Recruiting For Fit - A Qualitative Study on Person-Organization Fit in the Recruitment Process

Abstract: Person-organization (P-O) fit is a concept that has emerged as a prominent recruitment practice for many firms today, where the intention is to hire candidates that either contribute with something the company needs, has similar values, or both. This, in turn, will lead to increased satisfaction, commitment and retention for employees. This study investigated how companies work with P-O fit strategically, and how a candidate that provides something the company needs is viewed in relation to the importance of shared values. Furthermore, it has investigated which factors have an impact on the definitions of fit to understand how companies can benefit from positive aspects and avoid potential dangers. To investigate this, the different types of fit have been categorized and analysed using a model derived from a definition of P-O fit, and the concept of ambiguity was incorporated toincrease theunderstandingof factorsthatcan influence differenttypesof fit.Seven interviews were conducted with HR Directors, HR Managers, and recruiters in large companies. The thesis concludes that in these companies, the externally communicated core values act as determinants to define P-O fit. Furthermore, the ambiguous definition has an impact on which types of fit are attractive to the company since they can adopt both wide and narrow definitions of fit. In these large organizations, the determinants for fit create a wide definition that allows for many types of persons. Subsequently, because of the wide definition, candidates are only viewed attractive by the firms if they share the core values, and a candidate that possesses something they need is not deemed attractive if it comes at the expense of shared values.