When you are growing a small business in a very competitive environment, you’ll find that prospective employees can have a huge amount of leverage when choosing an employer. Company culture is a top concern for most prospective staff who will choose a happy, productive and respectful environment over the standard perks. Many have told us that having a good pay rate is nice, but not if it comes at the expense of the work/life balance and a boss who treats you well.

Here’re a few tips to help make your office culture a major asset for recruiting the best people.

Reflect your office culture right from the beginning of the recruiting process. One way is to make sure you have time to respond to all the queries received from prospective employees. It’s worthwhile taking the time to communicate with every applicant in order to demonstrate they are not just another email in a queue.

Build your corporate social media in a way to show the variety and balance in the company when it comes to work and plays.

Try creating a video about life in your company and at your offices and leverage it on your social media to give viewers a visual sense of your culture.

Keep in mind that most of the top sales staff you will be looking to recruit are looking for a job that combines unique challenges with job growth. Share the direction and goals of yourself and the company, showing that there is always room for progressive thinkers and active go-getters.

Let your interview practices reflect your culture. Create a situation that allows the candidate to get a glimpse of the office environment.

Introduce your candidate to all the core team members, even if they won’t be working on the same team. It’s very important that they get a sense of the office "vibe and energy", allowing them to work out if they are a comfortable "fit".

Hire for variety to create versatility in not only the business abilities but also within the office culture. By everyone being the same age, having similar sales experience and at the same skill level, you will find that office competition may turn into office wars.

Developing the right culture doesn’t happen overnight; it’s something that happens over time. To create an environment where your staff are excited about who they work for requires you to invest the time back into them and their work environment.

Help!!!!

If you’re struggling with how to attract the right employee, then our HR experts are happy to assist.