Is Your Recruiting Process Aligned With Your Culture?

What is ‘culture’ in the workplace? Is it a set of guidelines articulated in the mission statement? Is it the way company leaders treat employees, or the way employees treat each other? Does it exist inside the building only, or does culture also influence attitudes and behavior towards customers and prospective hires?

The reality is that culture is all of these things. It’s all encompassing, affecting relationships with peers, vendors, clients, and candidates. As such, culture should be a defined set of agreed-upon values that are discussed frequently and incorporated in company objectives. And nowhere is this more important than in the hiring process. 

In the era of Glassdoor, Yelp, and Google reviews, the first recruiting touchpoint happens way before a phone screen. Today’s candidates routinely do their research before they apply for a position. Not only are they looking for evidence of how companies treat employees, they’re also looking at how companies treat everyone, including clients and even the environment. So starting with core values and defining the mission on the company website as well as in  recruiting materials are important first steps, but company culture also needs to be incorporated in all aspects of the hiring process – culture is essentially what core values look like when they’re acted upon.

So, where to start? This Gallup article never uses the word ‘culture’ but the takeaways are still relevant, particularly as they focus on the specific individuals who will interact with every candidate regardless of position: recruiters. Here’s a summary:

•    Make sure recruiters understand business objectives – Without knowing the goals of the organization, recruiters won’t know what to look for when screening potential new hires. This is particularly important when it comes to company culture. If you don’t know who Peter Drucker is, you may be familiar with his famous quote: ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast!’ Meaning, all the strategic planning in the world won’t amount to much if employees are unmotivated and unproductive. Great culture can ensure successful implementation of any corporate objective.

•    Recruiting activities need to be connected to objectives – Once recruiters understand the objectives, recruitment strategies and materials need to be aligned. For some companies, this might mean tweaking existing job sites and messaging, for others this could mean a complete overhaul. The key is clear, consistent language and interaction with candidates that demonstrate the company culture in action.

•    Track the results of all recruiting efforts and adjust accordingly – the Gallup article makes the point that ‘people cannot consistently make good decisions based on their intuition alone and organizations cannot systematically improve their processes…without a data-driven approach.’ In order to replicate success, the factors leading to success need to be quantified. 

Peter Drucker got it right (surprise!) – culture affects (and influences) employees, initiatives, and candidates in every organization. Making sure recruiting is closely aligned with company culture will help ensure companies attract the candidates they need.

Hoops helps companies ask the right questions every time so they get the employees they need to make a difference. Call us at (877) 262-7358 for a demo.

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