Have you ever wondered why you were not selected for a specific role that you had applied for? Have you had your heart set on a job you thought was a perfect fit only to learn that the employer didn’t see things the same way you did?  Yes, it hurts but what is being considered here is called “organizational culture” and believe me, if there is a clash between the personality of a candidate and the corporate culture, culture will always win.

As a result, executive search professionals are now paying much more attention to organizational culture, core values and the personality and career goals of potential candidates. Let’s take a closer look at what these are and how they play a role in candidate selection.

Organizational culture is essentially the personality of an organization. It consists of the attitudes, values and beliefs within the organization that is shared by all employees. It governs who speaks to whom, what behavior is considered appropriate or inappropriate, how decisions are made, and who gets what perks. In other words, culture is the “way we do things around here.” If a new employee attempts to change this culture, they can often end up being the “odd man out”; they will feel ostracized and their opinions will be devalued.

Executive search professionals go to great lengths to identify the nature of the organizational culture and they build this right into the selection criteria. Some of the cultural items include elements such as a fast paced work environment, a work hard environment, conservative decision making, or a risk-averse attitude versus innovation. Some organizations will have the ability to challenge others or not, and an environment of conflict avoidance versus the opportunity for open debate.

In addition, organizational culture incorporates different levels of power. There will be people who have formal titles and wield a lot of power. These people are sometimes not open to personal challenge and may see an individual who questions everything as a dire threat. On the other hand, there will be people who have a good deal of informal power and are very influential. How these people perceive a new candidate and how the individual makes his way into acceptance will play a key role in whether or not the candidate will stay with the firm.

Individualism versus collectivism is also an important cultural value in organizations. Candidates who are not team players and who hold a “what’s in it for me” attitude simply will not survive. Finally, organizations also have a sense of masculinity versus femininity. An organization with a tough guy or macho image is typically very competitive versus engaging in good teamwork. Female oriented organizations exhibit different values with respect to competitiveness, personal versus team ambition, and general assertiveness. This is why a very feminine candidate would not be suitable for a tough guy, male dominated and conservative organization….their opinions will never be respected.

Finally, some organizational cultures, especially those of government are very process-oriented and have a good deal of red tape. Those with a lot of patience who can engage in political influence are often more successful in these kind of settings.

As an executive search professional, my goal is to find the candidate with the best fit to the organizational culture of my client. My goal is also to ensure the candidate is aware of the organizational culture and can be successful within that specific work environment. As a result, I spend a good deal of time getting to know clients both from a personality and a skills perspective. Most of us wear our personal values “on our sleeves” and so it is relatively easy to assess the match between culture and candidate personality.

The challenge for candidates on the other hand, is to really engage in self assessment so that you are clear about who you are, what your values are and what kind of work environment is best suited to you.