Whether recruiters should hire according to skill set or cultural fit remains a great debate. Ideally, companies recruit candidates who possess the required skills and are also a great cultural fit. However, this is often not the case, and recruiters must decide what to emphasise during the hiring process. The recruitment team at GCS Malta discusses this dilemma in this article.

Skill Set vs Cultural Fit

Hiring people is not always easy; finding the ideal candidate possessing a great skill set and being the right cultural fit can be pretty challenging. Typically, recruiters have difficulty deciding what aspect to focus on when hiring new recruits.

Skill Set

A skill set is a particular category of skills required to perform a specific job. On paper, skill sets are easier to recognise since candidates will have their skills and competencies listed on their CVs. In addition, skills can be tested through interviews and tests. However, having specific skills or lacking certain skills could be the deciding factor of whether you are hired or not.

Cultural Fit

While skill sets are easy to identify, cultural fit can be tricky to determine. Regarding core values and principles, candidates will not immediately showcase these aspects in a 30-minute interview. A way of tackling this issue is by asking candidates specific questions during the interview:

• Who was your best manager, and why?
• Why do you want to work at this company?
• How would you describe your ideal workplace?
• Do you think you would fit in with our company culture?

Although these questions can help determine whether the candidate is the right fit, it is not always possible since the actual test will be when the candidate joins the company.

So what should you focus on when recruiting?

Ideally, employers should look for a healthy mix of both to hire the best talent. Nevertheless, many recruiters decide to prioritise one aspect over the other.

Companies tend to prefer prioritising skill sets since they believe hiring a candidate with all the necessary skills for the position will require the company to provide less training. However, this is not exactly the best solution. Firstly, all recruits will need some form of training. Secondly, while skills can be attained through training, cultural fit is untrainable. Therefore, hiring according to cultural fit might be the better option in the long run since you can always train culturally fit candidates.

Moreover, having numerous conflicts in your team will lower the productivity level and determine the overall success of your projects. According to Aberdeen Group, 97% of employees and executives believe that having a misaligned team will affect the outcome of every task. Therefore, companies should assess their culture first by determining the company’s values, morals, and principles and aim to find candidates who are the right cultural fit.

That being said, it all depends on what the company deems the most important, and hiring continuously is a great way to interact with the best talent in the market constantly.

Why GCS Malta?

At GCS Malta, our expert recruiters can assist you with finding your ideal candidate—both in skill and cultural fit. Recruiting is a two-way street, which is why we aim to place our candidates with their ideal employers as well. Check out our vacancies and contact us today for more information on our services.