You Could Lose Your Dream Job to a Frat Boy

"We just don't think you'd fit in here..."

If you think about it, you spend four years of your life (if you elect to attend college) just to secure an entry or mid-level job. That's four years of late night study sessions, countless exams, and crappy internships just to be back to the bottom of the pecking order. After graduating, you polish off your resume and begin the process of applying. Maybe there's a company or organization that you've dreamed of working for, or you just want to do what you love. You manage to make it through the entire process, but in the end get passed over for a guy wearing Vineyard Vines and Sperry's named Chad. You think to yourself, "there's no way he's more qualified for the job than me," and you may be right.

See, in the 21st century, skills and qualifications have seemingly taken a backseat to an unspoken requirement known as cultural fit. Now, this isn't necessarily a new concept, but one that has been made more prevalent with the shift toward a higher demographic of millennials in managerial positions. When companies hire based on cultural fit, they are hiring candidates they think are going to mesh well with the existing company culture. And while that seems all fine and dandy, it has the potential to be catastrophic.

Patty McCord, human-resource consultant and former chief talent officer at Netflix, highlights that an organization can easily prioritize cultural fit to the point where you end up with “a homogenous culture where everybody looks alike, everybody thinks alike and everybody likes drinking beer at 3 o’clock in the afternoon with the bros” Companies looking to attract top talent might often prioritize surface-level office culture and fail to promote organizational culture. This can, in part, be due to the approach companies use to hire employees.

Interviews. We've all had one. Some of us thrive and some of us dive. They remain the most common form of getting to know a candidate and for good reasons. However, they don’t often always reflect every single aspect of a candidate. A common phrase heard is that “we didn’t click” or “we just don't think you'd fit in here.” Mel Hennigan, vice president of people for Symplicity Corp., argues that many hiring decisions (in relation to a candidate’s supposed “fit” within the organization and not necessarily based on qualifications) are based on subjective assessments more than on the candidate’s ability to deliver results. So, while you may be able to impress employers with your skills and qualifications you've spent four years to hone, Chad is able to woo them by virtue of his past affiliations.

In a study of law firms published in the American Sociological Review, cultural fit is very much a formal criteria and often-times, the first thing a candidate is evaluated on. Evaluated law firms of this particular study were given a personality word such as sporty, country-club, or egghead that represented the firm overall based on their “after hour” activities as well as daily office function observation. In interviews with hiring managers, these words did in fact play a significant role in determining which candidates were given interviews and which were not based on their office culture and words on a resume.

Chad's years of throwin it back with the boys and summers spent at the lake house have cultivated him into the prime candidate. Companies love to hire Chad for his chill vibe and stagnant personality. They can look past his inability to do the job unsupervised because they just love to play golf on the weekends.

Well, how do I make sure this doesn't happen to me?

Find a company/organization that aligns with your own cultural fit. Look for a company whose core values match your personal attitudes, beliefs, and values. Develop and be able to answer who you are not only as a person, but as an employee. Don't lie to try and fit in because you will be miserable in the long run. If you truly are passionate about the work, a good employer will recognize it.

(Disclaimer: not meant to offend anyone named Chad)