Hiring right now?
Work out if you need to hire at all. Then meet three people worth meeting, not thirty CVs.
TALK HIRINGCulture fitis bullsh!t.
Stop hiring people because they're a good 'culture fit'. Start hiring people who move the business forward. Three candidates, not thirty.
Three. Not thirty. ·People over paper. ·Bin the job spec. ·Pick up the phone. ·Three. Not thirty. ·People over paper. ·Bin the job spec. ·Pick up the phone. ·
Culture Fit Is Bullsh!t is a hiring consultancy and a movement.
Hiring runs on gut feel, copied job specs and piles of thirty CVs nobody reads. Then everyone acts surprised when the hire doesn't work. We replace the feeling with evidence: a scorecard written before anyone walks into the room, three people worth meeting, and a decision made on what they can actually do.
Culture fit is bullshit.
Culture fit means people you'd have a pint with.
You need people who'll tell you your plan is wrong.
Culture fit means “they're like us”.
You need people who see what you can't.
Culture fit means the interview felt easy.
You need evidence they can do the job.
Culture fit means a comfortable room.
You need a better business.
The problem
Culture fit is a gut feeling dressed up as a reason.
1
It's a mirror, not a hire.
Hire for fit and you get a team that agrees with each other. Lovely. Right up until nobody spots what's breaking.
2
It bins good people.
In a tight, niche market, “not quite a fit” quietly throws away the candidates you can least afford to lose.
3
Write a scorecard instead.
Before you meet anyone. For the job you actually need doing. If you can't write it down, it shouldn't decide who you hire.
The receipts
- 18
- years in recruitment
- 83%
- of the people I place weren't on the market
- 94%+
- still in the role
- 0
- counteroffers accepted
- 1
- non-starter. Ever.
Find your door.
Want your team to hire better?
Hands-on workshops and straight-talking keynotes for founders, hiring teams, accelerators and events.
BOOK A SESSIONLooking for your next role?
Honest feedback and proper prep from someone who's sat on the other side of the table for 18 years.
BOOK A SESSIONWhat this looks like.
An e-mobility manufacturer needed a team in place for a major funding bid.
We built it.
A safety tech company was paying an outside firm to do its R&D.
We brought it in-house. The introduction came from the firm that had been doing the work.
A clean energy start-up needed its first proper team.
We built it out.
From global brands to ten-person start-ups.
The model
The 6 Gates. People over paper.
The framework I've run every hire through for seven years. It's why the people I place stay in the role, and why I never send more than three names.
- 01
- 02
- 03
- 04
- 05
- 06
Six gates every hire goes through. You get them when we work together.
Meet Sharn.
I'm Sharn Lalkiya. 18 years in recruitment, seven running my own firm, funded from my own savings. In my first four years I burnt nearly £200k hiring people I liked. So I rebuilt on a scorecard, not a feeling. Every client gets that process now, before they make the same mistake.
The scars are the credential.
READ THE FULL STORYWhat I talk about
Culture fit / Binning the job spec / Scorecards / The 6 Gates / Interviews as first dates / Counteroffers / AI in hiring / First hires
Book me to speakThe talk, in four lines
Three. NOT thirty.
- 3
months to a prototype.
Not 30.
- 3
people to interview.
Not 30.
- 3
hours to make a decision.
Not 30 days.
- 3
people on the phone.
Not 30 CVs.
Interested?
DM me HIRE
on LinkedIn.
Tell me the role you're stuck on. We'll work out whether you need to hire for it at all, and what to look for if you do.
Sharn Lalkiya · Founder, Culture Fit Is Bullsh!t