“This is us, this is what we do and this is how we do it. How do you fit?”
It’s not simply about sourcing the most intelligent candidate. Apart from being enthusiastic and appreciative of your company values, it’s also incredibly important that the new candidate gets along well with their potential team mates – so look out for how they interact with others.
At the end of the day, he/she will be the one promoting your company and if they’re disconnected, their work will be too. It takes one faulty cog in the system to start chipping away at the company culture that you’ve invested so much time and effort in to cultivate. So with that being said, you’re not just ‘selling’ your brand to customers, you’re equally using it to attract the right employees.
Define your brand
What does your brand stand for? What are its distinctive features and values? Once you’ve answered that, think of ways in which you can project those to your employees. That might be by hanging your mission statement on the wall for all to see, or using your brand colours to add some vibrancy to the workspace. It could even be setting dedicated days (or half days) to learning new skills.
Turn ‘staff’ into a ‘family’
A strong company culture ensures that all employees are rooted in your company’s values, vision and goals which means they are collectively connected and committed to contributing to the company’s success. This transforms staff into a motivated family of workers and likely means they will be much more satisfied with their work. So, not only do you get better employees, you also get them for longer.
Parties are one of the great ways to promote employee engagement and you can even utilize it to recruit talents, which is also known as LinkedIn Party. The concept is simple: Invite employees to a gathering of some sort. It can be as simple or elaborate as your timing, resources, and budget allow. But at a minimum, consider offering drinks and snacks.
During the gathering, each attendee signs onto LinkedIn and contacts friends, acquaintances, and former coworkers that may be relevant candidates for your open positions.
This party helps spur a concentrated effort of sourcing — and it provides a fun environment for employees to spend time together. Pro tip: Consider offering a prize to the employee that reaches out to the most people during the party.
Upgrade the work environment
Inject a bit of fun into the work environment. Put emphasis on rejuvenating and letting off steam during the break to refresh the mind and enhance productivity. There are a number of famous companies that truly believe in this; namely the abundance of game and relaxation rooms in AOL’s Palo Alto headquarters, the adult slide in Zurich’s Google office to the indoor garden inside KBP West Offices in San Francisco. If you don’t have Google’s budget, sometimes a ping pong table will do.
Showcase your current talent
Let your staff have a voice. They’re the ones who know first hand what it is like working at your company, so they’re the ones who can suss out who would be best at fitting in. There are multiple ways of how showcasing your current talent can help in the hiring process:
- Make sure the job advert entirely matches brand values so that candidates can get a genuine feel for the company. This will filter out the ones that the advert doesn’t “speak to”.
- Update your career website – if it looks like it’s had time spent on it, quality candidates are more likely to apply.
- A person applies but doesn’t get the job. They maybe disappointed, but if the process was positive overall they are more likely to refer other candidates to the job.
- Create a website or blog that allows your employees to have a direct voice. They can write about their work days or projects they’re working on so potential candidates have genuine insight into the company.
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