You’ve heard us talk about culture a lot on the blog, particularly about how we think about our Gents Place Values. It’s far from secret that here at The Gents Place we hire for cultural fit. This gives us a lot of flexibility because as we grow we will need our best people to help out in new areas instead of keeping them entrenched in one and since we hired for cultural fit, they are going to bring all that understanding to whatever role they may be assigned. In this article we will talk a bit about hiring for cultural fit and why you should do so when building the teams that will run your clubs.

What is a Cultural Fit?

Someone who is a cultural fit aligns with your company in goals, beliefs, and attitudes. For us, at The Gents Place, we want someone to truly grasp our mission to make the world a better place by making men look and feel their best while building clubs that hold the values of the classic gentleman.

At the club level, we could hire someone who was a very talented stylist or barber, but if they didn’t align with our values, what good would that do? They wouldn’t mesh well with our coworkers or our members and might leave after a short time, which is counter to our goal of building relationships both with our fellow team members as well as with our guests. Having this cultural alignment helps to make the brand experience meaningful (and fun) for everyone, and is much more than just an attitude or behavior that is put on while in the workplace.

How Can You Hire for Cultural Fit?

Well, before you even get in front of candidates, you might ask them to pick 1-2 of our values and explain in their own words why those values resonate with them. You’ll get some insight into their character and work ethic. When you’re in person you can follow up with more descriptive questions like:

1. What type of team do you thrive in?
2. Why do you find meaning in your work, and how do you think you’ll find meaning here?
3. How would you define our company’s culture, based on what you’ve seen so far?

We’ve built and defined the ultra-premium men’s grooming category and we’ve done that in large part by making sure that we hired key people who are aligned with us in as many ways as possible. We have people from every background and personality as part of the team that will help you build your clubs, but all of that diversity is aligned with our mission and culture, and that is why we will continue rapid success in the men’s grooming industry.