Culture Fit Isn’t a Vibe Check

Let’s call it: the CV is dead. Or at least, it’s no longer the magic scroll it once was. A strong resumé might get you to the interview — that’s what it’s designed to do, after all — but it’s no bellwether for actual fit. Not in today’s market, and certainly not in the GCC.

Thanks to AI, anyone can now craft a flawless CV; one that makes them seem like the embodiment of a dream candidate who will swoop in and increase productivity and results by 100 per cent whilst maintaining excellent client relationships and boosting team morale. They can send you a beautifully written thank-you email, produce a pitch-perfect stakeholder plan, and rehearse interview answers tailored to your corporate values and firmwide messaging. Surface-level competence is now cheap — and thoroughly rehearsed.

This is much more common than one may expect, and in fact, UK media have recently been reporting on ‘interview prep trends’ that have been booming on social media. This has included users advising each other on how best to utilise AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce instant, polished, answers for them to read out during interviews – likely making them seem the ‘perfect candidate’. What’s more, AI can advise on personal presentation, mannerisms and questions to ask their employers for an added layer of ‘authenticity’.

Which brings us to this: if you’re hiring senior leadership in Legal, Compliance, or Governance in the Middle East — where complexity, opacity, and relationship nuance are the rule, not the exception — you need to dig deeper than paper.

That means focusing on the intangibles. Behaviours. Values. Soft competencies. The things no AI can fake, and no CV can capture. In short: culture fit.

But not the “we all like paddleboarding” kind. And definitely not “he went to the same majlis as our CFO” kind. We’re talking about behavioural, competency-based culture fit — the ability to act, decide, and lead in ways that align with your organisation’s values, especially under pressure, and especially when no one is watching.

In the Gulf, where business is global, but trust is local, these nuances are even more critical. Multinational GCs who thrive in the region understand that legal advice is only 50 per cent law. The rest is influence, perception, and managing competing interests — across jurisdictions, shareholder structures, and sometimes across generations.

Yet too often, hiring in Legal and Compliance still defaults to the same checklist: international pedigree, Big Law training, technical fluency. All important, yes — but insufficient. Because the reason your last GC didn’t last wasn’t a lack of legal talent. It was because no one tested how they handled ambiguity. Or politics. Or the family’s expectations.

So how do you test for culture fit — rigorously, not intuitively? Start by treating it like any other critical leadership competency: structured, evidenced, and measurable.

This particularly involves asking the right questions when interviewing prospective candidates. This may seem obvious, and somewhat of a simple point, but the fact is a good question holds immeasurable weight. They offer an opportunity to see in real time how the person sitting in front of you thinks logically, the true measure of their experience or expertise for the role you’re hiring for, and their emotional intelligence. It can also highlight their learning agility and gives them a chance to show they were listening or researching prior – without blindly relying on an AI tool and switching straight back off – as they can reference firm messaging or previous conversations.

So, what are these apparent ‘golden questions’?

• “Tell me about a time you had to influence without formal authority.”
• “When have you challenged a policy or decision that didn’t sit right with you?”
• “What kind of leadership brings out the best in you — and the worst?”
• “What kind of work gives you a sense of momentum and meaning?”
• “What would your friends say about you?”

Clearly, these aren’t trick questions, and there’s no ‘right’ answer. But they’ll make clear candidate suitability in a way much more convenient than ‘hire the wrong person now and find this out much later’, which is sadly the experience of many employers of late.

Once you have deduced some character from these questions, this is where Daniel Pink comes in. Pink’s research tells us that people are motivated not just by external rewards — salaries, titles, LinkedIn validation — but by intrinsic drivers: autonomy, mastery, purpose.

So, go on to ask your candidates:

• “What gives your work purpose?”
• “When do you feel most in control of your outcomes?”

If their answers are rich, grounded, and genuinely reflective — you’re on to something. If they give you a 30-second TED Talk, going off-piste with buzzwords that don’t make much sense in this context whilst staring into the distance like a malfunctioning hologram… well, DeepSeek isn’t much help in a boardroom stand-off with the audit committee.

Because yes, AI will write your CV. It will even write your business contract that you may secretly have been putting off. But it won’t know when the real issue at play is reputational, not legal. It won’t intuit the shift in tone from a regulator’s body language. It won’t catch the uncomfortable silence when the Chairwoman’s eyes flicker — but your GC should.

So, what should HR and hiring managers do — besides sip lukewarm coffee and nod wisely? Start by reframing what “fit” actually means in your context. Not a shared background, but a shared way of navigating uncertainty. A shared set of skills, values and experiences – and even more importantly, a shared sense of care and pride in the work and wanting to genuinely do the right thing.

And here is where the questions for the employers themselves come in. Ask yourselves honestly:

• How do our best leaders behave when things get messy?
• What kinds of conflict break our teams — and what kinds strengthen them?
• What are our cultural deal-breakers — and are we brave enough to say them out loud?

Because in the Middle East, cultural misalignment doesn’t just result in churn. It creates reputational risk. Leadership here is not just operational; it’s symbolic. Every senior appointment sends a signal — to the regulator, the shareholder, the Board, the team.

And nowhere is this more true than in Legal, Compliance, and Governance. These aren’t just technical functions. They are the embodiment of tone, trust and transparency. And if you hire someone who doesn’t reflect your values — no matter how brilliant they are — it’s only a matter of time before the staplers fly.