How To Hire For Your Company Culture

People sometimes underestimate how much a company’s culture is tied to its financial success, ability to connect with customers, and longevity in a competitive marketplace. However, if you’re already well aware of how important company culture is, you may be wondering how to hire employees who will foster it.

Fortunately, doing that is easier than you may think, but it does require a conscious effort. The tips below should provide some helpful guidance so hiring new people brings more success and less stress.

Encourage Applicants to Learn About the Culture

A well-informed applicant should do his or her part to find out some basic information about your company before coming in for an interview. However, since culture is so important, you want that person to go beyond discovering what your company does and when it was established.

Before extending an interview offer to an applicant, think about providing him or her with a link to a website that describes some of the ideals of your company culture or give them a glimpse at what life is like at your company.

That way, a person will know what’s expected before even coming into the building, and it may help you to weed out applicants who clearly aren’t willing or ready to embrace the culture.

Seek Out People with Valuable Life Experiences

Sometimes, the most important things are learned as a person navigates through life, instead of in the four walls of a classroom. With that in mind, think about hiring people who have experienced certain things in life that match up with the culture of your company.

For example, Ziegler CAT is very focused on community outreach and volunteering. It’s one of the core values of the company. For that reason they actively hire military veterans because of their commitment to community and hard work ethic.

Take a moment to figure out whether there are ways you could do something like that to support your company’s culture. Often, employees are more receptive to colleagues who can shed light on things by using life experiences rather than just spouting off facts initially learned from textbooks.

Describe Your Company Values in Terms of Behaviors

Maybe a genuine enthusiasm for the products you sell is one of the cornerstones of your company’s culture. In that case, you could instruct hiring recruiters to look for certain characteristics in candidates, such as a basic knowledge of the products and a clear desire to learn more about them.

On the other hand, perhaps your company is known for having an intensive training program. Then, it might be useful to specifically say in a job advertisement that a position offers complete in-house training of the new position.

Zappos is so confident that their company culture is worth the four-week training period that they offer new hires $2,000 to quit. What’s even more astonishing is that 97 percent of new hires choose the job over the cash. Zappos is fostering a culture that values passion and hard workers above all else.

When you break down cultural norms so that they’re translated into clearly understood behaviors, it’s easier for hiring managers to recruit, and for new team members to quickly conform to what’s expected.

Look Inside the Company First

When a position at your company needs to be filled, don’t overlook the feasible possibility that the ideal candidate is already working at your company. That nearly eliminates the potential problem of hiring someone who doesn’t match your company’s culture. If a person is already in the work environment, he or she almost certainly understands and embodies cultural values.

Additionally, encourage team members to refer friends and family members to apply for open positions, especially if your employees feel they know people who are well qualified and able to demonstrate your company’s cultural values every day.

Making a smart decision to hire people who fit your corporate culture could help your workplace grow stronger in many ways. The tips you’ve just read should make it easier to accomplish, but remember, it’s a team effort. Be sure to share this advice with anyone at your company who may be even slightly involved in choosing new hires.

How To Hire For Your Company Culture