Striking the balance: how to hire for both technical and cultural fit

Hiring for technical skill or cultural alignment shouldn’t be a binary choice. 

Strong teams thrive when capable people also share the values, behaviours, and ownership mindset that define your company.

But many organisations fall into the trap of over-indexing on one side. Hire purely for technical brilliance, and you risk negative effects on culture. Hire purely for fit, and you end up with well-liked employees who can’t execute at the pace you need.

The solution isn’t compromise. It’s designing a hiring process that systematically evaluates both. 

In this article, we’ll outline a framework to help you define the balance between skills and values for each role, and to structure interviews to test cultural alignment and problem-solving equally.

Why both technical and cultural fit matter

Research from Harvard Business Review found that 80% of employee turnover is due to poor hiring decisions, often linked to cultural misalignment rather than technical gaps. 

On the other hand, McKinsey highlights that companies with strong technical talent outperform peers by 2.2 times in profitability.

In essence, technical depth drives performance, while cultural alignment ensures sustainability. 

Leaders who treat this as a false choice are setting themselves up for churn, conflict, and stagnation.

Technical fit powers execution, while cultural fit drives retention. You need both to grow.

Step 1: Define the intersection

Before you even start interviewing, define what good looks like in two dimensions:

1. Technical must-haves. The hard skills without which the role cannot succeed.
2. Cultural must-haves. The values, behaviours, and attitudes that make someone thrive in your company.

One way you can do this is to create a two-axis scorecard where candidates are rated against both technical and cultural markers. 

Weightings can shift depending on the role. For example, an early-stage startup may need 70% technical, 30% cultural for a senior engineer, but closer to 50/50 for a leadership role.

“Some people who had the least impressive technical skills ended up being the biggest stars. I’m going to stop looking for technical skills and just look for emotional skills.” - Restaurateur Danny Meyer

Meyer clarified that you still need technical aptitude, but his quote highlights a critical truth: cultural behaviours like empathy, curiosity, and integrity often drive long-term success more than credentials alone.

Culture is not soft. Write it down, measure it, and hire against it.

Step 2: Design interviews to test both dimensions

Interviews often default to technical tests because they feel objective. However, cultural evaluation can be just as testable if you design for it.

• Technical testing. Use coding challenges, case studies, or role-specific problem-solving. The aim is to simulate the work, not trick candidates with puzzles.
• Cultural testing. Use behavioural questions and scenario-based exercises. Ask how they’ve handled conflict, feedback, or ambiguity. Look for evidence of values in action.

Best practice is to separate the interview stages. The process would then look something like this: 

1. Technical round led by peers or experts in the domain.
2. Values and behaviours round led by cross-functional peers or founders.
3. Ownership and motivation round exploring why they want to join, and whether they’re aligned with the company mission.

Google famously pioneered structured interviews that combine behavioural and situational questions with technical assessments, reducing bias and improving predictive validity.

“That was a reminder of the critical importance of cultural fit. You need to operate on shorter cycles and fewer data points, as the most important data points are people.” - Apple CEO Tim Cook

Even at world-class companies, cultural misfit can undermine performance. This is why values-based interviews should carry equal weight with technical rounds.

Don’t leave cultural evaluation to gut feel. Make it as systematic as technical testing.

Step 3: Reinforce culture through equity and ownership

Even when you hire diverse technical specialists, shared ownership can unify them. Employee share schemes and options create a common stake in the company’s success, anchoring individuals to the mission rather than just their own domain.

“Hiring for mission and value alignment is arguably the most important piece of the puzzle to get right. If someone isn’t inspired by your mission or on board with your values, this can tear your company apart.” - culture expert Greg Besner

Share schemes embed this alignment into the structure of your business. 

Fast-scaling companies like Monzo and Wise used equity distribution as a deliberate cultural strategy to build alignment across rapidly expanding teams.

Candidates should see that joining your company isn’t just a job, it’s a shared journey.

Summary: the hiring balance checklist

• Define technical and cultural must-haves upfront.
• Create a two-axis scorecard to avoid bias.
• Separate interview stages for skills, behaviours, and ownership.
• Anchor culture with equity and shared mission.

When you strike the balance, you hire people who want to do the work, in the way your company needs it done.

Final word

Hiring for both technical and cultural fit isn’t a luxury. It’s the only way to build resilient, high-performing teams. 

Ignore either dimension and you’ll pay for it later in churn, conflict, or lost execution speed.

If you’re serious about embedding cultural ownership in your hiring process, consider how Vestd can help. 

Book a call to find out more.