"Identify Talent Requirements for Key Roles"

Excerpt from Chapter 11: Identify and Integrate Career and Culture Fit Criteria

Most selection criteria focuses on what it takes to be successful in a target job. For instance what it takes to be successful as a customer service rep. A profile is usually built to define and screen candidates to be successful in that position. However there is also a need to determine what it takes for an individual to be successful in the organization. If you only select for job fit and not organization fit you can end up with someone who is a great performer in narrow circumstances but does not demonstrate the ability to be successful outside the parameters of the position. A customer service rep who is great with customers and handling issues but does not get along with anyone else in the department is a good example of functional skill set fit but not organizational fit. The customers might think he is the best of all the reps and yet everyone internally finds him difficult to interact with on a regular basis. Organizations are typically much better at defining each position’s functional criteria and less rigorous at defining the cultural aspects of the organization the individual needs to be able to demonstrate in order to be successful in the short run in a specific position and the long run in the organization in other positions as well.