Theory of Attraction: Company Culture and Top Talent

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Red arrows pointing to a round silver ballCompanies want to attract top talent; after all, employees help bring a company to the next level. This launch happens when companies recruit only the absolute best in the industry, and this means that companies constantly must ensure that quality stays consistent and constant. Any company can set this goal, but only the organizations which understand how to attract top talent to their company can achieve it. The secret to this step: creating a culture which captures the attention of the talent they aim to hire.

Bersin by Deloitte’s 2014 Predictions show that retaining and attracting top talent requires building passion through management, opportunities, the work environment, leadership, and the company brand or mission. Each of these factors plays into company culture and dictates how organizations create and illustrate that their culture can attract top talent and convince them to join the team. To accomplish this feat, consider the following tips.

Embrace Your Differences

Attracting top talent requires standing apart from the rest. Take a good look at your company’s unique offerings: does it offer remote/virtual office options, host a yearly trip or event in an exotic location, or provide a friendly or family-like atmosphere? If so, advertise these perks in job postings, the company blog, or company social media accounts. The goal remains to attract interest from candidates, and by showcasing the unique offerings and environment your company offers, opportunities might resonate more with the top talent it hopes to hire. Don’t hide these quirks – use them as your “sell factor.”

Showcase Your Current Talent  

While you may not want to show your cards to the world, you probably have super talented employees working for you. This presents a great value: talented individuals want to work with other talented individuals since this creates a motivating and challenging work environment that top talent thrives on. Find a way to showcase your existing top talent without offering them to the competition. Once engaged in discussion with top candidates, mention the superb qualities, valued work habits and/or even casually drop the name of your “Superstar” employee. By showcasing the all-stars already on your team, you can help validate why other high-quality candidates would want to join your team.

Hire Like-Minded People

Company culture fuses with like-minded people. Allow employees who will work with the candidate on a regular basis to join the hiring process to ensure the candidate fits in well with the team and can motivate others – both in the group they’ll work with and throughout the rest of the company. The motivation factor plays an important role and needs addressing prior to hiring because problems can arise and become detrimental to your company if the talented person falls on a different page from everyone else and cannot find a way to align.

Furthermore, if your first hire for the company is a superstar, follow suit by having a plan in place to hire other outstanding individuals soon after. Top talent likes to be motivated and challenged by others on their team, and surrounding them with others who also value this type of environment can seriously launch the company to new heights.

For example, James Kenigsberg, Chief Technology Officer at 2U, Inc., likes to give potential candidates a trial run to ensure they fit the microclimate of his team and work in harmony with its other members.

“I fully believe in the ‘try before you buy’ philosophy, and will bring in a candidate on contract for a short period of time just to see how the fit is for us and for them, before making an ultimate decision,” Kenigsberg said. “If that candidate is driven and has passion and they fit well into the team environment that we’ve created, we can develop them and create rockstars.”

Engage and Motivate

The effort to build a company full of top talent continues after the implementation of a hiring procedure; once you attract and hire top talent, retaining it requires putting those quality employees first, engaging them, and motivating them. Each of these steps shows you respect your team which drives employees to promote the company’s success through trust and by using their voices to strengthen the company culture.

Working to infuse all of these different elements into your recruiting and hiring efforts ensures that you and your company attract the right attention. Following this path puts your company on the right track for success and guarantees the inclusion of top talent which gathers to bring your company to the next level.

By Taso Du Val