How culture affects recruiting
Author Jeff Toister on a hike in Death Valley National Park.

How culture affects recruiting

New research shows a major obstacle to hiring great people. It isn't the job market, the skills gap, or inflation, although those play a role.

The big challenge is culture.

A whopping 95 percent of employees said they consider a company's culture before applying for a job.

You've probably heard this. What's surprising is the extent to which your culture plays a role in your ability to recruit, hire, and retain great employees.

In particular, companies with strong cultures:

  • Have a recruiting advantage
  • Attract great candidates (for less money)
  • Retain more high-quality employees

If you have been neglecting your culture, it might be costing you. Let's dive into the details.


Culture affects recruiting

Employees look at your culture during the hiring process.

Culture is defined as how people in an organization think and act. To job applicants, this often boils down to “What’s it like to work here?”

I combined a LinkedIn poll with my own survey to ask more than 1,200 people whether they considered company culture when applying for a job.

The resounding answer was, "Uh, yeah!"

Pie chart showing that 95% of job applicants consider a company's culture before applying for a job.

Many people left illuminating comments on this LinkedIn poll about why they consider company culture when applying for a job.


How job candidates assess your culture

In a survey of 301 customer service professionals, 43 percent said they had turned down a job offer because of the company's culture.

A bar chart showing that 43% of job applicants have turned down a job offer because of the company's culture.

Ever wonder why you're getting ghosted?

Companies make a lot of mistakes in the recruiting process. These mistakes are huge red flags to candidates who are considering other options.

Here are just a few:

Job applicants have gotten pretty savvy about evaluating culture during the recruiting process. They research a number of sources , including:

  • Glassdoor reviews
  • Conversations with existing employees
  • Social media accounts

This leaves two options for companies that have unhealthy cultures. Either fix your broken culture or get ready to pay a premium to convince employees to accept your job offer.

Oh, and if you go with option two, start recruiting their replacement right now. Why? Because...


Poor culture causes turnover

The same survey of 301 customer service professionals revealed that the majority have left a job due to poor culture.

Bar chart showing that 64% of customer service professionals have left a job due to the company's culture.

An employee recently told me he left his old job because of poor culture.

He was clearly an asset in his new role, where he was highly engaged and was quickly embraced as an essential member of the team. The employee had many in-demand skills and provided great customer service.

His last employer lost him just because of culture.

Turnover like this costs companies a lot of money. Not sure exactly how much? Use this spreadsheet to crunch the numbers for your own company or team.


How can you improve culture?

There isn't an easy solution. Raising wages or adding Hawaiian shirt Fridays won't cut it.

Culture is ultimately how people think and act.

As a leader, you need to start by changing how you think and act if you want to change the culture. Are you really ready to do that?

If the answer is no, why are you still reading this?!

If the answer is yes, The Service Culture Handbook can serve as a step-by-step guide to help you. Inside, you'll find my personal contact information. You can reach out to me anytime if you need some guidance.

There's also a movie version of the book. You can watch it if you have access to LinkedIn Learning: Leading a Customer-Centric Culture .

Finally, I've put together a guide specifically for hiring employees who are a fit with your culture.


Additional Resources

  1. Join the conversation.?Follow me?on LinkedIn ?and click on the ?? in the upper-right corner of my profile page to get notified every time I post about service culture.
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Victor Kimaiga

sales and marketing at farmers choice limited

1 年

Well said

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Hello Mr. Jeff my question is base on CV, how can you help me on that.

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Michelle St Louis

Digital Literacy Resource Educator | Cornell Cooperative Extension Rensselaer County

1 年

This article resonates with me. Thanks for the post!

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Ernesto Sabater Calvet

Training & Change Management Agent | Finance Supervisor | Over 15 years proven experience supporting Shared Services Operations in multiple financial roles.

1 年

Another point to consider is companies tend to show off their values, mission, vision, and culture on the job posting, you can even navigate through their websites and feel inspired by this, but the truth is when you onboard the job, the reality is another.

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Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CSP

Customer Experience Speaker, Trainer, Podcast Host, and CEO

1 年

Awesome stuff, Jeff. And leaders need to pay attention. Every data point here is connected to spending the right resources in the right ways. It takes a lot of investment to find a great employee, then to onboard, train, and allow them to be their best. When culture stinks, they not only never get to that "best" part, but you lose that investment and have to just keep re-investing in recruiting and hiring. It's like the world's worst merry-go-round! Great research here. Thanks for sharing.

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