8 Powerful Ideas on Hiring for Talent and Culture-Fit

Great employees possess qualities such as talent, drive, flexibility, and personality. Finding and hiring the best people—who have the right combination of these qualities—can be a complicated process.

You might meet one candidate who has the right experience but may be a poor culture fit. Another candidate might have a super personality but lack the chops to get the job done.

Each company must identify what it values when hiring and create a process that focuses on the organization they want to become. Ideally, this process will help you find a balance between hiring for talent and for culture.

Of course, finding the perfect balance of both is ideal; you’ll know when you find that person who possesses both a great personality fit for your company and the talent to help you grow.

Here are eight resources on hiring to help as you look for the best.

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1. A Culture That Attracts Quality Candidates

A culture has various elements: people, practices, values, and more. Each element depends on the others, and in this essay Josh Rivers shares specifically why they’re necessary.

2. There’s Room: Six Ways to Support a Diverse Work Culture

Rachel Miller, software engineer at teamwork app Asana, shares her story on how she began seeing her work as fulfilling and creative, and she details what companies can do to help support employees who may be feeling alienated.

The research also suggests that diverse teams are better: How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.

3. The Fruitless Search for Extraordinary People Willing to Take Ordinary Jobs

Best-selling author and renowned marketer Seth Godin offers some tough-love advice: “Building an extraordinary organization takes guts. The guts to trust the team, to treat them with respect and to go to ridiculous lengths to find, keep and nurture people who care enough to make a difference.”

Also worth reading: Two Ways to Hire (and a Wrong Way)

4. Guess Who Doesn’t Fit In at Work

“Cultural fit” is a top hiring priority for many organizations. However, the concept may have shifted from organizational values to personal ones. Lauren A. Rivera, from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, shares her insights from interviewing 120 decision makers about their recruiting practices.

5. Why Hiring for “Culture Fit” Hurts Your Culture

Mathias Meyer, CEO of Travis CI, shares why seeking culture fit may hinder team diversity—a powerful trait that fosters creativity—and what to look for instead.

6. Tips on How to Hire a Good Designer

Joshua Porter, co-founder of app development firm Rocket Insights, provides a generous guide on how to hire a good designer (or any creative position).

7. The Secret to Writing Job Descriptions That Attract Your Ideal Candidates

The tone, language, and keywords you use in your job descriptions either attract or discourage potential candidates. Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO at app integration startup Zapier, gives tips on how to write a magnetic job description and, more importantly, where to put it to attract top talent.

8. Why Hiring Is So Hard in Tech

Eric Elliot, author of Programming JavaScript Applications, shares a list of dos and don’ts when hiring for tech jobs. It’s easy to pad a resume with buzzwords, but quality candidates show, don’t just tell, their accomplishments.