So you heard all about how company culture and brand are important to nail down. And how it basically illustrates the backbone of your company. But just as it is important to define it for your current brand, it’s also essential to communicate your company culture and brand during the hiring process.
Today we’re talking all about culture, why it’s important, and how to communicate it throughout recruitment. This post was inspired by the conversation with Kate Railton, VP People Operations at Mejuri. You can listen to the full conversation here.
What Is Company Culture Anyway?
Company culture is in short what makes up your company. It’s the shared values and mission of the company. Basically, it means how you run day-to-day tasks. How you communicate with each other. It can range from the way your office is designed to how your team interacts with each other, to team morale.
Culture is how you work together. It’s how you have meetings, it’s how you share information. What the employees can expect from the behaviour in your organization is the culture.
Kate Railton speaks on culture from Thriver Podcast, Ep.18
Why Is It Important for Recruitment?
During the interviewing process, it’s important to have your prospective candidates that are aligned with your company values. This will ensure that the people you are hiring will feel passionate to work with you, be more productive, and will remain in the company longer. According to Fast Company, 66% of employees consider company culture as the most important factor while seeking out a new job. And Deloitte mentions companies that continuously manage their culture get a 40% higher employee retention. We even had a conversation with Architech about how they use their brand culture to retain talent. So clearly, company culture is valued by employees and worth being communicated during the hiring experience.
As an employer, it’s important to determine who you are and who you want to be as a leader. Employees who don’t agree with your brand’s culture will ultimately leave the company and leave you with hiring sunk costs, or unproductivity. That’s why it’s essential to establish values and organizational culture early on, during the hiring process to make sure everyone is aligned internally and externally.
Try not to hire for today. Really ensure that you’ve got the individuals that can run with you through the marathon versus the sprint.
Kate Railton from Thriver Podcast, Ep.18
Tips on Hiring Talent
As a growing company, a common struggle is to determine the right team. It’s necessary throughout the recruitment process that you look at your goals and don’t hire talent to solve today’s problems. Those are obstacles you have ultimately already solved. You need to interview candidates to solve your future problems because the focus is to scale, not to tread water. That means interview talent that can help you find solutions based on next year’s goals
Another common challenge while scaling the business is making sure to have the right amount of people in the team and that everyone feels supported. You’ll want to make sure your team is happy, engaged, and they have what they need in order to work together towards a common goal. This is all part of the organizational culture within the company.
Authenticity is key. It’s what matters. It’s why the glass doors of the world are as successful as they are. Employees want to be able to watch you operate as an employer and learn about that before making a decision.
Kate Railton from Thriver Podcast, Ep.18
Authenticity Is Key
Another important aspect of communication is authenticity. Companies with inauthenticity inside and out just won’t cut it. First of all, customers need to feel your authenticity and have that constant experience in order to buy. And so does your team.
Communicating the authentic culture during the recruiting process is important because your employees will not want to work for someone they do not trust and won’t be inspired for productivity. So you’ll want to set the right expectations during the recruitment stage to attract the right candidate.
Authenticity attracts the right talent and will drive the team to conduct betted results and higher morale. And what better way to be authentic in the eyes of your customers? Show off your team with the company values. A team that actually believes in the company they work for and aren’t afraid to show it is one of the best marketing strategies there is. So be proud of the talented candidates you’ve hired.
Happy Team, Happy Life
Communicating your company’s culture and brand through the recruitment stage will allow you to get the right talent for your team and avoid unproductivity and lack of engagement. It’s also beneficial to revisit this often because as you scale, so do your expectations and values. How to revisit and make your team happy? Consider quarterly engagement surveys. These are a great way to make sure your team feels connected and aligned. And when your team is happy, everyone wins.