Does Your Image Match Your Company Culture?

By Jezabel Southard

Posted on August 12, 2014

Top companies often draw top talent on the basis of their brand image alone. Although not every company holds the position of, say, Google, any company can attract top candidates based on its image – but only if the public persona accurately reflects the company culture.

Does your company’s image sell its culture effectively to top candidates? To get a better match and attract better candidates, ask these questions:

  1. How would our employees describe our company culture?

Set aside the company’s public image for a moment and talk to employees. How would they describe the office’s culture and daily functioning? Is the company “quiet,” “bustling,” “focused,” “energized,” or “thoughtful”? By going to the source for a description of the company’s culture, hiring managers arm themselves with the information they need to create and sell an image that matches.

  1. How well do our public materials match our employees’ descriptions?

Once employees have weighed in on describing the company culture, take a look at the company’s public materials: its Web site, literature, and job postings that are distributed to and seen by potential candidates. Do they describe essentially the same workplace culture – or could they be two entirely different companies? Worse, do the materials candidates see fail to describe any company culture at all? Use internal contributions to adjust public materials and job descriptions accordingly.

  1. Are we going beyond the checklist?

Companies that seek to “brand” their culture for the first time can easily make the mistake of treating company culture as a checklist, rather than a way of life. Avoid taking perfunctory steps like adding a few beanbag chairs to the break room or announcing a company picnic: accessories like these are the effect of a creative or team-oriented company culture, not the cause of one. Instead, focus on genuinely supporting creativity, teamwork, or other cultural priorities among your employees, and letting the details follow after.

  1. How does our leadership demonstrate our company’s culture?

Top candidates know that when nobody on the hiring team mentions company culture, things are bad – that when senior management or leaders demonstrate bad cultural practices, things are worse. Make sure that leaders demonstrate a commitment to the company’s cultural values in everything they do, especially when the public will see it.

At TERRA Staffing, our experienced staffing partners can help you build an image that matches your company’s culture, establishing a hiring brand that attracts the best talent for your organization. Contact us today to learn more about our staffing services in the Pacific Northwest.

Categories: Employee Engagement Ideas, HR and Management Advice

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