What a debate this has turned out to be and one that has been going on among recruiters for many years now.

Different employers seem to be at loggerheads on whether to recruit new employees based on Job fit or based on culture fit.

Indeed both schools of thought are not short of their fans and followers with a significant portion of employers preferring culture fit over job fit and vice versa.

We are here to make a deeper analysis, help you make a better choice, and help improve your hiring strategy.

If you are ready let’s begin.

What is culture fit?

If you are new to this, then you may be asking yourself, what in the world does culture fit mean? Well, think about it this way, your business has its own set of rules, values, vision, and mission.

These guide its day-to-day activities. Kind of like a business personality. Indeed similar to how different people have different personalities, so is the case with different businesses.

Culture fit thus means employing workers based on how well they fit into the company culture. That means having traits that allow them to integrate seamlessly into the teams and “the way of the business”.

What is a job fit?

Okay, so now you understand what is culture fit, but what exactly is a job fit?

This means hiring employees based on their training and acquired skills and competencies.

A simple look at the two methods and you can immediately see why each makes complete sense.

But alas, there is such a thing as the better option.

Why Job fit over culture fit

First off, let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room – that there are a lot more sources that seem to promote culture fit.

The problem here is that cultural fit can be used as a discriminative tool.

Why and how you ask? Good question!

Cultural fit has been shown to cause bias and to cause employers to unjustly sideline potential candidates.

Since employers are focused on searching for “people like us”, they sideline many worthy candidates without giving them a fair chance.

This is called confirmation bias, where the employer has already judged the suitability of a candidate within the first few minutes and spends the remainder of the interview or recruitment process searching for reasons to confirm their judgment on why they may or may not be a suitable candidate.

It’s no wonder Facebook made it clear that they wouldn’t accept the term culture fit used in their job applications.

In comes job fit

Why is it the better choice you may wonder? Well, let’s begin also by stating that employers who are against job fit a way of recruiting candidates to have a valid argument.

They claim that it is possible to find a candidate who has all the skills and qualifications but simply lacks the personality type to integrate well with the rest of the workers and teams.

They also claim that it makes more sense to hire someone who “hits the ground running”.

All in all, a good way of looking at things, but…

Here’s a perspective. Hiring based on job fit doesn’t necessarily have to mean skills that have been recently or previously acquired. It can also mean hiring based on skills based on talent.

Hiring on job fit is an inclusive model that takes both acquired skills as well as special abilities. Talent means that the skills are recurring as they are part and parcel of the individual.

As you probably know, people are born with unique abilities that make them excel in certain fields more than others. The great thing with hiring for talent through job fit is that an employer can always expect the candidate to perform to the best of their capabilities.

And hiring based on job fit doesn’t always have to be restricted by geographical location. By utilizing global payroll, employers can source and consolidate a diverse talent base from around the globe.

As an employer, you’ll be are hiring a diverse workforce that does not fit the status quo. And this is a great thing as the business is more future-oriented.

Final word

Hiring for culture fit simply doesn’t set the business for future success as it brings in people who will conform with the status quo. Hiring for job fit however is different. With a diverse workforce made up of individuals with their own special talents, the business is far more likely to excel into the future, become much more adaptable to change, and be much more competitive.