When you’re hiring for your next open position you’ll focus on the skills required for the individual to perform the job. You may also evaluate your current team to determine if the new employee’s qualifications match the needs of the office. Did you know that it is as important to hire for team culture as for specific skills. So what is team culture and how do you make the right hiring decision based on it? Here are some thoughts that can help you.

What is your team culture?

Your team culture may be slightly different from your overall corporate culture. For example, your IT department might have a variety of people who might be considered “geeks.” Geeks are a proud subculture so if you hire someone else with a similar personality they might get along well with the team. Before you start to hire your next employee, look at the group you already have in place and determine their culture.

Ask questions that focus on values.

While you should always avoid topics of religion and politics, you can ask questions to determine the personal principles of the candidates. Sometimes this can be in the form of a behavioral interview questions such as, “Tell me about a time where you felt like your ethics were challenged. How did you handle it?”

Use role playing situations.

Similar to behavioral questions, role playing gets to the root of how an employee will respond or react in a real work situation. For example, if the employee will be in a customer service role you can present a situation where you will act as the customer to determine how they would react.

Look at past work experience.

Of course, you can’t deny the role of skills and experience but more importantly you have to put them in context. Use context clues from their experience to see how they interacted with former coworkers and their team mates. See how often they were trusted with new tasks or recognized for their performance.

Are you looking for a great candidate to add to your existing team?

StaffEx can help you match new employees with your current team’s culture to make the best hiring decision.Contact our team of skilled recruiters today for more information on the benefits of partnering with recruiters as your strive to grow yours.