Your people are a vital asset, so when you hire a new starter it’s critical that this new employee fits perfectly into your operations, your culture and your values as a company.

But how do you know if a potential hire is a ‘good fit’? Will they drive your business to bigger and better success, or could this new employee become a potential spanner in the works?

1. Be transparent about your company values

Your company values are central to your mission as a business. So making sure those values are clearly outlined and shared is essential for hiring the right talent. By clearly defining and sharing these fundamental values, you’ll attract candidates who share your ethics, values and core motivations – making them a great potential fit for your company culture.

To do this:

• Identify your core values and what’s important to you as a business and an owner.
• Communicate your core values to your employees and all new starters
• Live your values. Reflect them in the way you do business and how you treat people
• Communicate your values, mission and culture in your job advert

When you’re hiring, this process isn’t just about you choosing an employee – it’s also about a worker choosing your company and understanding what you stand for. Make sure your job advert gives the best possible indication of what the job entails, but also what you’re like as a workplace. This is a great way to appeal to like-minded people with the best skills.

When advertising and interviewing:

• Describe your mission and ask candidates if they are on board with these goals
• Talk about your culture and ask candidates why this might appeal to them
• Paint the most honest and appealing picture of your workplace
• Ask interview questions that reveal the real candidate

You obviously want to know that a prospective hire has the right mix of experience, knowledge and professional skills. That’s a given. But it’s also sensible to ask questions that reveal more about their underlying values, morality, work ethic and interpersonal skills. This will help you to assess whether the candidate is a good fit for your company culture.

Here are some examples of interview questions that did a little deeper:

• What do you look for in an ideal employer? And how important are their core values?
• Tell us about a time your faced conflict in the workplace, and how you resolved it
• Our culture is front and centre. How do you see yourself fitting into our culture?
• How do you see your career evolving as a valued team member in our business?
• Ask your team for feedback on candidates

You may think a candidate is the bee’s knees, but what do the rest of your team think? Gauging the opinions of your management team and other team members is vitally important. These people will be working directly with this new hire, so they have to get a good vibe from them.

To encourage objective feedback, give your team members a chance to meet the candidate and take their feedback into account when making a hiring decision.

2. Monitor your new hire and have regular, ongoing performance reviews

Once you’ve made a hiring decision and have a new employee on the team, it’s vital to have regular and ongoing informal catch-ups and more formalised performance reviews. This helps you to measure how your new employee is settling in. It’s also an opportunity to gauge whether there are areas where they may need support from you and the wider team.

Don’t hold back. Be as open and transparent as possible:

• Ask them how they’re feeling about their role, workload and their performance so far
• Check their progress against set targets and objectives for their first three months.
• Find out if they need help, support, further information or more onboarding support.
• Check if they feel they are fitting into the team, and if they are feeling happy
• Look out for potential issues that may be causing conflict in the team.

Having the very best talent in your team is central to achieving your goals for the business. So, making sure you hire the right people is actually a business-critical decision to make.