A lot of articles are written about candidate sourcing, applicant tracking systems, competencies, assessments, and a number of other tools and tricks we as recruiters use to find, attract, and validate candidates. So once all of this is done and the employee shows up for their first day, are they really ready to make an informed decision about your company? So many times we get wrapped up in our really cool tools or legally compliant processes that we forget about things like culture.

According to Webster's New World College Dictionary, the definition of culture is, "The ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc., of a people or group that are transferred, communicated, or passed along.” The definition transfers well in defining the culture of many employers’ organizations, as well.

Each company, and in some cases, each building on a company campus, can have its own culture. Over the last couple months, I have spoken with a number of people from a variety of companies and found that cultures vary greatly from company to company, state to state, and region to region, but recruiters are not keying in on the cultures of the companies for which they recruit.

I’ve listed below a couple of items to keep in mind to insure your candidate is aware of and understands the culture of the new employer, to insure the candidate is properly informed so they can make an informed decision and increase their productivity, and lengthen their duration with the company.

Does the recruiter buy-in to the culture?
At the beginning of the process, your recruiter needs to understand, live, eat, and breathe the culture of the company for which they are recruiting. If a company's culture and "new age" dress code is casual, and is focused around group participation, brain storming, and ahs music blasting in all hallways, and your recruiter is representing a business formal environment, suits every day, etc., your recruiter will be attracting candidates from a more business professional mindset, and these candidates may not be able to adapt, or frankly, may be put off by the culture they encounter when they start with the new company. The recruiter not only has to be able to speak to the culture but portray the culture themselves.

Give candidates a little taste
Bring the candidates to your facilities to interview – not just in the front conference room by the lobby, but in the area they potentially could be working. Give them a tour; let them see firsthand exactly what kind of environment in which they would be working. Too many of the companies I speak with conduct off-site interviews at sometimes extravagant locations, misleading the candidates’ expectations. Then, on the first day, they come in to an office setting that is nothing like the environment in which they interviewed. Take the candidates around your campus, show them the ins and outs, help them understand not only what the culture is, but why it is that way.

Being part of the team
You have portrayed the culture, shown them the campus, and explained why culture is important. Now let them meet the team. Along with a company culture, each department or team may have a subculture. It is important for the prospective hire to meet members of the team they would be working with during the interview process. Not only will this give the candidate and the team an idea of whether or not they could work together, it also gives the prospective hire a true picture what a day in the life of this position would be like if they were offered it.

I know much of this seems like common sense, but as I visit with recruiters and hiring managers across the country, these basic pieces are items that we are missing. We become so focused on the newest and coolest search strategy or ensuring we utilize a compliant assessment process, that we lose sight of some of the more important things, like retention, candidate care, workforce diversity and celebrating individuality. New ways of sourcing are fascinating, and we need to stay on the cutting edge, but once you find the top talent, you need to insure they come aboard and stay, through back to basics tactics, like "candidate care."