A key strategy for becoming a talent management organization is recruiting right-fit talent for your organization. As business consultants, many organizations hire us to assist them in improving their people management practices, usually requesting strategies and tactics for right-fit hiring. But, right-fit hiring is the second step in the talent management process. To ensure that you get the most value from the process, it is necessary to begin with attracting and recruiting right-fit talent. This means attracting talent that is right-fit for your culture.
An organization’s culture is the philosophy underlying all decisions and actions that reinforce the image of the company or, simply put, “The way you do things.”
Attracting and hiring for your culture is not as complicated as you may think. The key strategy for recruiting and attracting right-fit employees is to communicate your culture prior to the interview. To accomplish this, marketing materials must reflect the elements of your culture, representing your employee dynamics and utilizing language and symbols that are strong representations of your culture and your brand identity.
As an example, The Walt Disney Company® is undoubtedly one of the best in the world at attracting and hiring right-fit employees, called Cast Members because every employee is part of the show for the Guests (customers) who come to visit its theme parks and enjoy its unique brand of entertainment. Recruiting ads for the Walt Disney World Company® leverage the strong brand identity of the company by incorporating the world-famous characters, the Disney language, and symbols into all of their recruitment materials.
If you were considering responding to a hiring recruitment ad for the Walt Disney World Resort ®, you may see a picture of Mickey Mouse in the ad; Disney also makes strategic use of language. For example, one newspaper ad read, “Make new friends and become part of the friendliest cast on earth! Get your dream job and create magic for our guests at the Walt Disney World Resort® today!”
These words and phrases are intended to attract the right person to the Company. If, as a potential new-hire, you think the words magic and dream job sound ridiculous, you are less likely to pursue a job at Walt Disney World. You will likely make a judgment decision at this point as to whether or not this environment (culture) is right for you.
Nordstrom's, Ritz Carlton Hotels, and Southwest Airlines are examples of other premier organizations that use this process to attract right-fit employees. Ritz Carlton uses phrases such as Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen, alluding to the specific behaviors expected of new employees.
The strategy of communicating your culture prior to interviewing results in a certain percentage of applicants self-selecting out of the process. Walt Disney World® has found that approximately 10% of applicants self-select out of the process, reducing waste in the form of human resources and time by avoiding non-productive interviews.