What Does Culture Fit Mean? How To Hire For It

Many organisations I speak with mention a candidate having to be the right ‘culture fit’ for their team, but what does culture fit actually mean? 

It’s important to understand whether steps to get the right cultural alignment are genuine attempts to secure the right professionals who align with company values, behaviours and ways of working, or if it’s more about bonding over hobbies and after-work drinks. 

In this guide, I will explore what culture fit really means, why it’s important in the hiring process for both employers and candidates, how to hire for it and how to compare culture fit vs culture add. 

What does culture fit mean?

Culture fit refers to how well an individual’s behaviours, values and working style align with a business’ core mission, goals and the workplace environment. 

At its core, culture fit is about people working towards a shared, greater goal. A sort of togetherness, with everyone contributing in different ways, knowing they each have a part to play. This should filter down from higher management and be a strategic goal of the business. In Daniel Coyle’s book, ‘The Culture Code’, he discusses this point in great detail, mentioning – “(Company) culture is a set of living relationships working towards a shared goal. It’s not something you are. It’s something you do.” 

What doesn’t culture fit mean?

There are certain misconceptions about what culture fit means. Sometimes it can be confused with personality fit. Culture fit focuses more on behaviours and values and how an individual is going to fit into an environment, rather than on their personality traits and character. 

Why does cultural alignment matter when hiring?

Cultural alignment matters when hiring because employees who share an organisation’s values, behaviours and ways of working are more likely to feel engaged, supported, and motivated within the workplace. When there is a strong cultural fit, employees can build better relationships with colleagues, contribute positively towards shared objectives in the workplace and feel a greater sense of belonging. This in turn can improve performance, well-being and retention. 

Cultural alignment can have a significant impact on employee engagement and retention. A Gallup study on organisational culture found that employees who feel strongly connected to their organisation’s culture are 4.3 times more likely to be engaged at work and 47% less likely to be looking for another job.

How important is ‘culture fit’ for employers?

For employers, culture fit can mean better employee engagement. Employees who feel aligned with the company’s culture are more likely to be motivated, which can lead to stronger performance, greater commitment and willingness to contribute. If employees feel comfortable, valued and connected to their workplace, they may be more likely to stay with the organisation, reducing staff turnover and recruitment costs. 

Employee engagement plays a vital role in an organisation’s long-term success. In fact, Gallup research discovered that businesses with employee engagement in the top quartile had 21% higher profitability than those in the bottom quartile. 

How to hire for culture fit

It is difficult to assess whether a candidate will align with the company culture without defining how the values, behaviours and ways of working present themselves day-to-day. Hiring for culture fit starts with understanding what the organisation’s culture actually looks like in practice. Once the values and behaviours that shape the business are clear, they can be built into the recruitment process: 

• Define company values – Identify the values that guide how the organisation operates and supports its goals. 

• Turn values into observable behaviours – Define what each value looks like in practice and give hiring managers clear behaviours to assess. 

• Include them in the job description – Set clear expectations around company culture from the outset, allowing candidates to assess whether it suits them too. 

• Build them into structured interview questions – Set behavioural questions to explore how candidates have demonstrated the behaviours the organisation values. 

• Assess every candidate consistently – Use the same core questions and criteria to make fairer, more objective hiring decisions and reduce the risk of personal bias. 

• Consider what the candidate can add to the culture – Look beyond cultural alignment to consider the skills, experiences and perspectives a candidate could bring to strengthen and diversify company culture. 

How do company values influence cultural alignment?

Businesses should identify their own company values regarding what is important and what they stand for and then turn them into observable behaviours. These should be clearly set out so that every employee is aware of and actively striving towards them. 

Implementing core values is one way to encourage engagement, as these fundamental beliefs help guide workplace behaviours, decision-making and culture; promoting a positive environment where everyone works towards the same business goals and objectives. 

How can company values be embedded into interview questions?

To fairly assess all potential employees, interviews should be structured and consistent, with questions based on the requirements of the role.  

Crucially, businesses should prioritise asking interview questions that require candidates to recall or demonstrate occasions when they have approached situations by applying behaviours that are important to the organisation. By using structured behavioural questions that explore real-life examples, employers can get a real understanding of potential culture fit. 

For example, asking ‘Can you explain a time when…’ or ‘Can you demonstrate how you have…’ questions allow interviewers to delve a little deeper, encouraging candidates to provide real-life examples and reveal more of a picture of they tend to operate in different scenarios. 

How to assess culture fit without introducing bias

To hire for team fit without prejudice, companies should focus on the candidate’s skills, experience, qualifications and suitability for the role, rather than on personal characteristics or assumptions. Personality-based judgements should be avoided and where possible, multiple interviewers should be used. As per CIPD guidance, hiring should use structured, objective and transparent selection. 

It is easy to confuse similarity with suitability, so companies should set out clear, consistent, objective criteria throughout the recruitment process. They should ask the same core questions to each candidate and consider structured interviews or diverse hiring panels to help reduce unconscious bias, supporting fair, inclusive decision-making. 

‘Culture fit’ vs ‘culture add’

Although culture fit is important, it isn’t beneficial for everyone in an organisation to think, work, or approach challenges in the same way. Hiring people with beliefs and ways of working that are too similar can limit innovation, creativity and diversity. This is where culture fit and culture add become closely linked, but distinct concepts.  

Culture fit focuses on whether a candidate’s values and behaviours align with the organisation’s core culture, while culture add considers the new skills, experiences, perspectives and ideas they can bring to strengthen it. Both are important: businesses need people who can work effectively within their existing culture, while also bringing something different that can help the organisation evolve. 

Direct experience of a role isn’t always essential. In some cases, adaptable individuals with strong transferable skills can bring new perspectives to a role, while developing expertise over time, making their recruitment a more valuable, long-term investment. 

Rather than asking, “Does this person fit our culture?”, consider, “What can this person add to our culture?” Focusing on the complementary skills, perspectives, experiences and ideas someone can bring creates a more diverse and inclusive workplace, which, in the long run, is far healthier for both the organisation and its employees. 

This viewpoint aligns with the CIPD‘s discussion around complementary fit, which focuses on looking at the capabilities a candidate brings that are unique or in short supply, rather than simply recruiting more of what the organisation already has. 

How candidates can assess company culture

Candidates need to feel like they could belong in the workplace of the organisation they are interviewing with. The contract, working arrangements and hours need to work for them too, as well as for the business. Candidates, when considering their next career move, need to ask themselves what matters most to them. By clarifying their own core values, they can identify what they care about, which can guide them in the decisions they take on the road ahead.  

At interview stage, it is important for them to ascertain whether they are aligned with the company’s values and expectations, by asking lots of values-based questions. 

Questions candidates can ask to tell if a company is the right cultural fit

• How would you describe the management and leadership style? 

• What are the personal development and promotion opportunities? 

• How important is respect and integrity to the business?  

• What behaviours and values are most valued here?  

How recruitment agencies assess cultural fit

Good recruitment agencies will take the time to learn about the organisation, team, and organisational intricacies through multiple initial meetings ideally on-site, to get a full picture of culture fit. At VIQU IT we aim to understand and support culture fit by ascertaining a candidate’s motivations, previous working environment and practical considerations, such as location, hours and salary.  

Do their working styles, values and communication preferences align with the management styles, decision-making processes and autonomy of the company? 

It’s important that values and behaviours that are highly regarded by the organisation translate throughout its members, from the HR team and hiring managers to external partners like recruitment agencies. The entire process needs to be congruent and smooth, as the candidate experience starts here . The interview itself should give both parties a realistic understanding of the working environment and expectations.  

Employers sometimes think it’s just about them, but it’s a two-way assessment process, so employers should prioritise ensuring their core values and behaviours are embedded throughout the hiring process and represented by all parties’ candidates will have contact with. 

Final thoughts

‘Culture fit’ should never mean hiring people who look, think or socialise exactly like the existing team, as this can prevent diversity and promote unconscious bias. Companies should instead focus on recruiting a ‘culture add’- carefully considering a candidate’s unique skillset, experience, transferable skills and what they can bring to the role.  

In short, companies should take care not to hire for similarity and instead hire for alignment on the values and behaviours that genuinely matter, while seeking people who add new skills, perspectives and experiences to the culture. 

At VIQU IT, we support and understand the importance of culture fit for both employers and candidates through our extensive permanent IT recruitment services. If you’re ready to hire IT talent, please get in touch.