, relevant or want people to know about you!

Now back to you – what outrageous question have you been asked in an interview?

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