How to hire better people

To hire better people, you must move beyond the resume to evaluate how a candidate’s natural work personality aligns with the specific activities your team needs to perform.

Key takeaways

• Resumes only show past experience, while work personality predicts how a person will actually behave in your specific team environment.
• High-performing teams require a balance of eight core work actions, including Evaluating, Coordinating, and Pioneering.
• Hiring for 'culture fit' should be replaced with 'organisation fit' to ensure candidates match your values, job requirements, and team gaps.
• Data-driven assessments reduce unconscious bias and help leaders make objective decisions based on logic rather than gut feel.

We have all been there – you find a candidate who looks perfect on paper, nails the interview, and then struggles to deliver once they actually start the job. It is a frustrating and expensive cycle that many HR leaders face when trying to figure out how to hire better people. The reality is that traditional recruitment often focuses on the wrong signals, prioritising years of experience over the natural tendencies that dictate daily performance.

The cost of a bad hire goes far beyond the recruitment fee. It ripples through your culture, affecting team morale and slowing down your most important projects. If you want to break this cycle, you need to change your perspective. Hiring better people is not about finding the 'best' individual in a vacuum; it is about finding the right piece for your specific organisational puzzle.

Understanding the role of work personality

When we talk about how to hire better people, we have to talk about personality. At Compono, we define this as a person’s natural preference for certain types of work activities. We all have a dominant preference that influences where we spend our energy. Some people are naturally inclined to be The Doer, focusing on practical tasks and deadlines, while others might be The Pioneer, thriving on innovation and new ideas.

If you hire a brilliant creative for a role that requires meticulous auditing and routine, they will likely disengage. It is not because they lack skill, but because the work does not align with their work personality. By assessing these traits early in the recruitment process, you can predict whether a candidate will find the role energising or exhausting. This insight is the foundation of long-term retention and high performance.

At Compono, we’ve spent years researching high-performing teams to identify the eight work actions that drive success. Our platform helps you invite candidates to complete a quick assessment, giving you a clear view of their natural work preferences before you even meet them. This allows you to see if they are the The Coordinator your project team is missing or the The Helper your customer service department needs.

The shift from culture fit to organisation fit

For a long time, 'culture fit' was the gold standard for hiring. However, this often led to teams hiring people who were just like them, which stifles diversity and innovation. To hire better people, we suggest looking for 'organisation fit' instead. This is a more comprehensive model that evaluates three distinct areas: culture fit, job fit, and personality fit.

Culture fit should be about shared values and ethics, not shared hobbies. Job fit is about having the right skills and qualifications for the specific tasks at hand. Personality fit is the final piece – ensuring the candidate’s natural behaviours match the team’s current gaps. When you balance these three elements, you create a team that is not only cohesive but also capable of handling a variety of challenges.

You can see this model in action through our explainer on how Compono Hire assesses candidates. By using a structured framework, you move away from subjective 'gut feelings' and toward a repeatable, data-driven process. This ensures that every person you bring into the business is set up for success from day one.

Building a balanced team for high performance

High-performing teams are rarely made up of eight identical people. Instead, they are a tapestry of different work personalities that complement one another. If your team is full of The Campaigner types, you will have plenty of vision and enthusiasm, but you might struggle with follow-through and detail. Conversely, a team of only The Auditor types will be incredibly accurate but might lack the spark needed for innovation.

To hire better people, you must first understand the current composition of your team. Where are the gaps? If your team is currently struggling with meeting deadlines, you might need someone who is results-driven and organised. If your team is feeling disconnected, an empathetic The Advisor could be the missing link to foster better collaboration.

Compono allows team managers to analyse the impact of adding a new member before the offer is even made. By mapping your existing team’s personalities, you can identify exactly which traits will strengthen the group. This proactive approach to team design is a game-changer for leaders who want to build sustainable high performance without the guesswork.

Removing bias through objective data

Unconscious bias is one of the biggest hurdles to hiring better people. We naturally gravitate toward people who speak like us, went to the same schools, or share our interests. While these connections feel good, they don't necessarily lead to better work outcomes. To truly optimise your hiring, you need to introduce objective data points that level the playing field for all candidates.

Structured interviews and standardised assessments are excellent tools for this. When every candidate is measured against the same criteria – such as their logical reasoning, work preferences, and core skills – the best talent naturally rises to the top. This approach not only improves the quality of your hires but also enhances your employer brand by ensuring a fair and transparent process for everyone involved.

Using a workforce intelligence platform like Compono Hire helps you automate this scoring. Candidates are ranked based on their alignment with the role and the team, allowing your recruiters to focus their time on the people most likely to succeed. This efficiency is vital for mid-market companies that need to scale quickly without sacrificing the quality of their culture.

Key insights

• Effective hiring requires a shift from looking at what a candidate has done to understanding how they prefer to work.
• Organisation fit is a superior metric to culture fit, as it balances values, skills, and personality.
• High-performing teams are built by identifying and filling specific work personality gaps.
• Data-driven recruitment processes are essential for removing unconscious bias and improving long-term retention.

Where to from here?

Hiring better people is a journey of continuous improvement. By integrating work personality assessments and focusing on organisation fit, you can build a team that is resilient, diverse, and high-performing.

• Explore: Our Workforce Intelligence Platform to see how we help you find the right talent.
• Talk to an expert: Book in a 15-minute chat to get a walkthrough of how Compono can transform your hiring process.

Frequently asked questions

How do I identify the gaps in my current team?

You can identify gaps by mapping your team's current work personalities. Look for activities that are often neglected – such as detailed auditing or creative pioneering – and target those traits in your next hire.

Why is personality more important than experience?

While experience shows what someone was capable of in a previous environment, personality predicts how they will react to the daily demands and stresses of your specific role and team culture.

How can I reduce bias in my recruitment process?

The best way to reduce bias is to use standardised assessments and structured interview questions. This ensures every candidate is evaluated on the same objective data points rather than subjective impressions.

What is the difference between culture fit and organisation fit?

Culture fit is often used vaguely to describe 'likability'. Organisation fit is a measurable framework that includes value alignment, job-specific skills, and work personality compatibility with the existing team.

Can work personality change over time?

While people can adapt and 'flex' their style, their core work personality remains relatively stable. Hiring for natural alignment is always more effective than trying to train someone to work against their natural preferences.