Member-only story
Shifting from Culture Fit to Culture Add: As the Interviewer
Companies are dispensing with the term “culture fit.” How can hiring managers shift to a culture add mindset? Learn strategies and questions you can ask to help understand how candidates will add to the culture and not just fit in.
When I began my career, I worked in a small department that had two professional staff and one administrative staff person. But within two years, the department was realigned with several other departments. I suddenly found myself working with new colleagues in an entirely different department culture than I had been hired to work in. And I failed.
What I didn’t fail in doing was my primary work.
I could deliver quality programming and advise students as if nothing had changed. But I failed in making connections in a new department. I couldn’t figure out what was expected from me and why I was excluded from the rest of the staff. While most of us had worked in different departments before the realignment, I was the only one who felt targeted and eventually pushed out.
I no longer fit within the culture of the department, even though my own work proved otherwise.
In many ways, the concept of ‘cultural fit’ worked against me, even though I was an employee thrown into developing a new department. Had I applied for…
