Have you ever gone to an interview and thought you nailed it – only to be told you aren’t a cultural fit? This may sound like a cop-out, but it’s actually a very legitimate reason for not hiring you.
Why You Could Have All The Right Skills & Still Not Be Right For The Job
What I am about to say might surprise you, but it’s important you hear me out. In today’s world, skills and experience aren’t enough to land you a job. While this would certainly make life easier for both job seekers and recruiters; it’s not how the hiring process works.
In my decades of experience, I’ve learned candidates get hired on three factors – AND in this order:
1. Personality – communication style on the job.
During the interview, they’re conscious of the fact they’d be working with you all day long for 5 days a week. If they can’t tolerate your personality type, they’re putting their own workplace happiness at risk.
2. Aptitude – ability to do the job the company’s way.
Say your personality lines up perfectly with theirs, but you lack the ability to do the job in the manner the company needs it done; it’ll only frustrate you and your co-workers.
3. Experience – skills and knowledge needed to execute the work.
You might have noticed that experience is last on this list. This is because even if an employee has the right skills and experience but is a poor fit in terms of personality and aptitude, it can cause a major disruption in productivity.
When management uses the term ‘cultural fit’ this is code for personality and aptitude. For many companies, this will play a deciding role in hiring.
Cultural Fits Provide Win-Win Partnerships
When a company chooses an employee that is a good cultural fit AND has the skills, this makes them believe they’ll be happy with the outcome. The same applies to your work. When you get to provide value in the way you most enjoy, the satisfaction level on-the-job skyrockets.
The way you provide this value is called your workplace “persona.” It’s how you want to be known as an expert at work. It’s the foundation of your professional reputation.
How To Determine Your Workplace Persona
My company, Work It Daily, figured out years ago how important knowing this is. After all, if we could pinpoint the unique combination of personality and aptitude needed for a particular job, we could help everyone (managers, employees, and recruiters) get on the same page. This is why we created The Career Decoder – a tool that defines the eight most common workplace personas as follows:
- Educator
- Researcher
- Mentor
- Optimizer
- Warrior
- Supeconnector
- Builder
- Visionary
When you take this quick quiz, it’ll automatically determine the 2-3 dominant personas you like to use in your professional life.
Knowing Your Personas Can Lead To Career Satisfaction
This knowledge can help you properly market yourself to employers. Your results will enable you to do a better job of conveying your value to hiring managers in a transparent way. This will make it easy for potential employers to understand and appreciate your value as an employee.
But knowing this information isn’t just beneficial for job seekers. For professionals looking to grow their careers, this knowledge will help you manage your boss and co-worker’s expectations of you. Staying on the same page will allow you to grow your bond with each other and build a reputation for yourself as the ‘go-to’ person for specific tasks or information. This is important because it’ll lead to you becoming a specialist in your area of expertise.
If you’re worried about the recent layoffs or the impending recession, becoming a specialist is extremely important. This will allow you to leverage your personas and stay relevant and employed long-term.
Whether you want to get hired by your dream company or continue growing in your current one, understanding your personas and how to market them in the workplace will lead you to career success.
P.S.S. If you don’t think a membership to my company’s career coaching service is for you (yet).
At Work It Daily, we put together the following free career growth tools for you:
- Free Quiz To Understand Your Workplace Persona
CLICK HERE to take the FREE Quiz
- Free Quiz To Understand Your Workplace Communication Style
CLICK HERE to take the FREE Quiz
- Laid Off And Looking. How to Bounce Back After You’ve Been Let Go
CLICK HERE for the FREE Training & to DOWNLOAD the pdf file.
- Guide to changing careers.