<p>In my experience with senior executive searches and cultural fit etc, it’s the colleagues and peers already on the ground that do the selecting of their peer. HR just shepherds the process, but those who have to work with the senior executive usu selects him or her.</p>
<p>Interesting point of view. Sometimes it’s thought that the group may not want someone who has superior skills or who may threaten their role or what they offer, and therefore a kind of lowest common denominator person in that scenario can be chosen. More often, as you state, the search focuses on whether the person has the skills necessary to be both a contributor but also work with other senior executives well. </p>
<p>I think it would be interesting in those schools looking for cultural fit if the students themselves became part of the interview and selection process.</p>
<p>It would be fun to think that interested students could have a say in picking other students they thought would contribute to their school and be a valued colleague and asset. I don’t think the student tourguides are actually giving direct feedback, and it would be interesting if eventually some of the schools added a student voice to the interview panel and round table selection process.</p>
<p>It’s interesting that you mentioned students as evaluators/interviewers. Currently, George School is interviewing the four short-listed candidates for the Dean of Students position. Students have been strongly encouraged to attend the week-long open interview sessions and to pose questions to the candidates. I’m not exactly sure how their feedback will be quantified but certainly, their presence, questions and comments will provide some added value in selection process. GS is a very unique school where faculty and administrators’ academic and cultural fit is as vital to its ongoing mission as that of the incoming students. It adds a whole new dimension to the “fit” discussion.</p>
<p>Parlabane…obviously hiring decisions are made by attempting to assess “fit”. equally obvious is that ao’s and parents are often making a similar attempt in bs enrollment. my contention is that there is no real success possible in this regard. a literature review of human resource literature reveals the practitioners inability to articulate any meaningful barometer of “fit”. I will not accept a “know it when I see it” explanation. How do you explain the frequency of lateral job changes? I explain it as the impossibility of assessing “fit”. So, to the extent that there is an analogy to be made with corporate hiring practices, it is a negative one. assessing fit is futile.</p>