Hiring new talent is a risky proposition in any industry because there are several factors that must be considered. While the ability to do the job and having industry knowledge are top qualities, making sure professionals mesh within a business can be just as important and, at times, harder to do.
A recent article in Entrepreneur features an interview with Gregg Lipman, a managing partner at CBX – the New York City-based brand agency. In the piece he spoke about the steps he uses to make sure the culture is a part of the interview process and his motto of "prima donnas need not apply" is heeded.
"We actually taught ourselves how important culture was to the organization," Lipman said. "Their inability to mesh with the culture actually provided a disservice to the organization. Rather than dealing with business issues, we found we were dealing, a lot of time, with personality conflicts."
He added that he used to hire the "disrupters and agitators" – candidates whose personalities, work habits and intangible qualities would clash with existing office elements. He was hoping to stir the pot and create new energy, which happened, but it was not a positive change. Now, culture has become a guideline in the hiring process and everything from preferred brand of candy bar and toothpaste is asked outside of the resume to make sure a candidate will mesh within the work environment.
This is even more important with technical resources as they often work as a close knit team designing and implementing complex solutions to a technically novice customer. Being able to collaborate and effectively communicate the proper solution in a professional manner is crucial for technology teams to succeed. VAR Staffing has a unique understanding of the dynamic cultural skill-set that today's technical professionals require.
