The television programme The Apprentice offers viewers an insight into the culture of Sir Alan Sugar‘s company Amstrad, one of the UK‘s most successful businesses. A recent article in The Times (13.06.07) focussed on the 'confrontational‘ management style of Sir Alan Sugar, labelling him 'aggressive, domineering and brash‘.

Although The Apprentice is a television programme designed to entertain, it does raise some interesting discussion points about the culture of a business. Viewers tuned into the final episode and watched Sugar struggle to make a difficult decision. With two worthy but very different candidates, it came down to a matter of who would 'fit‘ best into his company.

It would seem that cultural fit is an essential element that any business should consider when recruiting. Numerous factors contribute and affect the culture of an organisation including the brand values, employee satisfaction, leadership styles and the public image of the business to name a few.

More businesses are beginning to recognise the importance of cultural fit as recruiters are not just interested in skills and abilities; like Sugar they want to be sure that the new recruit will fit into the organisational culture.

Cultural fit is an important element when it comes to attracting and retaining employees and this is especially the case for small and medium-sized businesses. In a smaller team personality conflicts could have a big impact on the team dynamic and it is essential to take this into account. As well as this, smaller teams may benefit from the addition of a candidate with competencies that the team currently lack. To do this successfully organisations need to assess which competencies they have in place and how these contribute to business objectives.

Psychometric assessments are the ideal way to gain an insight into the competencies and personality of the applicant to consider whether they will make the team stronger. But be careful. The statement 'this candidate would not fit our culture‘ is also used as a smoke screen for some of the worst bullying, intimidation and discriminatory practices. You need to take steps to make sure your view of the culture is widely held, reasonable and communicated to the candidate. The reason Sugar struggled was that both could do the job. The culture fit was the last hurdle, not the first one.

People management consultancies like SHL help organisations to understand what they are looking for and provide the scientific tools which can help in getting recruitment right in a fair and objective way.

SHL is a world-leading provider of objective, scientific psychometric assessment and development solutions. SHL‘s Partner Network (SPN) was established specifically to service the needs of small and medium sized organisations in the UK. These partners are experienced consultants who work independently and use SHL tools to enable your people management. For more information please visit www.shl.com

Having worked in the recruitment industry in various guises for over 20 years, I can distil your requirements down into a single phrase: the best possible people, sourced quickly and as cheaply as possible. This may sound simple, but the reality is very different, especially in today‘s hard fought war for talent. So how can you be one of the winners?

The first consideration is skills, or rather the shortage thereof. Today over 85% of companies across all industries find it hard to reach the qualified people they need. This makes it doubly important that you employ the right people from the start. I recently read a report which stated the direct costs of replacing an employee are £8k-£12k. When you add on the induction and specialist knowledge that must also be replaced, the total cost to your business increases many fold.

The second consideration is qualities and by this I mean the more indirect skills someone brings to a job. Zubka, the new internet business I set up last year to evolve and improve current recruitment processes, was interviewed by the think-tank Demos recently for Recruitment 2020; a wide-ranging study into how recruitment will work in years to come. The research found that these softer, intangible skills - the ones that impact on areas such as brand, CSR and service - are increasingly aligned to commercial success.

The final considerations are speed and cost because as we all know, time equals money. You need to find a way to access the right people, whenever the need arises, without paying 10 times their salary for the privilege.

So how do you go about it? Well, I have learned that the best of the best are normally not on the open job market. They do not register with agencies or sign up to job boards. Instead they move from job-to-job under the radar, finding out about opportunities by word of mouth and being found through recommendation. These people are known as 'passive candidates‘ in my industry, and they are quite simply the most valuable human resource there is.

So if you‘re looking for a short-term solution or to fill an easily undertaken role, then carry on with your usual methods. If on the other hand you‘re seeking someone who will drive you business forwards without the price sending you under, it‘s time to borrow that 'classic‘ marketing phrase and think outside the box.

For more information see www.zubka.com

It is a costly process recruiting new staff, with average direct costs typically somewhere in the region of £6,000. But when you add in the productivity loss from a position being vacant and recognise that the search for talent is becoming increasingly competitive, the incentive to get it right first time when employing new staff becomes even more significant.

As well as ensuring a good match between the job‘s requirements and the candidate‘s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, it is important there is a good culture fit too. Simply asking the right questions at interview isn‘t enough. A complete set of robust and transparent processes needs to support the whole recruitment process, so that applicant and employer are both suitably well informed to make the right decision when it comes to accepting/offering a position.

First of all, an employer should fully define the requirements of the job and the cultural style of the organisation so that the skills, competencies and behaviours required can be clearly reflected in the job profile, advert and throughout the recruitment process.

The assessment techniques used should reflect the nature of the role and the relevant competencies. Tailored design of assessment exercises, which may include elements such as group exercises, in-tray exercises and role plays, allows employers to examine a variety of skills and capabilities across each candidate. Because these elements are reflective of the job role being applied for, the potential employee is engaged, sees the relevance and this in turn creates a positive candidate experience.

Competency-based assessment is not enough though. An employer also needs to consider the potential cultural fit of the individual within their organisation, and a combination of personality questionnaires or situational-based questions will support this.

Throughout the assessment process, candidates should be given ample opportunity to ask questions, meet current employees and talk to those people that may be their managers. They are then able to build an accurate picture of the organisation and so make an informed decision about whether or not they want to take that job with that employer.

Depending upon the role, the final piece in the recruitment jigsaw for an employer is to commission a background screening of the preferred candidate(s) to verify the information candidates have given regarding qualifications, previous employers, roles and achievements.

For more information visit www.reedconsulting.co.uk