Want a Long Term Relationship? Hire for Values Fit

Would you make a long term commitment to a future romantic partner you had only read about on paper?

How about if you were allowed 30 minutes with them in the presence of others?

Would that be enough to allow them into your life for at least 40 waking hours per week? Still not enough? What if we let you see the results of their personality test too? Would you now be comfortable to commit to that individual for a long term future together?

I’m being a little facetious here as I appreciate that a romantic partnership and a working relationship are different but perhaps not as fundamentally different as we might think. What are the key traits you look for in a partner? How do you assess these? What values and interests would you like a partner to have, what about their life goals? We can tell instantly if we have chemistry with someone but how can we know whether a relationship will last beyond those initial dates? We need to spend time with potential partners exploring who they are and allowing them to get to know us too. We would never commit to someone until we are sure they are the right fit for us.

So why do we not apply these rules when hiring? To hire a candidate based on their education and experience alone is like marrying someone just because they have relationship experience with someone around our age with a similar education.

The recruitment process has evolved beyond focusing on experience and education. Softer skills and values fit are now big players in identifying the right candidate for your vacant role.

Values fit, if you’re not aware, is hiring a candidate whose beliefs, values, and needs are congruent with those of your company and unsurprisingly, this is now the greatest indicator of staff turnover.

What is surprising is that less than 1/3 employers consider values fit as part of their recruitment process. If we’re not recruiting the right candidates for our company then we can’t expect them to stay with us or perform to the needs of our business.

If you’re interested in knowing more about hiring for values fit or need help revamping your recruitment process to incorporate assessments then please drop us a line.