Will your next hire be ready to rock?

Last week the title of an Inc. article caught my eye: “Why You Should Hire Like a Rock Band.” Now, the closest I’ve ever been to being in a rock band would be the third-row seats I had at Springsteen a few years ago, but the content of the article registered deeply with me due to its discussion about the importance of hiring for cultural fit.

In the piece, Inc. reporter Christina DesMarais interviews Alex Churchill, CEO of a gaming industry recruiting company, about his strategy for hiring success. That is, selecting employees as you would members of a band — for values and cultural fit first, ability a close second. Churchill believes that in order to grow a successful business, employees must hold similar values so they will unite as a team. He enacts this idea by placing a substantial amount of weight on values tests when interviewing potential employees.

I agree that cultural fit is paramount when making hiring decisions. And although I hadn’t previously considered it as a music group analogy, I put this rock band method into practice every time I bring new employees on to my RPO team.

Selecting candidates based on their values is especially important in the construction of RPO teams, and it’s something that Yoh has done right more times than not in its history. We are in the people business; servicing, interacting with, and relating to people is what we do. And just as Churchill describes how he constructed his company’s “supergroup,” we hire the strongest talent in the market to help us achieve our partnership goals. In addition to providing our clients with excellence in service delivery, these individuals are the best brand ambassadors for Yoh.

On more than one occasion I’ve conducted an interview and walked away from it feeling that the candidate was perfect for the job because he or she had that something that you just can’t quite name. In situations like that, you have a true gut instinct that the candidate would be a wonderful fit, do a great job in the role, and contribute well to the greater cause of the company.

We take our values very seriously here, as I am sure many other companies do. Even when it comes to a remote workforce, we still drive home our four core values of safety, integrity, diversity, and success. If you are unaware of your company’s core values and how you play a part in each of them, you might not be embracing the reason why the company brought you on board (especially if you are in any type of management role). I have a team of employees spread across the country, but regardless, we talk about and act on our values in everything we do.

I often say that we want to hire people who want to work for us. They must see the opportunity we have within our client partnerships and want to be a part of it. That’s just being a musician and watching a performing band that you want to be a part of. You might just get the shot to jam with the band, so you better be ready to rock.