According to Glassdoor,<\/span><\/a> 77% of job seekers consider culture before applying for a job at an organisation, and over half of those surveyed consider culture to be more important than salary. Interestingly, culture is especially important to younger generations. In fact, millennials are approximately 10% more likely to value culture over salary, in comparison to workers aged 45 or older.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond recruitment, t<\/span>he tangible impacts of a positive culture are widely known: high employee engagement, better collaboration and increased productivity. With that in mind, it\u2019s not surprising that <\/span>80% of HR and recruitment professionals<\/span><\/a> consider good company culture as a competitive advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n In a market where attracting and retaining top employees is more challenging than ever, it makes business sense to set building and maintaining a great corporate culture as one of your top priorities. During periods of growth, the possibility of negatively affecting organisational culture with the wrong hires can be top of mind for employers. Recruitment and HR professionals might be thinking: \u201cWhat if we make the wrong hires and the culture suffers as a result?\u201d. In these instances, hiring for culture as opposed to hiring for experience or technical skills, can be advantageous.<\/span><\/p>\n Nurturing a specific workplace culture is especially important in certain industries. Roles working within the community, for example, rely on employees with specific values and attitudes in order to thrive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For example, a role as a Community Liaison Officer best suits those who are empathetic, good communicators, and who value and believe in the power of community. This role might not suit someone who isn\u2019t purpose driven or who doesn\u2019t work well in a collaborative environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From a team perspective, community organisations will thrive in a supportive environment where the team all buy into the organisation\u2019s mission. In fact, someone with values and attitudes that don\u2019t align well with the rest of the team can have a significantly negative impact on the work culture, even if they are otherwise qualified.<\/span><\/p>\n Now that we understand the importance of culture more broadly and its particularly strong impact on certain industries, let\u2019s run through some practical tips on how to hire for culture fit.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When recruiting for culture fit, it is important to have a clear idea of what your current culture is, and what you\u2019d like the culture to become going forward. The first step is to pinpoint what attitudes and behaviours your current employees exhibit. Once you have a clear idea of what individual attributes contribute to a desirable culture, you\u2019re ready to start recruiting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve defined your culture, and the employee attributes that contribute to it, you can communicate this to potential employees during the recruitment process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Your careers page is a great place to communicate your organisation\u2019s culture. Consider including your organisation\u2019s values and mission on your careers page, as well as photos or videos that will give candidates a feel for your culture. Ensuring that your <\/span>Employer Brand<\/span><\/a> accurately reflects your culture is a great way to ensure that the candidates applying to your role already have an understanding of what to expect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When drafting your job description, consider including language that best represents your culture. For example, if you have a more laidback culture, consider using more casual terminology. Alternatively, if a more corporate culture works better for your organisation, represent that with the language you\u2019re using.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As well as signalling your culture through language, feel free to outline exactly the attitudes and behaviours you\u2019d like to see from a candidate. For example, for roles working within the community, you might specify that you\u2019re looking for an employee with an empathetic and resilient personality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Recruiters have been utilising recruitment software more than ever to reduce their workload and streamline their processes. Why not utilise software to help you hire for culture fit?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is a variety of behavioural testing software and services available that can be added to your recruitment process. Once you have identified the characteristics you\u2019re looking for in a potential employee, use behavioural testing as a way to identify whether those characteristics apply to your candidate.<\/span><\/p>\n Tapping into your talent pool is another way to utilise technology to hire for culture fit. Talent pooling allows you to build a database of individuals who have applied for roles at your organisation in the past, but didn\u2019t get hired. Talent pooling solutions, such as<\/span> Scout Talent :Engage<\/span><\/a>, allow you to easily build your talent pool and communicate with this group via email.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There are numerous benefits to building and nurturing your talent pool. When hiring a new employee, you can send the vacancy directly to your talent pool. Applicants coming from a talent pool are likely to be more engaged with your brand, as they have applied for a job with you in the past. This means that the candidates coming from your talent pool are likely to be more aware of your organisation\u2019s missions and values, and therefore more likely to fit in culturally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCulture Fit in Community-Centric Roles<\/b><\/h2>\n
Tip 1: Define Your Culture and How You Want it to Evolve<\/b><\/h2>\n
Tip 2: Communicate Your Workplace Culture from the Outset<\/b><\/h2>\n
Tip 3: Let Your Software Do Some of the Work<\/b><\/h2>\n