The Power of Aligned Beliefs in Recruitment and Retention

Our Guide to Retention

‘If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears’ – Simon Sinek (Author, Motivational Speaker and Organisational Consultant)

Despite how well known it is that culture fit is important when hiring for a position, it still seems to be neglected by a lot of companies. All too often, companies are prioritising skill matches and industry experience over culture fit leading to lack of retention of staff and poor performance in recruitment generally.

We have seen success time and time again when companies hire people that are a good cultural fit. These people stay a lot longer and work a lot harder. In almost every circumstance they learn skills that may have been lacking at interview. 

One of the most important aspects in culture fit is the alignment of beliefs. The first step in this process is to understand and define your beliefs as a company, as a team, as a hiring manager or even the beliefs for a particular project. What are you trying to achieve? Why are you doing it? Why should anyone care?

When you think of your company beliefs, making money or profit is often a main one, but remember that there are other motivations behind making money, for example developing a brand, growing as a company or wanting to dominate a market.

Once you’ve established this, you can then assess the suitability of those you’re interviewing. In the interview process it’s really important to drill down into what somebody's beliefs are and what motivates them. You can achieve this through secondary questioning, for example if somebody says that they are motivated by money, ask them why and try to understand what is behind this motivation. Their motivation is rarely money itself and can often be things like status, ability to have choices or a better lifestyle. These things can be achieved with benefits other than money; for example status can be achieved in a multitude of ways; performance recognition, rewards and recognition are some.

When people talk about beliefs and aligning your beliefs to things, there can be a tendency to think of overtly pleasant characteristics. However, your company’s motivation could be about market dominance – so really you want people joining you that are driven by status, wanting to dominate the market and get their name out there. This pairing is what works for your company and cultural fit.

We’d be more than happy to come and talk to you and help you understand what your beliefs are as a company and how they can be used with recruitment and retention.