How Company Culture Drives Recruiting Success and Failure

Wednesday, May 5th, 2021

Every successful leader, including Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, will tell you that defining company culture is vital to success. Culture plays a pivotal role by guiding company activities through group norms and shared assumptions. Therefore, you need to have a clear focus and ensure every employee is on board from day one.

However, what is company culture? How can your organization define and identify its culture? All these are valid questions that you need to start asking yourself. Ultimately your company culture will dictate whether you stay competitive or close up shop. Luckily, here is everything you need to know about defining company culture and why it is a critical part of deciding if a hire is the right fit.

Understanding the Basics of Company Culture

Also known as organizational culture, company culture is an all-encompassing term for the workplace. It consists of everything that happens within your business. Starting from the behaviors and attitudes of employees and the company as a whole. However, company culture is evident in several ways, including the following ways:

• The standards to which the company holds itself
• Relationships between colleagues
• Shared unspoken beliefs between staff members
• The communication processes

The Workings of Company Culture

Organizational culture is usually either deliberately or expressly cultivated. However, on some occasions, it is a result of accumulated decisions over a prolonged period. When you have a strong culture, your employees understand how they are expected to behave with anticipated outcomes.

In some businesses, their culture values formal, hierarchical, or traditional management. In this system, you have clearly defined roles, but opportunities for advancement have to go through a conventional process. Everything needs to go through the proper channels before making any decisions.

On the other hand, other organizations have a team-based culture that encourages employee participation. It is a casual workplace that allows employees to take on more roles if time permits. Working on a new project is, therefore, uncomplicated in these environments.

Defining Company Culture

Building a distinctive company culture that encompasses your brand is not as easy as it seems. Understand that your company’s DNA influences employee morale and satisfaction. Defining your organizational culture puts you in a position to create a supportive, positive, and enjoyable workplace. Below is some guidance on how you can start defining company culture:

• Identify Your Competitive Advantage: What’s your special sauce? Try to ask yourself what you want associated with your company. Is it collaboration or customer service? It will also help if you determine why customers should pick you from the rest of the competition. Once you identify your competitive advantage, work it into your corporate culture.
• Set a Strong Tone from the Start: Did you know that a team can only be as good as its captain? It will help if you start stressing the importance of your company culture. Don’t just talk the talk, make sure you walk the talk in all matters regarding corporate culture. For example, provide social activities if your culture is built around a fun work environment.
• Show Care and Understanding: Achieving long-term success is dependent on showing your employees that they are part of the team. It will help if you start by investing in your entire team, from the new employee to the highest-level of management. Always understand that the people within your company form a critical part of your culture. Prioritize the health, happiness, and well-being of each employee.

Importance of Company Culture

For starters, your company culture will hugely affect your bottom line. Organizations with a positive organizational culture will have high levels of satisfaction, profit and revenue growth, employee loyalty, and productivity. However, the top advantage has to be employee retention.

How Company Culture Decides if a Hire is the Right Fit

Hiring an employee that doesn’t match your team dynamic is a waste of money, time, and resources. Therefore, it is critical to find the right fit candidate for different positions in your organization. Here is where company culture comes into play.

Every time you hire a new employee into your team, it is vital that the individual becomes a valuable and long-lasting member. You can provide the right tools and resources for the job, but you can’t force someone to adopt your cultural values. If an individual doesn’t share your company beliefs, they can’t place the company’s interests before their own. Here’s a quick guide on how to determine if a prospective candidate is a right fit for your organizational culture.

• Have an Inclusive Interview Process: Most organizations make the fatal mistake of having only one or two people carrying out interviews. Understand that company culture is affected by several factors. Because a candidate gets along with your interviewer does not automatically mean they are a great fit. Ensure your candidates meet different team members in your company. Doing this will showcase whether their personality matches that of your company.
• How Knowledgeable are the Prospective Candidates?: Do not limit your questions to the job scope or your company. Ensure you ask prospective candidates general questions such as their favorite foods or hobbies. Pay close attention to how they answer those questions. Because most candidates already have a script for company and job questions, personal questions will give you an honest insight into their personality.
• Determine a Candidate’s Passions and Goals: It is vital to understand what different candidates care about. Ask them about their personal and professional goals. Because you know what your current employees are passionate about, compare them with those passions of your prospective candidates. This can help weed out individuals that don’t fit.
• How do the Candidates Match-up with Successful Employees?: Although each candidate needs to be treated as an individual, comparing them with excellent employees in your business is not a bad thing. Look at how their personalities, skills, and values match up. Doing this will help you figure out which candidates can fit in your organization.
• What Do Prospective Candidates Know About Your Organizational Culture?: Do the future employees know anything about your current company culture? What level of research did they conduct on the subject? Did they consult their recruiter about your organization’s culture? It will also help to ask all prospective candidates whether they have concerns about the culture of your business. Is it a good environment for their professional and personal life?

Let us help you Find Extraordinary Talent
At Waypoint Search, we have a team of experts that can help you find candidates that match your company culture. Contact us today for a free hiring analysis!