It’s Just Not a Fit

Finding a role in a comfortable work environment and completing tasks you enjoy can make it easier to be collaborative, stay productive, and commit to the company for the long term.

To make this happen, you should work in a role that feels like a good fit for both yourself and your employer. If you eventually realize you may not be a good fit, though, you may have a better chance of finding a job elsewhere that is better suited for you.

 

What does it mean not to be a good fit? Or when you hear it’s just “not a fit.”

Not being a good fit typically means you may not be the right candidate for a role. Employers may provide this reason after applying or interviewing for a role. You may also realize that you’re not an excellent fit for a position if your interests, personality, or skill set don’t align with the company’s position or team.

 

Why do employers say someone isn’t a good fit?

If employers say someone isn’t a good fit, they typically mean their skills, interests, or personality differs from what’s expected for the role. Most employers use the interview process of a job search to evaluate both the qualifications and the fit of potential employees. They typically review your resume and application to determine whether you meet the skills, experience, and expertise requirements for the role.

Employers may ask in-depth questions during the interview to gain insight into your personality, interests, and work style. Many have a strong understanding of the employees you may work with, which causes them to ask questions to learn how well you could fit with the culture. They may even ask others on the team to sit in on the interview to determine how well you may get along with coworkers. Hiring employees who work together can lead to a more collaborative, team-building, and productive environment.

 

When is a hire released for “Not being a good fit” after working in the role for a while?

When we think about employees as a good fit or bad fit, most of the time, the conversation revolves around hiring. When hiring the right person for the right job and team, organizations can avoid the topic of bad fit release altogether.

That’s easier said than done, though. If everyone hired at every organization were the perfect match, the recruitment industry wouldn’t exist.

Getting to the bottom of what it means depends on the many reasons I plan to list shortly. However, being a good or bad fit is primarily an issue of the corporate culture.

• Will the new hire mesh well with the pre-existing team to strengthen the team and allow the new hire to get to work and thrive immediately?

 

In reality, getting released for “not being a good fit” is the last resort to address the problem. To get to the core of it, HR and management need to document why the employee isn’t fitting in and make a case for their termination. To follow proper steps to assess the situation that can benefit the employer and the employee if correctly followed, such as:

• A case has to be made as to why the person is not a good fit; this helps all to understand why the employee isn’t fitting in (additionally, it may even lead to a way to keeping them on board that isn’t a form of termination). It also helps show that their release isn’t discriminatory.
• Discrimination claims can be easily made when it comes to cultural fit.
• Documenting all of the issues is needed to show that the new hire isn’t working out because their work ethic, personality, and things of that nature are not blending well with the current team and causing problems.
• After the employer decides best practices are the way to go. Meaning professional the employer requires to take unbiased steps to handle the situation. Such as:

• • Arrange for a meeting (preferred face-to-face) and providing the terminated employee with a written letter that details the action taken and why it’s happening.
  • Within reason, the employee should be allowed to state what they need to say and make sure you listen. They may have even seen this coming if they don’t fit in and aren’t enjoying working for your organization. On the other hand, they may be blindsided entirely (the assumption here is that you have been working with them on the issues before just up and firing them). Be ready for either response.
  • And remember being released for not being a good fit is different from being fired for rule-breaking or misconduct. It’s not totally the person’s fault that they aren’t a good fit (it’s likely a poor hiring situation). Knowing that it can help to add a few extra benefits to these situations, treating them less like a firing and more like a lay-off event.

 

Release for “not being a good fit” – The benefits:

Because being a poor fit at a company is a hiring mishap most of the time, those being released for not being a good fit should be offered vital benefits, too. Such as:

1. A severance agreement and payment to protect yourself from potential lawsuits while providing the employee an amount that can help them get through their job transition.
2. Included with the severance agreement, consider offering outplacement services to the employee. As a refresher, outplacement is a service provided to now former employees that can help them get back to working in a new role quicker than going alone.

Someone who was released for not being a good fit can benefit quite a bit from these additions in hopes of them landing a role that is better suited for them. You should want this person to succeed even if they aren’t doing well for your specific team.

 

Reasons for not being a good fit

As mentioned earlier, there may be many reasons for a new hire not being a good fit for the role after starting a new job and finding out months to a year later that it’s not working out either for the employee or employer. Let’s explore some of the reasons.

1. Cultural fit
2. Personalities differences
3. Role fit
4. Values are misaligned
5. Underutilized skills/or not right skillset
6. Frustration or seeming bored
7. The role isn’t appropriately structured for anyone to succeed
8. The company merged with or acquired another company, and roles have changed for existing employees. Naturally, there should be some repositioning to follow that initial reorganization.
9. Lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion
10. Lack of structure
11. Bad business practices
12. Lacks direction in terms of goals, mission, and objectives
13. Toxic management
14. Workplace Nepotism
15. Bad ethical standards
16. Lack of belonging
17. Lack of trust in leadership
18. Moral conflicts
19. Lack of transparency and communication
20. Hyper-competition, micromanagement, or bullying behaviors.
21. Lack of empathy and flexibility

 

Cultural fit: perception versus actual meaning

Very frequently, hiring managers think a good cultural fit is someone similar to themselves and others who work at the organization. They may feel a connection to some aspect of a prospective hire’s personality (“I like their sense of humor”), or often they discover some sort of common ground (“we went to the same school” or “we’re from the same town”).

Or maybe the hiring prospect feels like a person with whom the hiring manager would enjoy having a drink at happy hour. It’s very common to hear hiring managers say, “We’re a fun bunch here, and we like to go out for a few drinks after work, so we’re looking for someone with energy for sure.”

 

However, this type of mindset can:

• Allow unconscious bias or familiarity bias to sway the hiring decision – notably at the expense of hiring the optimal, most qualified individual
• Draw hiring managers toward overly focusing on individuals who think or look like them. This can touch on protected classes, such as gender, age, or race – and if that leads to a hiring decision, that would be discrimination
• Leading to a homogeneous, and overtly conformist workforce

In short – you’re not hiring your newest best friend. You are bringing someone on board who is supposed to help move the organization onward to further success.

Instead, cultural fit is actually about finding someone who meets both of these criteria:

• Aligns with your organization’s mission, vision, values, and professional ethics and has a similar outlook on the company’s trajectory
• Adds something new to the organization that’s currently missing

Although ‘cultural fit’ is a widely used term, it may be misleading and outdated. Because what you’re aiming for with any new hire is cultural impact.

Ask yourself whether any new hire:

1. Has a different perspective
2. Approaches challenges differently
3. Has a new type of experience
4. Will likely result in improvements or enhancements within your organization

Tips for assessing your fit before or during an interview process

During the interview process, to help determine whether your personality and interests match the company is best to start by asking questions, researching the organization, or paying attention to the interviewer’s communication style. Use these tips to properly assess your fit at an organization before and during the interview process:

1. Ask questions about the company culture. To gain insight into whether you believe you could be a good fit for the company, you should ask questions about the employees and overall culture. For example, can you describe the organizational culture? How would you describe the personalities of most team members here?
2. Conduct online research. Research the company’s atmosphere, values, and employee experience. Visit the company’s “about” page to learn more about the perks and benefits they offer employees, review any company testimonials, or read its mission statement.
3. Take a tour of the office. Interviewers may take you on a tour of the office to familiarize yourself with the atmosphere and employees. If you’re not offered a tour, politely request one if you have enough time. You can get a good feel of what the culture is like by scanning the environment. For example, an open office layout with couches and group workspaces can signify a collaborative work style. Personalized desks can also resemble a more laid-back or professional environment. This helps determine if your work style matches the office’s tone, layout, and atmosphere.
4. Focus on the interactions with the employer. Throughout your interview, pay attention to how well you get along with the employer and other employees, especially if they’re your potential team members or managers. This can give you a better idea of what it may be like interacting with them every day. Key elements for you to focus on when talking with employers during the interview include:

1. • Professionalism and courteous attitude: Pay attention to how professional the interviewers act throughout the interview process. Elements to look for include if they greeted you upon entering, shook your hand, and nodded politely while listening to your interview answers.
   • Timeliness: Interviewers can show they respect your schedule by showing up on time to interviews, promptly responding to any questions you may have, and promptly updating you on different stages of the process.
   • Ease of conversation: As you talk with the interviewers, assess how comfortable you feel when speaking to them. A simple and natural conversation may be a strong sign that you can get along well with the employees and potentially fit quickly with the culture.

5. Reach out to current employees. This one might be tricky for some as it requires you to be brave enough to reach out to strangers asking about the potential company, to which you may or may not get a response back to your inquiry.

That being said, it’s always a good idea to get in touch with current employees to learn first-hand about their experiences in the role. You can visit social media sites, connect with these employees online, and send them a message requesting information about the overall employee experience.

You can also visit company review sites such as “Glassdoor” and read any feedback current or past employees have left about the company to give you a bit more insight into what it’s like to work at the company or in specific departments.

Final thoughts

Cultural fit is one of those employee qualities that every company wants, but many don’t entirely understand or know exactly how to achieve desired outcomes. Here, we explained that the term cultural fit could be replaced with cultural impact, because that’s what you should be going for: an employee who aligns with your organization’s values and goals but brings some new strengths to your team.

Remember, ‘cultural fit’ has nothing to do with hiring employees who look or think like you or with whom you share commonalities.