A company’s culture is a moving target. Still, by the way, it’s discussed sometimes, you’d think culture is something that’s simply decided in a board room one day and spoken into existence the next. Truthfully, the culture of an organization is ever-evolving, and leaders must keep it in focus and intentionally maintain their vision for it along the way.
One crucial element of upholding your desired culture is bringing the right people on board. For a culture to be genuine, all employees must buy in and exhibit the organization’s ethos. Let’s have a look at recruitment strategies for maintaining your desired workplace.
Look Beyond the Resume
There have been many times in my career when a potential hire looked deceptively perfect on paper. They had the right education, experience, and skills to do the job. If you were to consider their resume alone, they were a shoo-in. But I must admit, whenever I have hired based solely on these qualifications, I’ve hired the wrong person.
Practice Inclusive Hiring Techniques
I’ll be the first to tell you that I have made mistakes when hiring. As I stated above, I used to put far too much focus on a person’s credentials and not enough on who they were. After making several poor decisions, it became clear that I was not qualified to make hiring decisions in a vacuum.
As the CEO of the organization, I mistakenly thought that I could easily see what was best. That simply wasn’t true. I needed to include far more people in the hiring process to ensure we looked at the decision from every angle. By bringing others into the hiring process, we can make smarter, more informed decisions.
Check for Aligned Attitudes
Think about the values and character traits aligned with your company’s ideal culture. Things like transparency, curiosity, integrity, and giving back to the community might come to mind. When recruiting, methods must be in place that help decipher whether a candidate’s principles and beliefs are in harmony with those of the company.
In my organization, a significant part of our hiring process is devoted to ensuring a recruit will work well with the rest of the team. We have even created a Division of Culture, a group dedicated to meeting all potential hires, regardless of the position they are interviewing for. This team of high-performing employees advises the hiring team on whether they believe someone will be a good cultural fit. This has helped tremendously in selecting personalities that mesh well with our culture!
Evaluate and Revise
As you navigate what it means for your company to hire with culture in mind, remember that mistakes are the guideposts to better methods. If you don’t identify good cultural fits at first, evaluate what worked and what didn’t and revise accordingly. In addition, if you find that there are aspects of your organization’s culture that need to be focused on, revised, or reworked, don’t shy away from it. It takes time for a company’s culture to evolve meaningfully. The more comfortable you are with adapting and recalibrating, the more likely you are to hit the target you are aiming for.
We’ve created a Division of Culture, a team of high-performing employees who meet with all potential hires, regardless of seniority or role, to determine a cultural fit. Since we’ve begun using the Division of Culture as a core component of our hiring process, our recruiting process has improved tremendously. When we hire someone, they are almost always the right fit for our organization.