Cultural fit

Newbfail · 16 Sep 2016 at 21:13

So after a 7 hour interview process in which I was the only remaining candidate the hiring manager turned around and said I was not a "right cultural fit even though I was professionally the stand out candidate".

To say I'm a little frustrated is a mild understatement as literally bent over backwards in the interviews to get the job and got very very good feedback up until the final decision.

A few things come to mind

1- What is the cultural fit?
2 - From hiring lots of people in the past myself I find the cultural fit element to be ironed out outside the interview environment and during probation period.
3 - thinking back I made sure I showed my positive smiley social interest side especially during the second interview.

So what's you guys thoughts on the whole cultural fit?

dowie · 16 Sep 2016 at 21:26

They think you're a **** basically. Then again you've maybe had a lucky escape - you might well have thought the same of them once you got started there.

Cultural fit can literally be does the manager see you as the sort of person he'd want to have a few pints with and/or the rest of his team would want to have a few pints with. It could be a subjective 'feel' the interview gets for you or it could be the result of very blatant 'fit' questions. For example I've had an interview where I was asked about football, apparently the main topic of conversation among the team, especially on Monday mornings... is football. The old guy doing the interview wanted to be sure anyone working with that team was a football fan.

Caged · 16 Sep 2016 at 21:27

If a workplace says you aren't a cultural fit then you dodged a bullet. "Cultural fit" tends to be code for "we want you to live and breathe this job, come to the pub with us all the time, and stay late when everybody else is". A company that gets hung up on people being a "cultural fit" is not interested in your family commitments or work/life balance.

This is not to say that a company should not consider whether they can get along with a prospective employee in a professional capacity, but the "cultural fit" phrase tends to mean a lot more than that.

Newbfail · 16 Sep 2016 at 21:43

No problem with hard work and I love football, I even had a whale of a time on the physical team build exercise and had a good laugh with the people I did it with.

Just bemused as to how I could not be a good cultural fit as I certainly tried hard to show my fun side.

Caged · 16 Sep 2016 at 21:45

Any job seeking experienced, professional candidates that values their time so little as to think a 7 hour interview process is reasonable was probably going to annoy you, in all honesty. Don't dwell on it.

Jokester · 16 Sep 2016 at 21:47

Newbfail said:
No problem with hard work and I love football, I even had a whale of a time on the physical team build exercise and had a good laugh with the people I did it with.

Just bemused as to how I could not be a good cultural fit as I certainly tried hard to show my fun side.

Maybe they weren't looking for fun, I suspect it's as Caged has said that they're actually looking for drones that will be a slave to the company.

Newbfail · 16 Sep 2016 at 22:09

Yeah a lot of people are telling me I dodged a bullet just wish I could have the 7 hours back. For me,you analyse a person's cultural fit during their probation in day to day working not under interview pressures.

Quartz · 16 Sep 2016 at 22:16

Newbfail said:
So after a 7 hour interview process in which I was the only remaining candidate the hiring manager turned around and said I was not a "right cultural fit even though I was professionally the stand out candidate".

In other words, they have an internal person for the position.

dowie · 16 Sep 2016 at 22:20

Newbfail said:
No problem with hard work and I love football, I even had a whale of a time on the physical team build exercise and had a good laugh with the people I did it with.

Just bemused as to how I could not be a good cultural fit as I certainly tried hard to show my fun side.

Maybe they're all introverts?

I wouldn't dwell too much on it, unless multiple people start giving you the same feedback it is probably more them than you.

dowie · 16 Sep 2016 at 22:25

Newbfail said:
Yeah a lot of people are telling me I dodged a bullet just wish I could have the 7 hours back. For me,you analyse a person's cultural fit during their probation in day to day working not under interview pressures.

Of you take them out for drinks, seriously, that was what one hiring manager did at a previous place I worked. He'd invite the candidate and any team members who were free to go for a meal, drinks so they could all meet each other in a more relaxed environment.

It is quite standard for grad schemes at some places too for the whole candidate pool to be taken out for a meal with the various exes/HR people - though in that case it is a little less relaxed as all your competition is there with you and the whole thing is a bit more formal.