On paper, a candidate for an engineering position might be a good fit for a particular role. They may have a spectacular educational background and experience. When it comes to the interview, they can give good answers. Despite that, these candidates may still end up not being a good fit for a company.
Why is this the case and how exactly will you know that someone will positively impact your company when you hire them? Find out here.
Culture Fit
When hiring an engineer, hiring managers must not only focus on the educational background and relevant experience of the candidates. They must also pay attention to whether they fit the company’s culture.
But, what exactly is culture fit, and how can hiring managers assess this?
“Cultural fit” is a term used to describe the likelihood that a candidate will adapt and conform to the collective behaviors and core values of an organization. Hiring candidates who are cultural fit offers the following benefits:
Increase Employee Retention
A high employee turnover rate can be very costly for organizations regardless of whether they’re big or small companies. Hiring an employee who is not culturally fit contributes to this because they’ll eventually leave in just a few months, impacting an organization’s bottom line.
Promote Stronger Performance
Employees who are happy in their work environment are more likely to have higher productivity and better performance. Meanwhile, those who do not culturally fit a company can easily feel dissatisfied, affecting their overall performance and their work environment.
Foster a More Positive Working Relationship
Hiring a culturally fit candidate can help maintain the harmony and peace that existing employees have. They help boost the morale of the other team members.
Competence
Besides culture fit, the new hires should have the competence and the skills necessary to make the best happen for the company. And for you to ensure that you’re hiring the best talent, your engineering assessment and skills tests should be in place.
Willingness to learn
Especially in the ever-dynamic tech industry, one’s eagerness to learn can easily spell success. If one doesn’t have the willingness to learn, the definite consequence is eventual stagnation and ineffectiveness.
Look at candidates closely and observe their attitude and eagerness toward learning. And we aren’t just talking about learning the hard skills here. The subtle factors of professionalism also matter as a successful career is a holistic ensemble of harnessed skills, value-added teamwork, a sense of leadership and ownership, and greater professionalism.
Communication
We aren’t necessarily talking about being great with words. It’s simply about being able to clearly, proactively, and transparently get your message across. Whether it’s written or verbal, one should learn how to communicate effectively to avoid errors, misunderstandings, and other communication glitches that not only hamper job performance but may affect workplace harmony as well.
When receiving instructions, one should ask the right questions to make sure that the right outcomes are met. There are a lot of instances in many workplaces wherein time, resources, and energy are wasted simply due to communication gaps. This can be avoided by intentionally leaning towards candidates who can ask the right questions, get their points across effectively, and value communication greatly.
Self-motivation
Self-motivation may be easy to decipher, but it can actually be broader than you think. It’s a combination of positive, cooperative attitude, initiative, teamwork, comradery, responsibility, energy, engagement, and the general decency to care about the company and its bottom line. It drives one to naturally do his best and take pride in a job well done, whether recognized or not.
Definitely, hiring someone can be a bit tricky as there are simply too many elements that can define a great hire. But it always pays to take a holistic view when hiring, whatever the position is.
This is not the easiest task for many hiring managers and personnel. Good thing there are technical hiring solutions you can maximize to make skill-testing easy, effective, and on point.
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