SixT60 Traction : Aligning Recruitment with Your Company Culture and Values

When you’re looking to grow your business and build a great team, gaining momentum in hiring isn’t just about quickly filling roles - it’s about creating a process (and talent pool) that aligns with your company’s culture and values. Focusing on cultural alignment means bringing in people who not only have the right skills but also add something unique to your business.?

Why Cultural Alignment Matters to Your Business

I’ve now spent 16 years working in recruitment - across 4 roles. The first was a great entry level role, working alongside great people, we worked well together, but it was temporary. My next role was perm but I was thrown in at the deep end with a busy team and very little training. It was sink or swim - and I sank. I wasn’t aligned with their culture, the office environment wasn’t right and I didn’t align with their approach. Before accepting my next role, I asked the manager if I could come and meet the team to make sure it was the right environment for me - almost 5 ( mostly great) years later I left and started Human.

There’s no doubt technical skills and experience are essential, but in reality the long-term success of a hire often comes down to cultural alignment. When your people truly connect with your company’s values and purpose, they’re more engaged, productive, and committed to their roles; significantly reducing turnover, saving you the time and resources involved in rehiring and retraining.

That said, cultural alignment isn’t about hiring people who all think and act the same. Instead, it’s about bringing in diverse perspectives that align with your core values, ensuring a dynamic and innovative team that moves in the same direction.

5 Actions You Can Take to Ensure Cultural Alignment in Hiring

1. Define and Communicate Your Core Values Clearly: Make sure your core values are well-defined and consistently communicated throughout the hiring process.
2. Train Your Hiring Managers and Recruiters: Equip those involved in hiring with the skills to assess cultural alignment.?
3. Use Employee Stories to Showcase Your Culture: Use your digital platforms and social media channels to share authentic stories from current employees that reflect your company culture.?
4. Integrate Culture into Your Onboarding Process: Make sure that your onboarding process immerses new hires in your company’s culture from day one.
5. Regularly Review and Adapt Your Approach: Remember, culture is dynamic, and so should be your approach to hiring for cultural alignment. Regularly review and adapt your recruitment strategies to ensure they stay in sync with your evolving company culture and values.

Growing the team is not just about filling positions and getting the work done - you’re building a strong, engaged team that performs better and acts as ambassadors for your company. Done well, this creates a virtuous cycle where great people attract more great people.?

If you want to learn more about how to embed your culture into your hiring process and grow an engaged aligned team download our guide here.

Next week’s article will discuss how to transform your hiring process to hire for cultural alignment to ensure you’re growing a strong diverse team to help achieve your goals - and theirs!