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September 2005: Identifying "fit"

Every time we place a consultant or a key hire at a client's site, we are putting our reputation on the line. And we don't like to take chances with our reputation! In order to mitigate our risk, we apply checks and balances throughout the interview process. These checks enable us maximize what we refer to as "fit" – identifying the right person for a particular working environment.

There are so many people that have strong technical skills, who write solid code or manage a project well.  Because the technical abilities are so common, we take this as a starting point for differentiation. Instead, we look for differentiation based on how the individual contributes to team or company performance. This is what we mean by "fit": there is no universally "best" person for the job, but, rather, a “best” person for a particular company and a particular team. 

In order to find people who "fit", it is essential that the hiring manager have a good understanding of the personalities of his team members and the culture of the organization. Because individual personalities and company cultures are often deeply entrenched, this can be difficult to assess. There are a variety of personality tests that many of the larger companies use to make these assessments.  However, we find that by practicing observation skills, conducting broader interviews, and spending time with the team, managers are able to greatly increase their chances of success - perhaps by as much as 80%.

The next step is to focus the interviews not on informational questions and testing, but rather on real world simulations. We firmly believe that this is the way to distinguish "fit": - you have to get as close as possible to seeing how the person would work in the actual work environment before you hire them. This might mean a 1/2 day interview with several different team members, and a review of recent projects. 

Rather than searching for an idealized best candidate, we search for the candidate that is the best "fit" for the company.  We also strongly recommend this to our clients.  By focusing on fit, the hiring organization is committed to performing a candid assessment of themselves as well as of the client.  Fitting the person with the organization, rather than simply finding the person with the best technical skills, is essential to assembling a high-performing team.