“If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.”
-Simon Sinek, "How Great Leaders Inspire Action," filmed at TEDxPugetSound
There is little disagreement that having the right team in place is a key element to scaling your business in a sustainable way. The ability to recruit a roster of remarkable people - the indispensable folks Seth Godin calls “linchpins” - can mean the difference between a business that flourishes and a business that fails. But within the fast-paced environment of a rapidly growing company, it’s tough to know where to focus your efforts. One thing holds true, however; while you can teach smart people the functional skills they need to do the job, it’s nearly impossible to teach the elusive culture element. So how do you recruit a great culture fit? Here are three ways to get started.
1) Put yourself in the spaces (physical and digital) where your culture fit hangs out.
Good recruiters do an efficient job of screening resumes, conducting phone interviews, and shepherding qualified candidates through the interview process. The only problem is the best candidate for the job probably didn’t submit a resume in the first place. Great recruiters know this, and furthermore, they realize the best candidates are getting sold to all the time. The only way to cut through the noise is to build real relationships with the people you want to hire. This means you have to put yourself in spaces where your culture fit is hanging out. If your core values are authentic to you and your company, this will be a natural extension of what you’re already doing. For example, when ShipCompliant hosted a flood relief fundraiser last fall, we didn’t do it as a recruiting tool. We did it because we saw a need in our community and realized we were uniquely positioned to create an event with a “drink for a good cause” angle. But guess what kind of people came to our "Glass Half Full" event? People who care about their community, who share our core value of “Feel It” (i.e. authentic empathy for others). We ended up meeting and later hiring a Software Developer and UX Designer from that event. Both of them mentioned they were attracted to ShipCompliant because they saw that we cared enough to do something. Culture fit? Bingo. The same concept can be applied to social media. Treat online interactions as opportunities to create and connect with a tribe of potential hires. Don’t bombard your audience with advertisements about open jobs. Instead, share what you believe in, tell them about why you’re doing what you do. Ask them about themselves and take the time to really listen to what they say. These kinds of authentic interactions - whether in-person or online - take more thought and time than the typical job posting announcement, but result in something you can't buy with an unlimited recruiting budget: the genuine attention and respect of precisely the kind of people you want to hire. It’s the culture fit long game, and it’s worth playing.
2) Make the distinction between perks and culture. Truly remarkable people care about the latter.
In the competition for great talent, there’s a lot of talk about hiring candidates who will fit in with your culture. But what does that really mean? Too often, recruiters will point to things like a dog-friendly office, a kegerator, a casual dress code, or the ubiquitous catered weekly lunch and call it the company’s “culture.” It’s tempting to emphasize these aspects during the hiring process; after all, what candidate wouldn’t be excited about a paid gym membership or regular company-sponsored happy hours? Undoubtedly, these elements of the work environment do their part to attract and retain great people. But make no mistake; your foosball table actually has very little to do with your company culture. It’s a perk, sure. It has value, sure. But it’s not your culture. Whether stated or implied, your business is built around a set of values or beliefs about what’s important. Beyond profitability, there is (hopefully) some deeper sustaining belief in the importance of the work you’re doing. Your actual company culture is made up of this work (your “core purpose”), and just as importantly, how the work gets done (your “core values”). Hiring people with the right skill set is critical. Hiring people with the right skill set who share a commitment to your company’s core purpose and values? Now, that’s a culture fit. And guess what? Remarkable people, the ones you want to hire, care more about this stuff than they do about access to an unlimited coffee shop tab. The perks are icing on the cake. Sell candidates on your culture, not your perks, and you’ll attract the kind of people you actually want on your team for the long haul.
3) Commit to evaluating candidates for culture fit in a systematic way.
Just as many companies misunderstand how to sell candidates on their culture, they similarly misunderstand how to evaluate candidates as culture fits during the interview process. Hiring a culture fit is not about hiring the candidate who shares your CEO’s love of Seinfeld or passion for ice climbing (unless you’re in the business of making ice climbing equipment, in which case this passion might actually be relevant to your company’s core purpose). To hire a real culture fit, you need get systematic about evaluating candidates' alignment with your purpose, values, and beliefs. Your system could take a number of different forms; what matters is that you're consistent and committed to using it. At ShipCompliant, we have found success in engaging team members to evaluate candidates for specific core values and culture-related attributes. Each team member who meets with a candidate is literally assigned a characteristic, along with interview questions designed to surface examples of how the candidate embodies (or doesn’t embody) that particular quality. When scores are tallied, if a candidate doesn’t rate highly enough on even one of those attributes, it’s likely to be a non-starter regardless of their experience and skill set. Because we’ve built our team around people who “get” ShipCompliant's culture at a gut-instinct level, we trust them to make this judgment call. Get brutally clear on your culture non-negotiables, integrate them systematically into your interview process, and trust your team to make the tough decisions, providing training and support where needed. If you’re truly committed to hiring culture fits, you’ll probably turn down some very talented people who simply aren’t the right candidates for you, but you'll also be able to recognize the ones who are a radically great fit.
With these three tips, you'll jumpstart your ability to find people who will shed blood, sweat, and tears to see your business succeed. Hire them and watch the magic unfold.
