Should we hire for ‘culture fit’?

I recently ran a poll on LinkedIn about hiring for culture fit. It came up in discussion with another consultant who specialises in inclusion and we both acknowledged the practice can encourage people to ‘hire people like me’.

That said, we know that ‘culture fit hiring’ is a big winner for those seeking candidates that share an organisation’s values.

Here’s the results from my LinkedIn community:

Poll showing 27% people support culture fit hiring, with 73% thinking it is not inclusive.

Some interested comments:

‘I feel ‘culture fit’ encourages the recruiting manager to hire the same as they always have. Whilst there’s some merit in ‘if it’s not broken don’t fix it’ there is so much more opportunity if you go outwith the norm and shake things up. Change isn’t easy but in the long term can bring so much positivity. Why does a candidate need to ‘fit’ the current culture? What they can bring to the role/team/business could be so much more…’

‘Sometimes at hiring stage you can’t fully assess culture fit, it can grow on you’

What’s your thoughts?