Fitting In

For managers, selecting the best possible employee for the job is very important. When faced with similar choices, the employer must now look at other things that may seem unimportant in order to pick the best person from the candidate pool. This can mean things like one’s personal appearance, how they speak or shake hands are now much more important than it would be if that person outshined their competition by far. Needles to say, fitting into an organization is very important. I disagree with the author of ‘Hire Drill’ on which quality is most important. I believe that a person’s qualifications and ability to perform on the job should be the most important factor in employee selection, but fitting into the organization runs a close second. While personality and social behavior may be highly important to the success or failure of the new hire, organizations must make certain that they are operating as an organization full of competent and hard working people and not one full of buddies and cliques. Too much socializing and too little work makes said company less productive.

I do believe that it is very possible to find qualified people for any position within an organization that don’t have problems fitting in. Candidates with an over-the-top personality may become disruptive in certain work environments and better suited for others. Because of this, a certain amount of emphasis should be placed on the candidate’s personality. The important question is: How much emphasis is appropriate? Screening of a candidate’s personality should be limited to discerning whether someone is highly eccentric or has severely underdeveloped social skills to the point where it would interfere with job performance.

Reference:

Koenecke-Grant, C. (2007, Spring2007). Hire Drill. Marketing Health Services, 27(1), 15-17. Retrieved June 22, 2008, from Business Source Complete database