Recently I’ve read a number of articles about hiring the right fit for the company culture. Various assessments are done, long in-depth interviews with various teams and managers to determine whether the candidate in front of you is the right fit and will bring you company to the next level.
But what if Language matters?
What if you are looking for a German Inside Sales or Finnish Accounts Receivables, not only do they need to have a certain experience they need to have a certain language skills as well. And more than likely this will bring cultural differences with them. Germans are known for their formal approach, strict planning and respect for authority. Finnish for instance might not do much small talk, like to stick to their meeting timetables and don’t want to overrun them and don’t like hyped up presentations. What do you do will you need a native language speaker but find that they are not a 100% match with your company culture?
A prime example would be a German Business development candidate we have heard about from an agency. Their client had interviewed numerous German sales candidates of which some had won president circle awards and been top performer of the quarter. However they were judged by mainly American interviewers who were setting up a European Sales team and felt the candidates did not fit in within the company culture. 6 months down the line the company still had not entered the German speaking markets and was behind on target.
We at Job Coconut believe that you will have to adjust your company culture a small bit if you wish to conquer Europe. If you need to hire language speakers do not try to just judge them on their fit within the company culture but as well can they represent your brand in the best way in their home culture. Culture is like Rome, it isn’t built in a day and employees will adjust to it. If your company culture has been developed on the continent more than likely it will have to be adjusted a small bit to the diversity of the various cultures in other Continents.
