The Secret to Hiring Success: The Power of Screening Candidate Values
As companies strive to build a formidable team, the alignment of values between a candidate and the company’s ethos stands paramount. It’s not the academic accolades or the impressive CV that ultimately drives performance; it’s the intrinsic alignment of an individual’s core values with the corporate mission and ethos that fuels success.
The Simple Hack: Screening Candidate Values
Imagine a recruitment process where you not only assess skills and experience but also delve into the core values of potential hires. This is where the magic happens.
Implementing a 5-minute exercise can revolutionise your hiring strategy. Here's how it works:
Define Your Company Values: Start by identifying the core values that define your company culture. These values serve as the compass guiding your organisation's mission and vision.
Curate a List of Values: Prepare a curated list of 15 values that resonate with your company culture. These could include integrity, innovation, teamwork, and accountability, among others.
Candidate Exercise: Send your candidates a brief exercise where they select their top three values from the provided list. This simple task provides valuable insights into their alignment with your company culture.
Assess Alignment: If a candidate's top values align with at least two of your company's values, you're likely looking at an excellent cultural fit. This alignment significantly increases the chances of a successful hire.
Further Exploration: In cases where a candidate's values don't fully align, but they possess the requisite skills and attitude, consider delving deeper into the value topic during interviews. Explore their priorities and gauge their willingness to align with your company's vision.
Why is Screening Candidate Values Crucial?
The answer lies in the intrinsic nature of motivation. You cannot force motivation onto an employee; it stems from the alignment between an individual's values and the company's goals. By screening candidate values, you ensure that every hire is driven by genuine motivation and shares a common purpose with your organisation.
The Impact of Values on Performance
Values are more than just words; they shape an individual's identity and influence their actions and decisions. When employees are aligned with the company's values, they are more engaged, motivated, and productive. This alignment fosters a positive work culture and drives collective success.
The Non-Negotiable Step
Make the five-minute values exercise an indispensable part of your hiring process. When a candidate’s values align with at least two of your company’s, the likelihood of a cultural match skyrockets. Even if the alignment isn’t perfect, exploring this during an interview can reveal insights into their priorities and potential fit within your company’s vision.
The Takeaway for HR and Recruiters
Clarifying a candidate’s values before hiring not only saves time in identifying the right fit for the company but also informs how to motivate, manage, and communicate effectively, ultimately enhancing leadership and vision communication.
Incorporating a values assessment into your hiring process is more than a hack; it’s a strategic move towards building an unstoppable team. It’s about understanding what truly drives performance and ensuring that every new hire is not just a good fit for the job but a perfect fit for the company culture.
P.S: Keen to explore this topic further? Reach out to me via my website at sacredmission.co/contact and mention 'VALUES' in your message, and I’ll share an exclusive one-pager on screening candidate values in under five minutes.
Here’s to the power of alignment and the success it brings!
