Shawnee Love   •  
April 20, 2018

When you walk through your organization, how does it feel?

Is the vibe positive? Do people smile, laugh and joke or is there silence, furtive glances or a palpable fear?

The “vibe” is indicative of your organizational culture and candidates will be interpreting and dare I say judging whether they want to work with you on the basis of what it tells them.

That’s why organizational culture is a key part of the candidate experience and something you want to ensure is attractive to the candidates you want to hire.

An Organization’s Culture is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid (The Business Dictionary).

To a candidate, culture is evident in the energy, communication and behaviours of the people who work there as well as by:

• Reading what others say online (on the company site for the official perspective, and on sites like Glassdoor for the kudos and complaints), and
• Observing the organization’s workings as they participate in the hiring process.

Candidates finding signs of a good culture will be more likely to join the company.  However, they will be turned off by signs of a bad culture.

Thankfully, a culture’s “beauty” is in the eye of the beholder.

That’s good for small and medium sized organizations, because you don’t have the infrastructure to be everything to everyone anyway.

Instead, you just need to be great at that which your employees care about.  And whatever you do well from a culture perspective will in turn determine who wants to work and stay with you.

Every company’s culture is unique, but your’s can have its own cultural secret sauce which differentiates it and makes it more attractive to candidates.

You just have to:

1. Define the culture you want (ensuring it appeals to the candidates you need), and
2. Deliver on it. (Because its all talk until you do it!)

Warning:  We are often “blind” to our own organizational cultures because its difficult to be objective about your own baby.

If you want to understand your organizational culture, the first impression your candidates receive, and ensure your culture is all that you want it and need it to be, then you might be ready for a culture assessment.  If you need one done or want to learn more about culture assessments or improving your organization’s candidate experience, we hope you will think of LoveHR.