Here’s my recommendation for solving this problem with money: have paid 1-2 month work trials for applicants. The person you hire to oversee these doesn’t have to be super-competent themselves, they mostly a people-ops person coordinating the work-trialers. The outputs of the work could be relatively easily judged with just a bit of work from the candidate team (a validation-easier-than-production situation), and the physical co-location would give ample time for watercooler conversations to reveal culture-fit.
Here’s another suggestion: how about telling the recruiters to spend the time to check personal references? This is rarely, if ever, done in my experience.
Here’s my recommendation for solving this problem with money: have paid 1-2 month work trials for applicants. The person you hire to oversee these doesn’t have to be super-competent themselves, they mostly a people-ops person coordinating the work-trialers. The outputs of the work could be relatively easily judged with just a bit of work from the candidate team (a validation-easier-than-production situation), and the physical co-location would give ample time for watercooler conversations to reveal culture-fit.
Here’s another suggestion: how about telling the recruiters to spend the time to check personal references? This is rarely, if ever, done in my experience.