Cultural fit refers to a candidate's ability to blend into a company's culture. While qualifications are important, cultural fit is key to avoiding candidates who seem great on paper but don't work out. There are several factors that determine cultural fit, including a candidate's background, previous company structure, and adaptability. It is important for recruiters to consider cultural fit during hiring to prevent costly turnover and ensure candidates will contribute to the company's growth. However, assessing cultural fit takes time and effort, such as researching a candidate's background and evaluating their attitude towards change. Overall, cultural fit is an important but challenging aspect of selecting candidates that will be successful long-term hires.

1. Cultural Fit
Cultural fit is a new term the recruiters have coined to explain the reason why the most eligible
candidate turns out to be a company's worst nightmare. It is also the word that can be used to describe
the reason why a candidate, least expected to be worth, turns out to be an organization's greatest assets.
So what does Cultural Fit mean? To describe simply, it is the ability of a candidate to blend in well with
his or her new working environment. There are candidates who have great achievements and
qualifications to boast about; but in real they may not turn out what the company have expected them to
be. It is neither the fault of the candidate nor of the recruiter. The problem is that the employee will not
be able to cope up with the conditions and situations of the new firm as he/she might be coming from a
totally dissimilar background. So this is one point that the recruiters must be looking into and should
be contemplating.
There may be several factors that can result in a cultural fit (or misfit). The first factor is the familial
background that a candidate is coming from. The language, the region and the way of life are some
factors that can be decisive when choosing a candidate. But these are the areas where the recruiters are
entirely helpless. Discrimination made under such categories can be problematic for the recruiters
themselves. The next factor that can be looked out for is the organizational structure of the candidates
previous company. If the organizational structure is similar then the candidate may prove to be a
suitable one, otherwise there are chances that the decision made in favor of the candidate may backfire.
The third and most significant factor is the attitude of the candidates. If the candidate shows a talent to
adapt or has such a similar history, then the recruiters can confidently go ahead and say “Bravo! You
are in.”
Now let us consider how the cultural fit directly affects the company and its interests. No company
would like to have a candidate who, after getting recruited with heavy package and benefits, leaves the
company in less than a year. This will directly affect the company as it may not be starting to reap the
fruits of such heavy cost taken. Apart from that this will send a bad message to other employees,
especially new joiners and will definitely influence the company adversely. Once the candidate has
completed his tenure and is still happy to extend it, then that is the real success of the company. So it is
vital to search and acquire such personalities and those personalities will prove to be the greatest assets
of the company. The employees who meet the “cultural fit” criteria will help in the growth of the
organization and also in influencing other employees positively. Such employees will blend in with the
system easily and will become the inevitable part of the organization.
Ultimately the question arises is this “How will we find a cultural fit employee?”. Well, some consider
this as an easy job; but on the contrary it is most tedious and time consuming part of the selection
process. As mentioned earlier, it has to be checked whether the candidate is coming from an
organization which has a similar structure to your company or not. For this the recruiters should be
doing a background study of the prospective employee's ex-company which is relatively a wearisome
job. If it is a walk-in drive then this is totally out of the question as it is nearly impossible for them to
do the search in such a short notice. The next step to find a suitable candidate is to assess his/her
adaptability and his/her attitude towards change. Most of them will answer that they are born ready;
but only a seasoned person can analyze and scrutinize the fact. It should be borne in mind that such
quality can not be imposed on a person rather it should be inborn. Sometimes these qualities can be
nurtured with proper care and direction. But it is always suggested to find candidates with such
disposition rather than trying to teach them how to adapt.

2. Source:
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http://hk.jobsdb.com/HK/en/Resources/JobSeekerArticle/cultural-fit?ID=1266
http://www.monsterworking.com/2012/04/20/4-reasons-job-seekers-should-consider-cultural-fit/
http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryc/g/cultural-fit.htm
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/28/is-it-better-to-hire-for-cultural-fit-over-experience/
http://humanresources.about.com/od/organizationalculture/a/culture.htm
http://www.hcamag.com/resources/recruitment/how-to-hire-for-cultural-fit/111181/