Company culture and talents: how to find a perfect match

Have you ever wondered about your company’s cultural practices, if they match the image it gives externally and the candidate profiles it attracts?

As a Talent Acquisition in the technology and innovation market, I realize how hard it is for companies to attract and retain talents. And as I understand that attraction and retention go hand in hand, I bring here some of my insights and research into relevant attraction practices that also influence retention.

But first, let’s take a look at the current scenario of the world’s tech professionals.

A recent Stack Overflow survey (2019) on the worldwide developer profile showed that 58.7% of professionals are not actively looking for new jobs, but are open to new opportunities. Which brings us to another statistic of this market: over 59% of them change their jobs in less than 2 years.

But what do these professionals look for so much in the job market? What are the main factors to retain and draw attention in a company? This same survey pointed out that office environment and company culture are their highest concerns when assessing a new job.

So why is it so hard to attract talent?

Among the many reasons, we can say that, currently, well-paid offers, funky products, and relaxing office spaces are not enough to attract talent.

What they are looking for are spaces that promote job satisfaction combined with a culture of well-being, where they can be who they are, with freedom of expression and active voice in the organization, that is a culture that embraces differences.

And how to make an organizational culture attractive to diverse talents?

Cling to organizational values – showing that values are lived daily by employees inside the organization through internal actions that address them.

Stay close to the community – genuinely caring about and respecting differences, providing speech space in your company, says a lot about the openness they give to employees every day. Encouraging their role in the community further reinforces this positioning.

Provide internal dialogue spaces – giving employees freedom and speaking space on important topics, with actions such as conversation circles, thematic committees and opening feedback channels show how the organization cares and respects everyone’s place of speech.

Ensure a lovely experience – one day I was asked “Nati, why introducing the company to all candidates? Once I saw a businessman saying on a talk that he only presented the office to whom he knew that would advance the selection process”. Seeking the candidate’s delightful through a careful relationship impacts on the company’s image and makes them want to indicate, speak well and even to return in the future if they are not hired.

Have well-defined career growth processes – nowadays only 1 in 5 developers want to be in the same position 5 years from now. Promoting career development within the organization is a differential as it demonstrates professional recognition.

Encourage diversity in the workplace – knowing that humanity is diverse in itself, we can conclude that innovation, which has the cradle of different ideas, experiences, realities and worldviews, benefits from this by creating better products through these different perspectives. Besides that, showing that all particularities are respected reinforces respect and concern for well-being.

But after thinking a bit about how culture could be attractive, how do we really know if we (company and talents) are a culture match? How do we really know which people will best fit the organization’s culture?

Before signing up for a selection process, any talent will check the company’s social footprint: any news that it was part of, how it positions itself on social media, what purposes it advocates for, values and routine practices that make up its culture. Only after liking what they saw, talents will get to know the company better and consider a position. Pay close attention to how this is reflected in your company.

The interview stages of the selection process give clues to how people behave in certain situations and how they relate to the proposed themes. Likewise, a well-structured interview will always investigate the values ​​and purposes that the company stands for, and this will provide a basis for how the candidate’s and the organization’s personal values ​​fit together.

Good resources that can help in these steps are the use of hypothetical situations that can refer to past experiences. This way you can investigate what the candidate did in the specific situation and their position on the topic today, such as “Have you worked with people very different from you? What did you do to deal with conflict situations? ”

Remember that a selection process is a horizontal process, which means it is the moment when both (talent and company) investigate if it makes sense to work together. Therefore it is important for the company to make room for questions about their daily lives.

The truth is that there is no magic formula for making an organization attractive. Promoting a good culture that considers the employee’s well-being takes time and effort, but it’s part of what each organization stands for. The reward comes in many levels of organizational impact, from brand improvement to talent retention.

In the end a good match starts well before the selection process, think about it!

References:

https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019

https://www.nsctotal.com.br/noticias/nao-ha-inovacao-sem-diversidade

https://cio.com.br/como-nasce-a-inovacao-diversidade-de-talentos-deve-ser-um-dos-caminhos/

https://medium.com/python-weekly-brazil/stackoverflow-developer-survey-2018-e532c66558be