Getting into an elite law firm or management consulting firm may seem like a game of meritocracy: may the best-credentialed win, and may those with well-placed connections come in second. But what you play and whether you'd be fun to play around with after work may count much more than you think.
进入一家知名律师事务所或管理咨询公司工作就像是一场精英教育制度的博弈：最可能胜出的是那些文凭最高的人，其次可能是那些拥有高层关系的求职者。但是你下班后玩什么以及跟你一起玩是否有意思，这一点可能会比你想象的更重要。
Excelling in the right sport could advance you to a second interview, and being likable -- or a look-alike to your interviewer -- may be crucial to landing a position at professional services firms, according to new research from Northwestern University. Such connections could give candidates an advantage over someone more qualified who doesn't share the same cultural interests or background as their interviewer.
西北大学（Northwestern University）进行的一项新研究表明，在恰当的点上表现得出色，能够让你顺利晋级第二轮面试。表现得可爱一点，或者与你的面试官具有颇多类似之处，对于获得专业服务企业的职位来说可能非常关键。这种关联性能够让这些求职者相比其他人来说更有优势，尽管其他人可能能力更强，但他们却缺乏跟面试官相同的文化兴趣。
Employers value feelings of comfort, validation, or excitement when meeting with job candidates over a prospect's superior cognitive or technical skills, according to the research paper published in the American Sociological Review's December issue. Some interviewers even bent the rules to advance a candidate with a similar cultural or socio-economic background as their own. They would consciously lower the technical bar for candidates with whom they had a great spark.
根据《美国社会学评论》（American Sociological Review）12月刊发表的一篇研究论文，雇主们与求职者见面以了解其认知或者技术能力时，他们重视的是舒适、肯定或者兴奋的感觉。一些面试者甚至放宽规则，促使那些与其自身文化或社会经济背景类似的求职者晋级下一轮。如果面试者跟某些求职者擦出了火花，他们会有意识地降低这些求职者的技术门槛。
"Because of the long hours on the job, I really want to select someone who I would personally get along with and would like, " says Lauren A. Rivera, an assistant professor of management at Northwestern University. Often, employers want someone "who will be their friend" or even a lover, she says.
西北大学管理学副教授劳拉﹒里维拉称：“因为工作时间很长，我很想要选择一个与我合得来，我也愿意与之相处的人。”她说，通常雇主们想要的是“能够成为他们的朋友”，甚至恋人的人选。
One investment banker in Rivera's study said he emphasized a candidate's social fit because "you will see way more of your co-workers than your wife, your kinds your friends…. So you can be the smartest guy ever, but I don't care. I need to be comfortable working everyday with you … and then going for a beer after. You need chemistry."
在里维拉的研究中，一位投资银行家表示，他看重求职者的社交适合度，因为“人们与同事相处的时间要远比与老婆孩子和朋友相处的时间长……所以，你可能是有史以来最聪明的人，但我不在乎。我需要的是能够每天跟你相处得舒服……然后下班后一起喝喝小酒。我需要的是志趣相投。”
Rivera interviewed 120 professionals at investment banks, law firms, and a management consultancy. All were working professionals, not human resources professionals or recruiters, who were sent out to interview undergraduate or graduate students from Ivy League schools. All the candidates were considered talented because of their affiliation with those top universities.
里维拉采访过在投资银行、律师事务所和管理咨询机构工作的120位专业人士。他们都是在职的专业人员，并不从事人力资源工作或者招聘事务。他们被分派对来自常春藤盟校的本科生或者研究生进行面试。所有求职者都是人们眼中的精英，因为他们都来自顶尖高校。
Often, these professionals were told to hire people who were intelligent, great communicators, and had solid social skills, with no guidelines on how to evaluate those qualities, Rivera says. "So they use themselves as a proxy to judge 'is that person going to be good on the job?'"
里维拉表示，这些职业人士都被告知，要雇佣那些头脑聪明、沟通能力出色、社交能力突出的人选，但是对于如何评估这些特质并没有给出相应的指导方针。“因此他们把自己当成了标杆来判断‘那个人是否能够胜任工作？’
Rivera says she found it surprising that leisure activities mattered so much at firms where workers often travel all week and devote 70-plus hours to their jobs, suggesting that it might reflect the interviewers' notions that work should be fun, and "you're not just hiring a worker, you're hiring a whole person."
里维拉说，她出人意料地发现，在那些员工们经常出差、每周工作时间超过70小时的企业，求职者的休闲活动异常重要。她指出，这可能反映了面试者的观点，那就是工作应该是很有趣的，“你不仅仅是雇佣一名工作者，而是雇佣了整个人。”
"No one has any time to pursue these extracurricular activities once they get in their career, " she says, except at a few firms where running marathons gives you status.
她表示：“一旦人们投入自己的事业，就没有时间来继续做这些业余活动”，参加马拉松赛跑就能赢得地位的几家公司除外。
A majority of the hiring managers ranked cultural fit -- the similarity to existing employees' backgrounds, hobbies, and presentation -- as the most important criterion during a job interview.
大多数招聘经理都把文化适合度列为求职面试中最为重要的标准。文化适合度也就是与公司现有员工的背景、爱好和表现的相似度。
One consultant and former athlete discounted the leadership abilities of someone who served as an editor-in-chief or president of a club in favor of those with sports experience. He ranked two athletes he met with highest and declined to interview those with a higher grade point average from more prestigious schools but no sports background.
一位运动员出身的咨询师总是贬损那些曾担任学生社团总编辑或主席的求职者的领导能力，支持那些拥有运动背景的人。他对两位他会见过的运动员评价最高，而拒绝面试那些成绩更好、从更知名的学府毕业、但没有运动背景的求职者。
One interviewer argued against inviting back a candidate for a second interview, saying, "He did well on the case and was very articulate. He's a very interesting guy with a good story. But I think he's too intellectual…. You know, he is very into 18th-century literature and avant-garde film…. I don't think he'd be a good fit."
一位面试者反对邀请一位求职者参加第二轮面试。他表示：“这位求职者面试表现很好，口才也很棒。他是一个很有趣的人，经验丰富。但我认为他太过于聪明……你知道吗，他非常喜欢十八世纪文学和先锋电影……我认为他并不是很适合。”
Yet some recruiters claim Rivera's research doesn't fully reflect hiring practices today. At many companies, "cultural fit is a broader term" that includes how people interact and get things done and their leadership style, says Elena Bajic, founder and CEO of online career network IvyExec.com. Bajic says that companies are developing analytic tools to determine whether a candidate will fit with an organization's culture, based on the notion that it's a solid predictor of a candidate's longevity and likelihood of success. That may not mean a candidate plays the same sport or have the same hobby as their bosses, Bajic says.
但一些招聘者声称，里维拉的研究并不能完全反映当今的招聘现状。在线职业网络IvyExec.com公司的创始人和首席执行官艾琳娜﹒巴吉克表示，在很多公司，“文化适合度是一个更为宽泛的用语”，包括人们如何互动，如何完成工作，以及他们的领导风格。她认为，现在公司正在开发一种分析工具以确定求职者是否契合该公司的文化，他们认为这能够切实预测求职者的长期稳定性和成功的可能性。她表示，这并不意味着求职者要跟他们的老板玩同样的运动项目，或者拥有同样的兴趣爱好。
"In 30 years of recruiting, I've never seen anyone get a job specifically because they share an interest in hockey with the potential employer," says Jeff Zinser, president of Philadelphia area-based Right Recruiting.
位于费城的莱特招聘公司（Right Recruiting）总裁杰夫.金瑟称：“我干招聘三十年了，从没见过有谁是因为跟潜在雇主一样喜欢曲棍球而获得了聘用。”
People are primed to connect more easily with others who share their values and interests, Zinser argues, but they balance that with the need to hire the best person for an opening. Otherwise, they face the consequences of a bad or mediocre hire.
金瑟表示，人们更容易跟那些价值观和兴趣与自己相合的人建立联系，但他们的需求是为空缺职位招聘到最好的人选，因此他们会做出权衡。否则的话，招聘的效果可能会很糟糕或者平庸。
Northwestern's Rivera agrees that hiring managers she interviewed had a very different definition of cultural fit than a human resources person or executive might have. But, in many cases, these hiring managers are on the recruiting world's front lines at professional schools, weeding out candidates.
西北大学的里维拉认为，她采访过的招聘经理们对文化适合度的定义可能与人力资源从业者或管理者差别迥异。但在很多情况下，这些招聘经理都是在招聘市场的前沿阵地即专业院校筛选求职者。
As she was finishing her paper and began work on a book on the same subject, Rivera says she talked to her students at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management about her findings. "They say, 'That's totally how it is…. The question is not 'can they do this job?' The real decision is, 'Do I want to have beer with this person?'"
里维拉在完成论文后，开始就同一主题撰写专著。她表示，她曾与西北大学凯洛格商学院（Kellogg School of Management）的学生们讨论过自己的发现。“他们说，‘确实是这样……问题不是‘他们能否胜任这项工作？’，真正的决定性因素是‘我是否想跟这个人一起喝啤酒？’”
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