A lot of people try to find out a bit more about their candidates under the goal of “Culture Fit”. While I think this started off as a genuinely good idea; relating to teamwork, work ethic, product-minded (or whatever!), it has kind of morphed into an excuse to hire more people who think like you. That’s not really a great idea. People confuse diversity as some sort of Bingo board of skin colour and gender. It’s not really that, for me, it’s about the diversity of thought, and that’s where we fall down. Hire for new ways of thinking and solving problems, not just another person who can type out code with the rest of you.
Instead, of “Culture Fit”, try to think of “Culture Add”. Ask yourself, what could this person add to our culture? What would they challenge us on? What would they inspire us to do differently, and are we, as a team, open to that? How would our product get better as a result of this hire? How would our customers benefit? Would that lead to a healthier company?
Heads up: As with any terse bit of advice, there will be exceptions of course, and subtleties and nuance that can't possibly be captured in a Byte of Wisdom. This has been what I've experienced, I'd love to hear yours in the comments too!
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