About 50% cos ignore 'cultural fit' element when hiring: Study

Nearly half of the employers in the India, mostly in the ITeS and consumer durable sector, pay less attention on whether a job candidate has the ability to culturally fit in the organisation, a study says.
According to study conducted by TimesJobs.Com, many organisation still look for skills and experience when hiring and not on whether the candidate is a 'good fit' for the firm.
"This is a worrying trend, as people managers openly acknowledge that cultural fit is a very critical element in hiring, particularly at the top level," TimesJobs.Com COO Vivek Madhukar said.
"Overlooking cultural fit can be a reason a lot of senior level resignations and shifts have happened in India Inc in the past few months," Madhukar added.

The study found that on an average, 35 per cent firms laid emphasis on skills and experience during hiring, almost 50 per cent completely overlooked cultural fitment and the rest considered educational qualifications and international exposure important.
Across industries, BPO/ITeS and consumer durables sectors topped the list for paying less attention to the element of cultural fit while hiring a candidate.

About 90 per cent of the organisations in these sectors said that technical skills were more important than fitting in culturally.
Besides, Nearly 67 per cent of the organisations in the automobile and BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, Insurance) sector also felt the same way.

Moreover, 63 per cent of the small organisations (with the employee size of 200-300) give preference to technical skills over cultural fit.