"Culture fit" is a double-edged sword, and implies you have a strong handle on what your culture is in the first place: both the good and the bad. A candidate

"Culture fit" is a double-edged sword, and implies you have a strong handle on what your culture is in the first place: both the good and the bad. A candidate who is conflict-adverse, for instance, would not be a "culture fit" in an organization where decisions are made in screaming matches. The problems come when your culture is toxic, particularly for certain types of people. If older candidates wouldn't be successful or happy in your work-20-hours-a-day-know-it-all culture, that's a culture problem, not a dog-whistle for ageism. Some interviewers use "culture fit" to explain a not-like-me discrimination against people with a different gender, background, age, race, etc. Those people are generally toxic—but also indicative of an organizational culture that tolerates those biases by employees who are external-facing representatives of that company. As a candidate, if you're ever rejected as a "bad culture fit", you probably dodged a bullet. That's a negative reflection on the company, not on you.