Cultural fit interviews: how to experiment and measure results

A conversation with Mick Amelishko, Senior Director of Engineering, Solutions Track, PandaDoc

So, what does culture mean to you?

My first encounter with this concept was in my early days with PandaDoc, maybe in my second or third month with the company. I was interviewing a candidate, and I wasn’t sure about him. He was strong from a tech perspective, but something wasn’t quite right. So I asked Mikita, our CEO and co-founder, “What should I do with this guy?” He said, “Make sure he’s a good cultural fit. If he isn’t, nothing else matters.”

I didn't understand what he meant exactly. I was like, “Culture?? We’re not at an opera house.” So my gut feeling told me I should see if the guy will feel comfortable with us, and if we’ll feel comfortable with him.

Today, eight years later, I know much more about culture. Merriam-Webster defines “culture” as “a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize an organization”.

How do you build a strong culture?

You can print T-shirts and posters with slogans. This may help, but it's definitely not the most important thing.

There are three crucial decisions in the life of every employee on your team: hiring, promoting (or not), and firing. These are areas where you can directly influence culture. A lot of tech companies grow quickly, and there’s a risk that if you hire a lot of new people in a short span of time, they could dilute your culture.

At PandaDoc, we’ve had a really huge increase in headcount on our Engineering team — from 100 to 200 in only 12 months. But we survived it because we always hire with our strong culture in mind. No matter how brilliant an engineer, or no matter how much we need someone with really niche expertise, if the person isn’t a good cultural fit, it’s not going to work for us.

A conversation with Ulyana Stepanovskaya, Engineering Recruitment Lead, PandaDoc

What’s your process for cultural fit interviews?

PandaDoc has a culture code that defines what kind of people we are, how we interact with our colleagues, and the type of candidates we look for. The acronym L.I.F.E. — Learn, Impact, Fun, Empathy — helps us keep our core values at top of mind. It also helps us structure our interviews.

Our process includes three types of interviews: recruitment, cultural, and tech. The cultural interview is 60 minutes and conducted by the manager and recruiter, and the tech interview is 90 minutes and conducted by a pair of engineers. If everything goes smoothly, we’ll hire a person within two weeks, or even sooner. There might be further interviews if we want a candidate to meet the team, but this is an exception.

Originally we did the tech interview first. But at a certain stage we made a switch because, in our case, a good cultural fit is even more important. We had experience rejecting otherwise good engineers after the tech interview based on a cultural mismatch.

Finding someone who’s a good cultural fit with soft skills is more important to us than finding someone with applicable hard skills, because soft skills are harder to gain. This doesn't mean we hire good people who aren’t the best engineers. We’ll sometimes hire someone who’s slightly below the level we initially targeted for if they’re a good cultural fit and their soft skills seem strong. Often a candidate like this realizes their potential in the right environment and reaches the next level before long. So, you might consider following this approach if you have resources available, including a mentor.

How can an engineering candidate prepare for a cultural interview?

We suggest honest self-reflection — simply asking yourself what you really want from your job. I ask this question in every cultural interview I do. Other important questions to ask yourself might be: What does your perfect workday look like? What are you looking for in a team? What makes you happy? If you're ready to answer these questions, you’re prepared for a cultural interview.

Your values may contradict something you sense within the company. Some engineers might be more OK than others with adapting to a new company culture. If you feel something isn’t right, but you're still getting an offer, it's your call. If the company says they're fine, you can give it a go. Just keep in mind that any cultural disconnection will most likely become clear during your first few working days.