Employee Recruitment


Nonprofit, 15+ Employees


The CEO wanted to transform the existing organizational culture to one that valued leadership at all levels. She intentionally sought new hires who were likely to embrace and support that model. The challenge was identifying the best “cultural fit” candidate who also had the right skill set given the organization’s lack of a formal assessment process.

Two-Phase Solution:

Work with CEO and Hiring Manager to develop and implement a formal employee selection process as follows:

  1. List the basic job requirements to be posted for an open position.
  2. In addition, identify the leadership attributes desired for that role.
  3. At initial resume review, immediately eliminate all applicants who did not meet published job criteria.
  4. By way of phone interviews, screen qualified applicants against list of leadership attributes to find those likely to exhibit the desired qualities.
  5. Summarize results of all screening interviews and invite successful candidates for face-to-face interviews.
  6. Conduct in-person interviews with goal of arriving at a short list of candidates who demonstrate the strongest skills and leadership attributes for the job.
  7. Check references for all short-listed candidates, summarize results and recommend the degree to which each appears to fit and complement the organizational culture.


Three people were hired using this employee selection process. The CEO reported that all of the candidates not only “fit” as hoped, but were positively influencing tenured employees. In addition, the screening summaries revealed potential growth areas for each applicant, which in turn informed development support for the new hire immediately upon starting in the position.