Picture this: you’re hiring for a position in, let’s say, interior design. A candidate arises with all the qualifications – they’ve completed their Cert IV in interior design, an internship with a major competitor and they’ve developed a network of contacts across the industry.
On the other hand, they’re quite process-driven, independent and drab, whereas your business is super collaborative, creative and results-driven. See the issue?
One applicant can look like the perfect employee on paper, but if they won’t gel with your team, then their overall value can be greatly diminished.
It should also be considered that applicants are also super aware of a workplace’s company culture. In fact, Glassdoor has found that 77% of applicants consider a company’s culture before applying.
So, if both parties want a strong cultural match, how can employers hold up their end of the bargain?
Understand and Define Your Own Culture
The first step is to know yourself first – your company, that is.
What makes your business stick out to applicants so that they apply in the first place? What is your business’s personality?
If you can answer and define these questions, giving the company a persona of sorts, you’ll be one step closer to employing the right people.
Do you require collaborators who can spark interesting conversation and liven up the office? Or perhaps you need independent workers who can operate from home with minimal maintenance.
Does your company culture call for bookworms who love research and admin, or more performative types who know how to captivate an audience.
Ask yourself: who is my company?
Make Your Intentions Clear
Once you’ve come to terms with who your company is, you must highlight this to applicants.
Clear intentions and messaging start with your website’s “About Us” page. Define your values and what sets your company apart. This will attract the right kind of person to apply for a job with you.
Once you’ve attracted the right people and you’ve assessed them based on their qualifications (yes, they’re still important) you must consider how you present yourself in job interviews.
Just as the interviewee is putting their best foot forward, you must do the same.
Take the time to explain exactly what your company stands for and make it clear what you’re looking for in a team member.
For example, explain that collaboration is really important to you and frequent team meetings are a must. Or raise the question of working from home and see how comfortable that makes each applicant – not everyone has the home environment to make this work, after all.
Understand Them as a Person, Not Just an Employee
So much of a company’s culture can be developed around the water cooler – that is, through the natural socialisation that happens away from the working space.
Considering this, it pays to hire people who are going to work well together and enjoy each other’s company.
You don’t have to arrange one big happy family who hangs out on weekends – in fact, this expert in corporate leadership advises against it – but some mutual interests wouldn’t go astray. Collaboration between employees requires wavelengths to be in sync, or at the very least some strong communication skills.
To gauge such personality traits, use open-ended questions and let the applicant speak at length. Questions like “how would you lead a group project?” or “how would you manage a task you don’t enjoy?” could reveal some deeper truths about their style.
On a more casual level, get to know their hobbies and interests – if they grind your gears in any way, you may simply not enjoy working with them.
Use a Diverse Interview Panel
Finally, don’t expect that you can gauge every element of an applicant on your own.
To ensure you are hiring a diverse range of employees – trust us, the statistics encourage it – you’ll need to set a few pairs of eyes on them.
Make it a priority to enlist interviewers of different genders, races, experience levels and disciplines to truly gauge how the applicant will fit into your business.
Contact MP Training & Recruitment
If you’re still stuck on how to recruit the right people for your business, get in touch with us and we’ll match you with fitting applicants. We’ve previously done so for all kinds of businesses in hospitality, retail, manufacturing, business management and more. Better yet, they’ve been hired for all levels of business, so you can count on us to deliver for you.
Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/Oalh2MojUuk