How Recruiters Can Use Their Work Culture to Attract the Best Talent

When it comes to recruiting new candidates, you would do well to ask yourself the following question: how do we stand out? Not in terms of the services you offer or the products you sell, but rather how does your organization’s character differ from your rivals’?

In today’s competitive marketplace, companies looking to hire the best candidates need to offer compelling evidence for why they’re a good fit, and while salaries play a role, workplace culture can be the most appealing aspect of a job. This article by Forbes highlights how beyond a certain range ($50,000–$75,000) increases in salary have smaller and smaller effects on employee happiness. Another report from CareerBuilder shows that, of workers in the highly competitive IT field, 60% rank company culture above salary.

It should be obvious that paying workers well above the median is good and dandy, but if they’re constantly worrying about being fired over tiny mistakes or becoming stagnant in their position, it begins to look more like a trap than an incentive.

Treating Workers Right

The reality is that employees want to be treated like humans, not tools. Companies that invest in creating positive work experiences have a huge leg up on the competition, simply because people would prefer to work for them.

There are many ways that companies can achieve better work environments, from developing in-house training programs to offering flexible schedules, all the way to implementing a R.O.W.E. (Results-Only Work Environment). However, while your company may be doing all in its power to create a great workplace for employees, it won’t land you those perfect hires unless you’re getting the word out.

Marketing Your Company’s Values

If your company has an amazing culture and you’re not making sure to point it out every chance you get, then you’re doing yourself a huge disservice. In fact, building this rhetoric into each stage of your recruitment strategies is the perfect way to show prospective employees what they have to gain by choosing your organization. While this can be done a number of ways, we’re here to dive into a few that could have a big impact on landing those perfect candidates.

1. Job postings / careers page

Whether you’ve posted job openings to sites like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, or Indeed, or if you’ve simply placed them on your own career page, it’s essential to give a snapshot of what your company’s like to the people interested in working there. Even before new employees land on the job description itself, they should be given an idea of what it means to work for your company. You can achieve this a number of ways.

• Explain who you are: Give a detailed account about what your organization does, and what it hopes to achieve.

• Show off what makes you great: Whether it’s a history of innovation, success, or a commitment to excellence, let candidates know what separates your company from the pack. A great idea is to include achievements, rankings, favorable reviews, etc.

• Give insight into the perks: Do you offer lunches with the CEO? What about group bonding sessions? Free beer on Friday? Let future employees know about the little things you’re doing to make this an enjoyable place to work.

• Let current employees weigh in: A great way to show off your company is to post what current employees have to say about their experiences on your careers landing page. Adding in pictures of them and the office space can also give a personal feel to the site.

While you likely won’t be able to fit everything you want to say into a job posting, it’s still important to provide a succinct look at what makes your workplace unique and appealing. If that’s not enough though, add a link to your careers page, where you can delve more fully into the pieces you’re proud of.

2. Recruitment video

Sometimes it’s hard to say what you want via text. Maybe you have a great facility or an in-house chef or a fun-loving team that must be seen. For those reasons or any others you can think of, it might be worth it to put together a recruitment video. A great example is this recruitment pitch from Google, which, despite being recorded in 2006, is as relevant today as ever. Though Google is synonymous with the “perfect” work environment today, it wasn’t quite as ubiquitous in 2006. However, this video details just about everything we’ve come to learn about Google’s amazing work environment. In it, we learn that they provide:

• Free food on campus

• Daycare services for working parents

• 20% of a worker’s time to passion projects

There are also beautiful shots of the campus, interviews with current employees, and even an interview with one of the founders, Sergey Brin, who details what he believes makes Google an excellent workplace. Essentially, the video can do everything a landing page can do but also provides a dynamic way for your candidates to interact with what you want to show them.

3. Interview / offer stage

After you’ve found a good fit, it’s important to follow up on all of the things that brought them to you in the first place. Don’t get shy during the interview phase. Ask if they have any questions about the office culture, what you offer, and what they can expect. Even if they don’t have their own questions, go ahead and point these things out to them. After all, it’s just as important that they fit in with your values as it is that your values fit with them. Just because a candidate appears great on paper doesn’t mean they’re going to be a great addition to your particular team.

If it turns out that you do want to extend an offer, expound, expound, expound. After the salary and benefits details are worked out, make sure you market the intangibles that make your company great to work for. Remember, if you have an amazing company culture but don’t show it off, it won't do you any good. Take pride and market what makes you unique, because it could be the difference between a finding a great hire or settling for a dud. 

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in July 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.  

RELATED POSTS:

• Recruitment Strategies to Attract and Win Top Talent
• 6 Weird but Remarkably Useful Interview Practices