How Do Employers Check My ‘Fit’?
by Katie Demain of Persona-Ltd.
There are two types of ‘fit’.
1. Person-Job [P-J] Fit is the match of an applicant’s knowledge, skills & abilities [KSA] with the demands of a particular job.
2. Person-Organisation [P-O] Fit is the match of the applicant’s values with those of the organisation.
But when someone talks loosely about your ‘fit’ with an organisation, they are usually referring to the second type, otherwise referred to as ‘organisational fit’ or ‘corporate fit’. So how can you demonstrate this?
Demonstrating Your ‘Fit’
· Know your personal values
For more information on how to find out what your values are, visit my blog posting ‘How to Find Out My Personal Values’. Once you have a list of 5 or so personal values, you should be able to tell stories about how you have used them in the past. These may be anecdotes from your workplace but they may also be appropriate stories from your personal life outside of work.
· Do your research on the organisation your interviewing for
Next you need to find out what the organisation’s values are. The straight-forward way to do this is to do some research on-line. Go to their website and look for sections such as: -
ü Our Values
ü Mission
ü Culture
ü Business Ethos
ü Business Principles
ü Our People
ü Corporate Brand
Within these sections, you will be able to pick out key words that describe the companies moral code of conduct. Corporate values are the parameters within which the organisation operates. So you may find the word ‘trust’ or you may find reference to ‘professionalism’ or you may see the words ‘eco-friendly’.
· Find your ‘fit’
The next stage is to be able to talk about the match between the organisation’s values and your own. This is how you will be able to demonstrate that – should the organisation decide to hire you – you will easily be able to settle in to the organisation and be part of their culture.
Why is organisational ‘fit’ so important?
Seeing as values are an indication of someone’s decision-making process and of their behaviour, then the employer would look favourably upon someone who will apply a set of values that is in line with the organisation’s cultural values.
So, finding a candidate who has a good match of values is good news as it means that they will most likely enjoy and reinforce the organisation’s culture. What’s more, people that have a similar values set are inevitably more likely to work well together.
Checking for organisational fit at the selection stage is one important way to ensure that the candidate has long term potential within the organisation. If candidates are picked due to their P-O fit rather than for their P-J fit, they may have a flexible approach to the role attributed to them and enjoy being moved around different roles within the organisation. Such cross-functional candidates are important ‘culture-carriers’ within the organisation.
People often instinctively ‘feel’ this organisational fit or misfit, without consciously understanding the underlying issue of values match or mismatch. It is an important factor in someone being happy at work.
N.B. If even just one of your personal values isn’t met, you will not be entirely happy in your role
If you’re unhappy at work, you may want to examine the root cause. Invariably, you will find it in one of your personal values not being met.
A clash of values between you and the organisation or you and a colleague can be very distressing. By pinpointing which value it is that is not being met, you will be better equipped to communicate the reason for your distress. If this clash is a permanent one between you and your organisation, you’d be well advised to start looking to move jobs to another (better-suited) organisation.
If you’d like to work with one of Persona Ltd.’s career coaches or consultants, please: -
call 0800 9774033
or email findoutmore@persona-ltd.co.uk
Katie Demain of Persona-Ltd.
Blog 170409
Persona-Ltd. is a Careers & Outplacement Consultancy based in Buckinghamshire, but with coaches and consultants operating throughout the south of England.
