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Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

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Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#41

Post by rando444 »

coredog64 wrote: post #38
TurboHaskal wrote: post #13

Here's how to pass most startup cultural fit tests: Avoid strong opinions even if you're asked. The interviewers themselves may be crapping on emacs, PHP, design patterns or whatever so you may be tempted to voice your own, but it doesn't go both ways. Don't get too comfortable. You'll be offered coffee. Drink it. Don't refuse beer either. Fake a liking if need be. After work drinks are mission critical. Make sure yo…

I know this response is only semi-serious, but I'll say this anyway. HR professionals that I respect have advised me that asking questions about hobbies or personal interests are to be avoided.

I'm not sure where you're located, but the opposite is true in Europe.

Personal questions are used to gauge your interests and personality to see how well you might fit within the company or a specific team.

Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#42

Post by Peroni »

coredog64 wrote: post #38
TurboHaskal wrote: post #13

Here's how to pass most startup cultural fit tests: Avoid strong opinions even if you're asked. The interviewers themselves may be crapping on emacs, PHP, design patterns or whatever so you may be tempted to voice your own, but it doesn't go both ways. Don't get too comfortable. You'll be offered coffee. Drink it. Don't refuse beer either. Fake a liking if need be. After work drinks are mission critical. Make sure yo…

I know this response is only semi-serious, but I'll say this anyway. HR professionals that I respect have advised me that asking questions about hobbies or personal interests are to be avoided.

Correct. There are a bunch of reasons to avoid it but two very tangible reasons are:

1. It makes you susceptible to bias. Say a candidate reveals that they love volunteering at their local church group and it becomes evident that they hold strong religious beliefs; in some circumstances, if the interviewer holds contrary beliefs, it could unfairly affect their perspective of the candidate.

2. Along the same lines as the first example. If the candidate revealed during the interview that they were Muslim for example, and they were unsuccessful in getting the job, there is little preventing them from bringing a case against the company for discrimination. Unless you have absolutely rock solid evidence to prove that their faith had zero influence on the decision making process, it can actually be a very difficult position to defend.

Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#43

Post by Peroni »

rando444 wrote: post #41
coredog64 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this response is only semi-serious, but I'll say this anyway. HR professionals that I respect have advised me that asking questions about hobbies or personal interests are to be avoided.

I'm not sure where you're located, but the opposite is true in Europe. Personal questions are used to gauge your interests and personality to see how well you might fit within the company or a specific team.

I'm a HR/Talent professional based in London and I can assure you that those questions should be avoided at all costs regardless of your geographic location.

Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#44

Post by rfrey »

awinter-py wrote: post #7

Ask questions that go to socioeconomic background. 5 decades of sociology research have shown that skin color is a fair proxy for this. College rankings work too. Newsworthy culture fit problems at e.g. uber could have been solved out of the gate by not hiring those pesky women. They bring the majority of culture-fit litigation. Sometimes you can't tell if someone is not biologically male just by looking, so consider…

"consider also supporting anti-trans legislation in your municipality"

Not necessary to distract the company with politics. In this case you should be able to tease out gender with some exploratory locker-room talk.

Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#45

Post by laichzeit0 »

eddieroger wrote: post #28
laichzeit0 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't stink up the dining areas with your Indian food and then eat it with your hands whilst only hanging out with your Indian coworkers speaking in whatever Indian dialect you're speaking. That or wearing 7 gold rings and chains or have some weird image on your desktop of an 8 limbed elephant Goddess you venerate. Don't say "Yes" while bobbing your head left-to-right, that means the opposite to Westeners. Don't say…

Was there really no way to answer that without your own editorialization? Maybe without picking off a stereotype list? I'm pretty glad I don't where ever you work, because the "other white dudes" at your place sound dreadful, and I imagine you get along pretty well with them.

I don't know? I'm trying to be frank here. You can't really dance around these issues. I know this because I've sat in many hiring sessions and interviewed many people. By the time you've shook someone's hand and they've uttered their name it's already 50% made up in people's mind if they're gonna hire this person or not. Welcome to the shit show.

I'm just giving a heads up for some poor dudes that wanna "play the game" and make a good career. Or what is worse is the poor guys that post on HN about "I've been to 50 interviews, everyone thinks my resume is great but I'm not landing any jobs". The fit or fuck off attitude is still very much alive in the corporate world.

I could write a similar list for the typical white geek that dresses like Rainman or has autistic body language and wonders why he's not getting hired.

Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#46

Post by JSeymourATL »

George Bradt offers a good framework for defining & understanding company culture > http://www.primegenesis.com/blog/2010/12/b-r-a-v-e-framework...

You'll want the interview team to assess the candidate with that criteria mind. Probe important areas, such as learning-style, interpersonal communication, and decision-making.

Ultimately, you're trying to answer the question "Can we live with this person?"

Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#48

Post by nunez »

coredog64 wrote: post #38
TurboHaskal wrote: post #13

Here's how to pass most startup cultural fit tests: Avoid strong opinions even if you're asked. The interviewers themselves may be crapping on emacs, PHP, design patterns or whatever so you may be tempted to voice your own, but it doesn't go both ways. Don't get too comfortable. You'll be offered coffee. Drink it. Don't refuse beer either. Fake a liking if need be. After work drinks are mission critical. Make sure yo…

I know this response is only semi-serious, but I'll say this anyway. HR professionals that I respect have advised me that asking questions about hobbies or personal interests are to be avoided.

I disagree with this. It's a harmless question during a non-tech interview, or at least I thought was.

Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#49

Post by nunez »

laichzeit0 wrote: post #45
eddieroger wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was there really no way to answer that without your own editorialization? Maybe without picking off a stereotype list? I'm pretty glad I don't where ever you work, because the "other white dudes" at your place sound dreadful, and I imagine you get along pretty well with them.

I don't know? I'm trying to be frank here. You can't really dance around these issues. I know this because I've sat in many hiring sessions and interviewed many people. By the time you've shook someone's hand and they've uttered their name it's already 50% made up in people's mind if they're gonna hire this person or not. Welcome to the shit show. I'm just giving a heads up for some poor dudes that wanna "play the ga…

We make decisions about people within the first second of meeting them. Read here: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/how-many-secon...

There is no way around this. Everyone does it.

Re: Ask HN: How do companies go about getting cultural fit with a candidate?

#50

Post by sokoloff »

drfuchs wrote: post #30
sokoloff wrote: post #2

Assuming you're asking about assessing cultural fit, we do a couple of semi-overt things. First, we make sure that every interviewer, including initial contacts and phone screens, offers the candidate a chance to ask their own questions and I make it a point to state that "you're picking us just as much as we're picking you". From the questions the candidate asks, we get some insight into what's on their mind and the…

How does that work out for people who eat only halal, kosher, vegan, etc.?

I'm not on the recruiting scheduling side, but we have a cafeteria that serves ~500 people every day and includes 5-6 different stations, including a salad bar. I suppose if someone had a really specific dietary requirement that the typical cafeteria couldn't meet, that they'd be accustomed to bringing their own food (or raising the concern ahead of time so recruiting coordination could accommodate them somehow).
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