The culture add test assesses how a candidate’s values and behaviors align with your company’s.
Culture is a set of values that a team holds collectively — whether consciously or unconsciously — and is expressed through the daily behaviors and actions of individual team members.
At TestGorilla we’ve created a test to help you hire for culture in an objective, measurable, and repeatable way. We call it the culture add test because it helps you identify and hire individuals who can thrive at your organization and make positive contributions to its culture. This test is available on Starter and Pro plans.
Approx. reading time 6 minutes
In this article
- Video explainer
- How the culture add test measures cultural alignment
- Taking the culture add survey
- Interpreting results of the culture add survey
- Common questions
Video explainer
The below video explains the usage of the culture add test in a nutshell. The text below the video is a breakdown of most of what is included in the video.
How the culture add test measures cultural alignment
To assess many things objectively, you need to evaluate all of them against the same measure and compare the results. It’s the reason we have things like rulers, scales, and standard cup sizes. It’s also the reason we offer skills tests at TestGorilla.
The culture add test does the same thing but for your culture. It begins by setting the standard for your culture through a questionnaire you complete, and then determines how well your candidate aligns with that survey
To measure the two parameters for the culture add test — values and behaviors — and set a standard for your candidates, we have both you and your candidates fill out a survey and then compare those surveys.
Taking the culture add survey
After adding the culture add survey to an assessment, click Finish to go to the assessment overview page. From here, you will be able to set your answers for the test.
The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete, spread across 2 sections. You may need input from others in your company to help you complete it, but only one person can complete it.
This section contains the following subsections — you can click each section name to jump ahead.
- Set the answers yourself
- Invite someone else to set the answers
- Reuse or edit answers from a previous survey
- Values
- Behaviors
Set the answers yourself
After adding the culture add survey to an assessment, click Finish to go to the assessment overview page. From here, you will be able to set your answers for the test.
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Click the green button labeled Take the survey, found in the white bar at the top of the page. A new page will pop up with more information. |
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Follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll be redirected to a new tab that gives a description of the survey and what you need to do next. |
Invite someone else to set the answers
After adding the culture add survey to an assessment, click Finish to go to the assessment overview page. From here, you will be able to set your answers for the test.
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Click the white bar labeled Culture add survey, found at the top of the page. This will expand the bar, presenting you with more information |
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Click the green link labeled Invite them here. |
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Enter the credentials of the desired colleague. A popup will appear, prompting you for the name and email address of your coworker. Enter their details. |
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Click the Send invitation button. Your teammate will receive an email with a link to take the survey. |
| Tip: You can invite anybody to take the survey for you. They do not have to be a registered user of your account. |
Reuse or edit answers from a previous survey
After adding the culture add survey to an assessment, click Finish to go to the assessment overview page. From here, you will be able to set your answers for the test.
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Click the white bar labeled Culture add survey, found at the top of the page. This will expand the bar, presenting you with more information |
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Click the green link labeled Copy or edit answers from a previous culture add survey. |
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Select the assessment you want to copy the survey from in the dropdown menu. A new window will open, welcoming you to the survey. Select an option from the dropdown at the bottom of the screen |
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Click Change answers to start the survey with answers already selected and ready to be changed. Click Use all previous answers to close the window, using the same answers as the previous survey. |
Values
Values apply to your entire organization so you should keep the same ratings across all your roles.
Examples of values include :
- Achievement
- Equality
- Independence
Many of the values on our list will not match the exact words you use to define your company values, but that’s totally fine. This can benefit you, as candidates won’t be able to quickly guess your 10 most important values based on your company website.
You will be presented with a list of words representing various values. Rate each of the values on a scale of 1 to 5 according to their importance to your company as a whole.
Your candidates will be shown the same list of words and asked to choose the 10 values that are the most important to them. Each value they choose will receive the score you assigned to it. Candidates don’t see your scoring — they will only see a list of values.
Every value must have a rating selected. You cannot move to the next section without selecting an answer.
| Tip: Only assign high scores to the values that truly differentiate you as a company. Give all other words a low score — this will lead to greater differentiation among candidate scores, allowing you to better identify the candidates who are the best match for your company. |
When you have finished rating the values, click Next to move to the next section.
Behaviors
Behaviors relate to how candidates approach their work and what you consider essential for success in a particular role.
Unlike values, desirable behaviors will vary from role to role based on the needs of the role and the current composition of the team.
Example traits include:
- Analytical
- Diligent
- Helpful
By screening candidates for particular behaviors from role to role, you can identify and interview a diverse roster of employees. That’s because when you look at behaviors in a standardized way across your candidates, you avoid subjective assessments and assumptions based on factors like background, race, ethnicity, gender, and other parameters that could — unconsciously — influence your evaluation of a candidate.
You will be presented with a list of words representing various behaviors. Rate each of the behaviors on a scale of 1 to 5 according to their importance for the specific role.
As with values, your candidates will be asked to select the 10 behaviors that most closely reflect who they are. Each behavior they choose will receive the score you assigned to it. Candidates don’t see your scoring — they will only see a list of behaviors.
Every behavior must have a rating selected. You cannot end the survey without selecting an answer.
| Tip: Only assign high scores to the behaviors that truly relate to the job role. Give all other words a low score — this will lead to greater differentiation among candidate scores, allowing you to better identify the candidates who are the best match for the role. |
When you have finished rating the behaviors, you can either click Previous to return to the previous screen or click Finish to save your answers and end the survey.
Interpreting results of the culture add survey
Overall results
The candidate’s overall score is presented as a percentage, with each section worth 50% of the total score. A high score means the candidate is a good match for your company and role based on the values and behaviors they have selected.
You can expand the Culture add results by clicking them to see the score that was achieved on each section.
Details
Clicking on the percentage in the expanded view will give you a more detailed breakdown of how your candidate answered:
The words are the choices the candidate made, while their color represents the score you assigned to the word. As dictated by the legend at the bottom of the popup, Teal means you assigned a word a rating of 5, while Red is a rating of 1.
In the example above, Passion and Efficiency are words that were selected by the candidate, and were rated highly by the company. Commitment was selected as being important to the candidate, but its red color means the company does not find this to be particularly important.
Unavailable results
Questions for tests within the Personality & culture category cannot be skipped, but the test can still reach its time limit or be abandoned by the candidate, which can result in empty candidate answers.
If there is at least one empty candidate answer, the result will be shown as "Unavailable," along with an explanation. This will also be shown in any results export, with the score not being computed as part of the overall assessment score.
Common questions
How can I change the answers I have provided?
You can edit the survey if no candidates have been invited to the assessment. Once external candidates begin taking the assessment, the answers cannot be changed.
Who should answer the survey?
The person with the most insight into the role is the best person to set the answers. This is usually the direct manager your new hire will report to or a person currently working in this role.
Can multiple people answer the survey?
Only one person can answer the survey. While you can send invitations to multiple people, our system will only accept the first completed submission.
| Tip: Your answers are not submitted until you have pressed Finish on the final page. This means you can leave the page altogether and return to it later on. You could arrange to meet with your colleagues to complete the survey together! |
Why aren't there pre-generated answers?
Every company and job has different needs. Because of this, we cannot provide generic answers. To receive the most accurate information, you need to complete the survey yourself.