What do you consider when determining if someone fits into your corporate culture?

Do you mean as a hiring manager? If so, I attempt to paint the most realistic picture of our company’s culture as well as the department’s. Final candidates need to know what will be expected of them so that they can make the decision if the job will be the right fit.

I also ask a lot of “Describe a time when you were in this scenario, and how did you handle it?” questions during the interviews. Another part of the interview process is to have the final candidates meet with and talk to other people within the dept. that have similar jobs. It allows them to ask questions about what it’s like to work for the company, that supervisor, etc.

The way I look at it, candidates need to be interviewing us as much as we are interviewing them. I would rather have someone turn down the job based upon what they learned about us then to hire them and have them be miserable down the road.

I pay keen attention to the ways they answer questions, ...concise? ...wandering? ...vague or b.s.? ...honest about not knowing something ? ...brilliantly on the point? ...completely off the point.
Also how do they listen to what I’m asking or what I have to say.
Are they too eager, saying what they think you want to hear? ...or straight-up authentic?
It all can tell you something about how the person will work with you later.

@Pied_Pfeffer, if you’re in a company with a hiring manager, then sure. Otherwise, those mom and pops operations that only hire one or two would also have valid reasons for why they chose person A over person B, if that is what they did.

@DaphneT I apologize…I don’t understand. Anyone who is in a position to hire is a hiring manager. The same applies for ‘mom & pop’ operations. They typically don’t end up owning a business out of sheer luck. If anything, they have more invested and to gain by hiring the right people.

@Pied_Pfeffer, I apologize, I didn’t understand your point. You prefaced you first response with a question, which suggested to me that my question was a bit vague and you were seeking clarification. I understand that any person in a position to hire is a ‘hiring manager’, even when they don’t use the title. However, the point is that not all people who hire think in ‘corporate jargon’, and not all people who have to ‘fit’ someone into corporate culture are hiring managers. They might be the immediate supervisor doing the first performance review. I’d like to hear the perspectives of anyone in a position to ‘fit’ someone into a corporate culture.

@DaphneT Ah, thank you for the clarification. I should have asked if you meant anyone involved in the selection process.