A phrase that often appears when something feels off, but no one is quite sure why.

In many hiring conversations, this feedback comes up late in the process.

The candidate is capable.
The interviews went well.
But something about the decision still feels uncertain.

Culture absolutely matters in hiring.

But sometimes “culture fit” becomes a way to describe a feeling that hasn’t yet been clearly articulated.

Maybe expectations around the role are slightly different across the interview panel.
Maybe the team is still defining how they actually work together.
Or maybe each interviewer is assessing something slightly different.

When the reasoning stays vague, it becomes harder for a team to align around a decision.

In stronger hiring conversations, the discussion often shifts slightly.

Instead of asking:
Do they feel like a culture fit?

The conversation often becomes:

What behaviours, decisions, or ways of working actually define our culture here?

Because culture is real.

But in hiring, it becomes most useful when a team can describe what it actually looks like in practice.

How clearly defined is “culture” in your hiring process?