How  To  Hire  For  Attitude  &  Cultural  Fit~  Sami  L.  Barry,  James  G.  Lord  &  Wesley  R.  Mil ler

candidate’s  attitude  and  how  well  it  matches  an  organization’s  culture.    By  giving  serious  thought  to  this  attribute  of  

candidates,  organizations  and  hiring  managers  can  significantly  improve  their  employee  selection  process  and  increase  

their  chances  of  securing  individuals  who  can  potentially  become  high  performers.    

Before  giving  a  candidate’s  attitude  the  proper  consideration,  an  organization    

must  first  learn  how  to  determine  its  own  ideal  attitudinal/cultural  fit  and  how  to  

discern  it  in  potential  new  hires.    Dr.  Bill  Byham,  President  and  Chief  Executive  

Officer,  of  Pittsburgh-­‐based  Development  Dimensions  International  (DDI),  is  a  

foremost  authority  on  hiring.    He  founded  a  hiring  methodology  that  is  based  

upon  one  simple  idea:  the  best  way  to  select  people  who  will  thrive  within  a  

company  is  to  identify  the  personal  characteristics  of  that  company’s  high  

performers  and  hire  people  who  are  just  like  them.    In  the  Byham  model,  

companies  learn  to  understand  their  top  performers,  identifying  their  target  behaviors  and  attitudes,  and  then  develop  

interview  questions  for  potential  hires  that  focus  on  those  characteristics.

Mark  Murphy,  Chief  Executive  Officer  of  Leadership  IQ,  agrees  with  Byham’s  theory.    He  recently  wrote  ‘Hiring  For  

Attitude’,  which  discusses  the  importance  of  learning  a  candidate’s  attitude  to  determine  their  attitudinal  fit  with  a  

company’s  overall  attitude  otherwise  known  as  “culture”.    Leadership  IQ  performed  a  3-­‐year  study  of  5,247  hiring  

managers  from  312  public,  private,  business  and  healthcare  organizations  who  collectively  hired  more  than  20,000  

employees.    Its  findings  revealed  that  candidates  were  deemed  as  “bad  hires”  for  attitudinal  reasons  89%  of  the  time,  

illustrating  the  importance  of  determining  an  individual’s  attitudinal/cultural  fit  before  actually  hiring  them.      

Certainly,  a  candidate  needs  to  have  the  necessary  experience  and  technical  expertise  to  perform  a  specified  role,  but  it  is  

their  attitude  that  will  determine  their  opportunity  to  become  a  high  performer.    And,  as  Murphy  strongly  notes,  every  

organization  has  its  own  unique  culture  and  the  “right  attitude”  that  defines  high  performers  will  vary  from  one  company  

to  another.    That  is  why,  even  though  there  are  general  characteristics  of  high  performers  and  low  performers,  there  is  no  

general  answer  key  for  all  organizations.    

How  does  a  company  determine  its  ideal  employee  attitude?    

Murphy  utilizes  the  same  concept  as  Byham’s  model.    His  claim  is  that,  by  considering  and  answering  a  few  simple  

questions,  a  company  can  determine  candidate  attitude  characteristics  that  are  ideal  for  its  specific  culture.    The  two  

primary  questions  he  suggests  are:  

What  are  the  characteristics  of  the  organization’s  high  performers?

What  are  the  characteristics  of  the  organization’s  low  performers?

After  identifying  7  –  10  characteristics  for  both  high  performers  and  low  performers,  

hiring  managers  develop  interview  questions  that  address  “differential”  situations  of  

specific  roles.    These  questions  will  elicit  answers  that  separate  high  performers  from  

low  performers  based  upon  the  characteristics  identified.    This  answer  key  can  then  

guide  how  candidates  are  interviewed,  assessed  and  selected.    

In  its  article  ‘The  Importance  of  Cultural  Fit’,  Helbling  &  Associates  discusses  how  critical  it  is  to  consider  a  potential

Sharing information about organizational culture when utilizing a search firm

success  of  placed  candidates.    A  search  is  only  effective  when  we  have  a  thorough  understanding  of  our  client  upfront  and  

before  recruitment  of  candidates  actually  begins.    Because  we  are  not  employees  of  our  client  organizations,  we  have  a  

disadvantage  of  not  having  first-­‐hand  experience  of  working  within  it  and  understanding  its  culture  and  environment.    

Wes  Miller,  Managing  Consultant,  explains,  “determining  a  cultural  match  can  be  challenging  when  representing  an  

organization  for  the  first  time.    When  our  client  is  one  who  opens  up  about  its  structure  and  the  characteristics  of  its  low  

and  high  performers,  that  helps  a  great  deal  and  assists  us  to  

identify  its  culture.    Unfortunately,  some  organizations  are  

reluctant  to  share  this  information  upfront  or  do  not  understand  

its  value.    This  creates  a  situation  when  we  have  to  ask  the  client  

a  lot  of  questions  to  obtain  the  information  we  really  need.    

Knowing  our  client  organization  as  well  as  its  vision  and  values  is  

the  foundation  for  a  strong  search.    If  we  do  not  have  that  at  the  

onset,  issues  can  arise  during  the  search  process  and  even  

following  the  search.”

When  organizations  are  retaining  a  search  firm  for  the  first  

time,  prior  to  research  or  recruitment  being  initiated,  it  is  

recommended  they  address  the  following  with  the  consultant  

to  identify  its  culture:    

✓ How  would  you  describe  your  organization’s  structure?    

(i.e.  entrepreneurial,  top-­‐down  leadership,  flat  /  informal)

✓ How  would  you  describe  your  culture  and  environment?

✓ Who  does  the  position  interact  with  and  what  are  their  

individual  work  styles  and  attitudes?

✓ Can  you  describe  the  personal  and  professional  

characteristics  of  your  most  successful  employees?  

Miller  explains,  “the  same  goes  for  candidates.    We  have  to  

make  sure  that  a  candidate  is  being  honest  when  answering  

questions  about  their  motivations,  work  style,  and  mindset  

because  these  factors  allow  us  to  evaluate  their  own  personal  

culture.    It  is  usually  advantageous  to  meet  a  candidate  in  

person  because  that  allows  us  to  confirm  or  deny  our  initial  

opinion  about  their  cultural  fit  with  our  client.    On  most  

searches,  we  create  customized  questions  for  candidates,  

which  allow  us  evaluate  their  specific  answers  with  what  we  know  fits  into  the  company’s  culture.    As  recruiters,  we  can  

also  leverage  our  references  and  industry  contacts  who  may  have  a  knowledge  of  a  candidate  to  further  assess  how  they  

interact  with  their  peers  and  what  types  of  environments  they  thrive  in.”  

 “Recruiters  are  a  key  source  for  executive  talent  but  they  can  only  do  so  much  if  you  don’t  expose  them  to  the  inner  culture  and  workings  of  your  business.    You  have  to  treat  them  like  partners.    Sometimes  they  are  

unlikely  to  accept  an  assignment    from  you  unless  they  have  an  opportunity  to  get  that  view.    Even  if  they  are  retained,  they  may  have  you  look  at  diverse  candidates  so  that  

they  can  garner  what  you  are  exactly  looking  for  in  candidates.”    They  go  on  to  say,  “part  of  what  the  best  recruiters  do  is  they  educate  you  about  the  market  for  talent.    Being  open  

at  the  outset  and  doing  everything  you  can  do  to  bring  an  outside  recruiter  inside,  both  streamlines  the  process  and  enhances  the  results.”

Excerpt  from  ‘Who’,  by  Geoff  Smart  and  Randy  Street  

As  search  consultants,  Helbling  &  Associates  understands  the  importance  of  a  strong  cultural  fit  for  the  long-­‐term  

Prior  to  candidates  being  presented,  it  is  recommended  that  an  organization  ensure  that  the  search  consultant  gathers  

appropriate  information  on  each  candidate  that  identifies  their  personal  culture.

Questions  of  candidates  may  include:

✓ What  is  your  management  style?    

✓ How  do  you  like  to  be  managed?

✓ What  qualities  do  you  prefer  in  a  direct  report?

✓ What  type  of  culture  do  you  thrive  within?

✓ What  type  of  culture  does  your  current  employer  have?

✓ What  type  of  organizational  structure  do  you  prefer?

✓ What  are  your  career  motivations?

✓ How  would  you  handle  (insert  a  differential  situation)?

It  is  important  to  note  that  behavioral  questions  need  forethought  to  ensure  the  information  being  extracted  is  candid  and  

honest.  

Whether  an  organization  is  directly  hiring  or  whether  it  is  utilizing  a  search  firm,  the  ROI  of  its  employee  selection  process  

can  be  significantly  improved  by  taking  simple  measures  to  determine  a  potential  candidate’s  attitude  and  cultural  fit.    

After  all,  it  is  these  attributes  that  make  a  high  performer  just  that  –  a  high  performer.    And  securing  high  performers  is  key  

to  an  organization  sustaining  its  competitive  advantage  for  future  success.

Sources:    Fast  Company,  Hiring  For  Attitude,  Lou  Adler

www.helblingsearch.com

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Performance  that  exceeds  your  expectations

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4 Things a Hiring Manager Should Not Do

• Miss the opportunity to hire for attitude fit because they do not know how to do it.

• Be in too much of a hurry to adequately assess attitude fit.

• Have a tight labor market force them to hire someone who is not a cultural fit.

• Rely on their gut feelings.