Communicating Your Company Culture to Candidates

You’re seeing the buzzword, “culture,” pop-up everywhere. It has begun to dictate your company meetings, it was the main topic of discussion at the professional networking event you attended last week, and now, you’ve received a memo from the HR department about it. They want you and your fellow leaders to do a better job of communicating the company culture to candidates and recruits. Where do you even begin?

Sure, there’s always the obvious terms to discuss – like the company mission and values. But that’s not generally what talented professionals in today’s market want to know about your firm. They care more about understanding your policies and outlook on:

• Creating a sense of purpose behind their job/sense of meaning from work
• Work/life balance
• Flexible work schedules
• Workplace dynamics
• Diversity
• Celebrations and traditions
• And yes – sometimes, your dress code

So, how can you incorporate these culture topics into your efforts to attract talented candidates to your workplace? Here are some tips for each stage of the hiring process:

Writing Job Ads and Job Descriptions

Say What You Mean

Stay away from vague terminology like “go-getter” or “professional” because they’re not good descriptors of how an employee would be expected to work at your firm. For example, instead of saying, “team player,” explain more about the team the person will be working on:

“While you’ll be our dedicated copywriter, you’ll work on a team of 4 which includes a designer, social media specialist, and content manager. The success of your team’s projects will depend on your daily collaboration and innovative ideas!”

This will give candidates a much clearer picture of daily life at your company and what type of personality would do well there.

Other Things to Include

• Specific examples of what it’s like to work at the company
  • Ex. On Fridays, everyone leaves early in the summer
  • Ex. We go on quarterly outings when the team hits their goals

• Use language that reflects your workplace
  • If it’s a more professional environment, choose more professional, standard language
  • If your company is more relaxed, use more of a conversational tone

Interviewing

Talk about the Future

Sometimes the best way to help the candidate visualize what it’s like to work at a company is to bring up the future. Talk about how employees have grown with the company and transitioned into higher-level roles. It also helps the candidate understand how the company is organized and functions together on a daily basis.

Be Transparent

This is the time for a good ol’ fashioned tell-all (only good things)!

• Describe how peers, leadership, and teams work together or if people tend to work more autonomously
• Paint a realistic picture so that you and the candidate can determine if your company is truly an environment in which they will succeed
• Answer candidate questions as honestly as possible (don’t sugar-coat things)
• Talk about the things that you and your employees love most about working for your company

Following-Up, Notifying Candidates & Presenting Offers

Reflect the Organization’s Culture

However you choose to proceed with candidates after the interviewing stage, it’s important that the next step reflects the organization’s culture. Everything from following-up to notifying candidates that they won’t be continuing in the process to presenting offers, each message should be delivered in the style and tone of your organization. Some things to consider:

• Calling someone personally rather than sending a generic email
• Taking some time to send a personalized email
• Following-up within the timeline that was communicated to the candidate
• Giving timely updates on the hiring process
• Communicating important next steps

Communicating culture isn’t always as easy as it sounds. So, if you’d like more tips and/or resources, please contact us because we’re happy to help!

Visit The Ultimate Guide to Hiring Digital Talent page for more information about how to attract top talent!