招聘也讲究气味相投

    大多数招聘经理都把文化适合度列为求职面试中最为重要的标准。文化适合度也就是与公司现有员工的背景、爱好和表现的相似度。

    一位运动员出身的咨询师总是贬损那些曾担任学生社团总编辑或主席的求职者的领导能力，支持那些拥有运动背景的人。他对两位他会见过的运动员评价最高，而拒绝面试那些成绩更好、从更知名的学府毕业、但没有运动背景的求职者。

    一位面试者反对邀请一位求职者参加第二轮面试。他表示：“这位求职者面试表现很好，口才也很棒。他是一个很有趣的人，经验丰富。但我认为他太过于聪明……你知道吗，他非常喜欢十八世纪文学和先锋电影……我认为他并不是很适合。”

    但一些招聘者声称，里维拉的研究并不能完全反映当今的招聘现状。在线职业网络IvyExec.com公司的创始人和首席执行官艾琳娜﹒巴吉克表示，在很多公司，“文化适合度是一个更为宽泛的用语”，包括人们如何互动，如何完成工作，以及他们的领导风格。她认为，现在公司正在开发一种分析工具以确定求职者是否契合该公司的文化，他们认为这能够切实预测求职者的长期稳定性和成功的可能性。她表示，这并不意味着求职者要跟他们的老板玩同样的运动项目，或者拥有同样的兴趣爱好。

    位于费城的莱特招聘公司（Right Recruiting）总裁杰夫.金瑟称：“我干招聘三十年了，从没见过有谁是因为跟潜在雇主一样喜欢曲棍球而获得了聘用。”

    金瑟表示，人们更容易跟那些价值观和兴趣与自己相合的人建立联系，但他们的需求是为空缺职位招聘到最好的人选，因此他们会做出权衡。否则的话，招聘的效果可能会很糟糕或者平庸。

    西北大学的里维拉认为，她采访过的招聘经理们对文化适合度的定义可能与人力资源从业者或管理者差别迥异。但在很多情况下，这些招聘经理都是在招聘市场的前沿阵地即专业院校筛选求职者。

    里维拉在完成论文后，开始就同一主题撰写专著。她表示，她曾与西北大学凯洛格商学院（Kellogg School of Management）的学生们讨论过自己的发现。“他们说，‘确实是这样……问题不是‘他们能否胜任这项工作？’，真正的决定性因素是‘我是否想跟这个人一起喝啤酒？’”

    译者：李柰/汪皓

    A majority of the hiring managers ranked cultural fit -- the similarity to existing employees' backgrounds, hobbies, and presentation -- as the most important criterion during a job interview.

    One consultant and former athlete discounted the leadership abilities of someone who served as an editor-in-chief or president of a club in favor of those with sports experience. He ranked two athletes he met with highest and declined to interview those with a higher grade point average from more prestigious schools but no sports background.

    One interviewer argued against inviting back a candidate for a second interview, saying, "He did well on the case and was very articulate. He's a very interesting guy with a good story. But I think he's too intellectual…. You know, he is very into 18th-century literature and avant-garde film…. I don't think he'd be a good fit."

    Yet some recruiters claim Rivera's research doesn't fully reflect hiring practices today. At many companies, "cultural fit is a broader term" that includes how people interact and get things done and their leadership style, says Elena Bajic, founder and CEO of online career network IvyExec.com. Bajic says that companies are developing analytic tools to determine whether a candidate will fit with an organization's culture, based on the notion that it's a solid predictor of a candidate's longevity and likelihood of success. That may not mean a candidate plays the same sport or have the same hobby as their bosses, Bajic says.

    "In 30 years of recruiting, I've never seen anyone get a job specifically because they share an interest in hockey with the potential employer," says Jeff Zinser, president of Philadelphia area-based Right Recruiting.

    People are primed to connect more easily with others who share their values and interests, Zinser argues, but they balance that with the need to hire the best person for an opening. Otherwise, they face the consequences of a bad or mediocre hire.

    Northwestern's Rivera agrees that hiring managers she interviewed had a very different definition of cultural fit than a human resources person or executive might have. But, in many cases, these hiring managers are on the recruiting world's front lines at professional schools, weeding out candidates.

    As she was finishing her paper and began work on a book on the same subject, Rivera says she talked to her students at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management about her findings. "They say, 'That's totally how it is…. The question is not 'can they do this job?' The real decision is, 'Do I want to have beer with this person?'"