Once you know your core values, you have a narrative accompanying them and perhaps, most importantly, you live by them within your organisation. This is why recruiting based on value alignment is critical.
As a leader or someone responsible for recruitment, it is your responsibility to surround your team with people who share these values.
Recently, I have had the question come up several times: “How do you recruit based on value alignment?”
A method that I find works is to structure questions and follow up the responses with a statement. I call it question, question, statement.
Here is an example, and the value used here is family.
- Question: When someone says to you that family values are important, what does that mean to you?
- Question: Can you give us an example of when you have demonstrated this value in real life?
- Statement: Family value to us means caring for one another and respecting our lives outside of work. Family includes our people, our partners, and our clients.
While you are asking the questions, take note of how they interpret value, and be open to things you hadn’t considered. When given an example, think about how that would apply within your organisation and whether the team would be able to relate.
Finally, when you are making a statement about how you interpret value, watch for cues in the form of body language and acknowledgement.
This format will help you to make better decisions when hiring. Obviously, skills are important too, however, I believe that in most cases these are teachable.
