Who hasn’t seen a job posting filled with a grand list technical skills and experience requirements? But when that “perfect” candidate arrives, with just the right combination of expertise and years of experience, are you also assessing that candidate for FIT with your corporate culture?
Your corporate values and culture should be communicated in all aspects of your organizational marketing, including your social media, promotional materials, job descriptions/postings, and in the interview itself. Design and ask questions that explore a candidate’s personal and professional values. For example:
What is your ideal company culture? OR Did you fit with your last company’s culture – why or why not? If the candidate has worked largely independently or autonomously to date, your follow-up questions should explore if they’ll be comfortable in your more team-oriented or collaborative environment.
How do you handle stress and pressure? If your organization expects after hours or weekend work to meet client needs/requests and your candidate expresses a high value on work-life balance, you will want to probe comfort with and ability to manage these expectations.
How do you evaluate success? While you will get valuable insight on the candidate’s style and methods, it’s also an opportunity to assess how well their definition of success aligns with your organization’s own definition.
Be prepared to share concrete examples of how your culture plays out on a day-to-day basis, too:
Our sales goals are aggressive, but we reward the time and effort made by employees who meet them.
Our team members have a daily check-in with their manager.
We routinely identify and mentor leadership potential for internal opportunities.
Our team meets socially monthly to build employee connections cross-divisionally.
Remember – you’re being transparent about the work environment, but you’re also selling that work environment to candidates, particularly when he or she is exploring multiple employment options.
If you need assistance identifying and implementing your corporate values in your business vision, a Strategic Planning Session with CSR can help. Contact us here.