The term company culture is often banded around in the world of recruitment. Many of us associate this term with the likes of your “Google’s” or quirky digital agencies with office dogs and ping pong tables, but the fact is every company has a culture. The culture you have is something pre-existing, it’s not necessarily something that employees bring, but more of an environment that employees mould to. Seeing as every company has its own unique culture, it comes as a shock that so many are still not showcasing this to attract new employees! We examine the benefits of showcasing your company culture, how you can do this and companies that are nailing it already!
Showcasing your company culture can save you time and improve retention!
If you have ever experienced retention issues with new employees or found yourself interviewing dozens of candidates before finding the right person for the job then it’s time to change how you recruit. Listing job responsibilities in an advert is all well and good, but if you don’t communicate what your company culture and working environment is like you are likely to fall into difficulty. Not everyone enjoys working on a loud open-plan sales floor, the same way not everyone would enjoy working in a formal management environment. Get it across when your recruiting and you’ll start to attract candidates with the right cultural fit (saving time interviewing candidates who aren’t right for the role) and onboard people who are more likely to enjoy working for you and stay!
There’s more than one way to communicate your company culture!
There’s a number of ways you can showcase your company culture, the best places being where candidates may look when applying for a role, and places where you want to reach candidates who may not know about you yet but could be right for your organisation. Your careers page on your website is a great place to do this, you can include photos, videos and employee stories to really communicate their experience. Your social media profiles are another platform for this as you can be a little more playful and incorporate social aspects of your company culture as well as “life in the office”. Encouraging employee advocacy is another method to showcase this as it will help attract candidates from the passive market. Employee advocacy can increase your content reach by up to 400% per employee, and candidates are more likely to believe somewhere is an enjoyable place to work when their friend on Facebook says it, rather than just reading it on a careers page! Another way to communicate culture is through your job adverts themselves, so add in a paragraph that gives an insight into who you are, what you do and what it’s like to work at your company! You can also take time to talk about the culture of your organisation in the interview itself, and if you can give a tour of the office and introduce candidates to the team to give an authentic taste of life at your company.
Some companies that are getting it right…
A picture tells a thousand words, which is why Hootsuite are doing so well showcasing their #hootsuitelife to their 50K+ followers on Instagram! This colourful collection gives an insight into the life of a Hootsuite employee in the office, at social events and across the world!
TripAdvisor have also taken to Instagram with @GoTripAdvisor to showcase their culture and attract new employees to their team. Here you’ll get a behind the scenes glimpse into life at TripAdvisor, their trips, social events, canine companions and tasty treats!
Heineken have always been a front runner in innovative ways to recruit, remember their quirky prank like internship contest “The Candidate” that bagged them a bronze Lion at Cannes in 2013? Their more recent recruiting video “Go Places” features a collection of Heineken employees, with a playful and personal touch that resonates with the company culture of the brand. Read more about the campaign here.
Email us at [email protected] to tell us how you attract talent through your company culture!
