The Work-Life Equation: Chapter 2

Chapter 2- What is Fit and Why is it so Important?

Hopefully after reading the introduction and Chapter 1 of the Work-Life Equation you’ve found my arguments compelling and are interested in learning more about finding the right job with the right organization that uniquely “fits” you. Now, let’s start chapter 2 with a field trip!

Go to the mall or a shoe store and find the most comfortable pair of shoes you can. Imagine if they were the last pair of shoes you will ever own; or that pair you will wear as you travel across the US and Europe on an all-expenses paid 3 month vacation. As you try on different shoes searching for that most comfortable pair take note of what shoes don’t “fit”; which ones really hurt your feet. Once you find that perfect pair of shoes, compare them to the pair that fit you the least. What were the differences? Shape, material, cushion, width? Did you find one brand that no matter what shoe you try it just doesn’t feel right?

Now take that most comfortable pair and try on a pair of that same shoe brand/style/ model but in one size smaller. How does it feel? Is it tight? Are your toes scrunched up? Does it hurt your heel? Now sit the two pair of shoes on a shelf (the perfect pair and the one sized smaller pair) and stand back 3 feet to view them. They look identical, don’t they? Most people won’t even be able to tell the difference it’s so subtle, but your feet definitely know the difference. If you bought that favorite pair of shoes in the wrong size, it could be the difference between spending a lifetime walking the Earth admiring the view while never thinking about your feet, or it could mean a lifetime of pain and blisters.

Jobs are no different.

Jobs comes in many different shapes and sizes too. Even jobs with the same titles can look and sound similar to one another, but each job is unique; jobs are not all created equal. And just like when you went shoe shopping, some jobs will feel too big, some will be too small, some will pinch your pinky toe… but some will “fit” just right. In this chapter, I will attempt to explain fit and four (4) different types of fit: fit with the job itself, fit with the organization and industry, fit with teams and fit within the context of the community you serve.

Person-Job Fit

Each job requires a specific set of talent & skills that are needed for success. In HR speak, this alignment between an individual’s skills and the job requirements is called person- job fit. As summarized in this research article:

Person-job (PJ) fit is defined as the compatibility between individuals and the job or tasks that they perform at work. This definition includes compatibility based on employee needs and job supplies available to meet those needs, as well as job demands and employee abilities to meet those demands. In the past, the term PJ fit has been used to describe fit with occupations or vocations as well, but more recently it has been distinguished from this broader form of fit.

When looking at a job posting on Indeed, LinkedIn, etc. you’ll see these needed “employee abilities” listed in the “Requirements” or “Qualifications” sections. Just to give you an idea, I looked over several Business Intelligence Analyst job postings recently and noticed these knowledge, skills and abilities consistently listed:

1. Business Acumen (knowledge of the business domain specific to the industry, field and/or organization they are analyzing)
2. Data Analysis and Data Modeling skills
3. Skill using BI analytics software applications
4. Skill in a query language, such as Microsoft SQL
5. Knowledge of the Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

Lots of highly technical skills are needed here and one can’t be successful in the job (the job doesn’t fit) without them. Other requirements you may see listed on job postings are soft skills or core competencies. Things like “teamwork, detail-oriented, out-of-the-box thinker”. Those are very important too. Imagine you have strengths (or needs) in the areas of “Service to Others” and “Collaboration” or you score extremely high on “extraversion” personality type. You will probably be miserable in a job that requires you to work in a cube alone.

The bottom line here is for you to have proper person-job fit, there must be alignment between your talents, knowledge, skills, abilities and needs and the requirements/ aspects of the job you do. In a future chapter I’ll be talking about several resources out there to help you understand your personal needs and talents to help find the right job fit.

Organizational/ Industry Fit

Fit doesn’t stop with the job; simply knowing what job you’re best suited for isn’t enough. Jobs that require the same skills and have the same duties could belong to different industries and to different organizations, each with its own values and culture. This takes us to another type of fit that’s a focus of psychological research, which is called person-organization fit.

“Research on Person- Organization fit has proliferated since the early 1990s… (and) there is compelling evidence that individuals are differentially compatible with various organizations, and that this compatibility has important consequences.”

Yes, the company you work for can make all the difference in the world. Research tells us the RIGHT organization likely means the individual will have higher levels of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and trust. This also means lower turnover intentions. I’m sure we can all think of companies that we would love to work for, perhaps solely based on their stated mission or the culture they are known for. Companies like Costco, Starbucks, Southwest & Chick-fil-A are well known for their values and strong corporate cultures and a positive work atmosphere.

Mission and values are critical for organizations. They should serve as the “North star” which guides all decisions that are made. When people are carrying about their work and are faced with a decision to make, the employee asks themselves, “if I take this course of action will it further our mission? Does this decision embody our values?” When I worked for Chick-fil-A, the mission and purpose statement were often cited by leadership and their importance was made clear to me, from the beginning. Even today, nearly 15 years since I last worked in a restaurant as a manager, I can recite them and I can still see that mission and purpose living in each Chick-fil-A restaurant I walk into. It makes a difference. You should know what the company’s mission is so you can better understand what’s driving decisions you and your co-workers should make. And as I stated before, that mission is something that should resonate with you.

What about the atmosphere or climate? When you are out interviewing for your dream job and you walk into that office setting, what does the atmosphere feel like? What expressions do you see on peoples faces? Do people look happy? Do you hear people talking and collaborating in the background, or is it quiet as a graveyard? Do people say “good morning” as they pass you in the hall or in the elevator? Do you hear people being greeted by name or is everyone just a “number” or a cog in the big machine?

Another fit factor could be with the products or services that the company sells as part of the industry it belongs to. To illustrate my point, I’ll explain one industry I just can NOT get excited about “growing the customer base” or “furthering the mission” or “coming up with innovative ideas” for. I currently live in Virginia where agriculture is the largest sector of the economy, with an estimated economic impact of $52 billion annually, according to Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. A big slice of that agriculture figure is tobacco. Not only does a lot of tobacco get grown here, Virginia is also home to some large tobacco processing plants. And there seems to be good money in this industry too. According to this report, the average worker earns over $69K per year which is pretty good by any standard. But one thing I know about myself is I could never get enthusiastic or committed working for a big tobacco company. I could have the HR job that I do and love today. I may have a great engaging manager, along with a big salary with great benefits. I could have a great team that I really gel with. But I’ve lost several family members to cancer which I believe strongly was tied to their lifelong use of tobacco products. I just couldn’t walk into that building each day knowing product was being shipped out the back dock that would potentially harm others. Now do you see how this “fit” within the organization or industry can be so important?

Another aspect of organizational culture to understand is how the organization develops and/ or moves people. Some organizations have a high propensity to move people from one position to the next every few months or to only promote from within. These companies often pull talent from the core operations function and then promote them into support staff roles. I wrote “and/or” above because I have seen and interviewed people who went through a well-structured development plan to get prepared for their new roles in HR, Finance, IT or other support function. On the other hand, I’ve seen people get little to no training at all, and they were just moved into the next role and expected to learn it on the fly. Effective orgs ensure personalized development plans and readiness assessments are critical parts of their org development programs. 

Some companies have formal career ladder programs in place to help grow people into higher level roles and they gain work experiences and skills needed to succeed. Other organizations tend to fill vacancies by mostly external means. They want the best-of-the-best, people already experts in their vocation. They have less of an appetite to grow people within. Depending on your situation, this dynamic could make a huge impact on your employment experience. For many people, opportunities to learn and grow is vital to their employment experience and for those keeping track, this is another element in Gallup’s engagement model (Q12).

As you think about what organization you might want to work for, take time to review their company websites and read up on what their stated mission, vision and values are. Is developing people part of that equation? Where do they rank on those lists of best companies to work for? Talk to people that work for those companies that look appealing to you and learn more so you can make a more informed decision about how well you would fit there. And when you’re searching for that new jobs are get to final interview stage with a company, make sure you get a “realistic job preview”. I’ll go in more detail about this in the next chapter but in short, a realistic job preview is a “tool companies and organizations use as a way to communicate the good and the bad characteristics of the job during the hiring process of new employees.” It’s a means to give you a peek at the whole job so that you’re fully aware of everything the job entails.

Team/Group Fit

Person-group (PG) fit is another heavily researched area that describes the match between an employee and their immediate team in the workplace. What type of alignment is there between personality, goals, abilities, and values with other team members? Learning this type of information at the peer level can be very difficult for you to understand unless you are already on the team, so I won’t expound upon this topic too much in this article. However while searching for your dream job there is a high likelihood that you will interview with the person who would know some details about the team, and that’s the immediate manager. Go equipped with questions to find out about the team dynamics. Do they have regular team meetings? When was the last time they had a team building exercise or team outing? Do people take time to go to lunch together? Another question: are some or all team members remotely located? If so, how will you communicate and interact with them? How would you build a supportive, cohesive team when you aren’t all co-located together? (Good questions for another article!)

Community Fit: Whom will you serve?

After a lot of analysis, thought and deliberation you have learned you have the gifts, knowledge, skills and desire to be a middle school math teacher. Great! The world needs more math teachers! But now consider whom will you serve by teaching math? By serving which community will you find the most gratification? Is it teaching 7th graders at:

• your local, neighborhood middle school
• a middle school located downtown, three-quarters of whom are on free or reduced lunches
• a local, private special needs school for those with cognitive disabilities
• a Christian school in Niamey, Niger for whom English is a third language
• a top Ivy League feeder school in NYC

All other things being equal, I guarantee each of these work experiences as a middle school math teacher will be very different for you. Only your personal passions and priorities will help guide the decision of which is the best “fit” and you likely won’t feel complete if you are not serving the right community. Mother Teresa was called to work and teach in the slums of Calcutta aiding the city's poorest and sickest people. Helen Roseveare was a medical student at Cambridge University who left the UK to practice medicine and teach others in medical work in the African Congo. Geoffrey Canada founded his charter school in Harlem, with a lifelong dedication to keeping at-risk kids on the right path. Each of these influential leaders served specific communities where they felt in their heart called to serve. Where will you?

I think it’s important to stop and recognize that serving the right community and alignment with organizational mission are foundational to employee engagement. It’s something you must build on, not try to make fit after the fact. Managers can equip, empower and engage their employee all day long, but if there isn’t alignment with the employee’s contribution towards a higher purpose that resonates, full commitment and enthusiasm will never occur. I’ll elaborate on this much deeper in a future chapter.

One last thought about fit… fit in the context of jobs can be tricky and is often a sorely debated topic among HR professionals and managers. Hiring decisions are sometimes driven by perceptions of what managers call “fit”, but in reality, these are just forms of bias. In other words, the person who looks, acts, talks and believes most like the manager(s) is the person that gets hired, regardless of the real qualifications the person possesses or needs of the job. That’s not good. HR and management should strive to eliminate all forms of bias from the selection process.

So that’s it for fit. Hopefully after reading this chapter you now better understand “fit” in the context of the entire scope of the person, organization, team, community and “job”.

Now then… what is a job anyway? Stay tuned for Chapter 3 to find out!