A Great Place to Work: 7 Ways to Use Your Company Culture to Attract Talent

Today’s PR professionals need to tap into a diverse set of skills in an always-on, unpredictable and fast-paced industry. They need to be strong storytellers, content generators and masterful communicators. They need to possess an impeccable attention to detail, be nimble enough to quickly and easily shift gears, have the ability to shake it off easily — and the list goes on and on.

Just as we’re evaluating candidates’ skills, they’re carefully evaluating us. They want the agency they select to be challenging, yet fair and rewarding. They crave an opportunity to continue to push themselves to learn and grow in an industry that changes daily.

More important, they also want to feel supported and valued in a team-focused environment. They want open and honest communication. They want to add value and feel rewarded. They also need a clear picture of what it’s like to work at your shop before they accept the offer.

That’s why our company culture is front and center during the interview process. Agency leaders have a big opportunity to practice what they preach and use public relations to sell prospective employees on why they should work for you, starting with your culture.

Here are seven ways to use your agency’s culture to attract talent.

1. Lead with culture.

Showcase your agency’s mission and vision during the interview process. When you sit down with candidates, share concrete examples of what makes your culture different since most companies will tout the “we’re a great place to work” message. Leading with culture shows you place a high value on it.

2. Give them a tour.

This may seem like a no-brainer: Give candidates a tour. Forego the phone interviews or meeting off-site. Show them where they would sit. Allow them to picture themselves inside this environment.

3. Use a team approach to interviews.

No one wants to meet only with agency leadership during the interview. Your team can be your best ambassadors, so have candidates talk to team members they’ll be rolling up their sleeves next to. Set up several in-person sessions in casual, yet structured meetings, and host them in different meeting rooms so they can get a flavor for what meetings will be like if they take a position at your firm.

4. Host a gathering.

There’s no better way for talent to get to know you than a low-key, fun setting. We’ve hosted summer happy hours structured around a theme. One year it was “Camp Wordsworth” and stations were set up, staffed by our team to meet and greet with attendees and take them through a fun activity. This can take many different forms and doesn’t have to be limited only to prospective employees. By making it an open event, you can network across the industry while showing would-be employees how you conduct business in the moment.

5. Showcase your team (and culture) on social media.

The first places talent will go to check out your agency are your social feeds. To give the best impression, make sure they include a good balance of life inside the agency. You’ve worked hard to cultivate and nurture your culture; why not show it off? Don’t forget that you’re a PR agency — you do this for a living. Apply the same expertise and talent toward managing your own social media that you would offer to your clients.

6. Discover their strengths.

Consider having candidates take the CliftonStrengths assessment to determine their talents in the form of their top five strengths. You can use it as another piece of data to determine if they’d be a good fit for your culture. Once they start, ask them to share their results with the rest of the team and point out any traits they may share with others. This reinforces a strengths-based culture for everyone and opens up avenues of communication.

7. Form a culture committee.

Chances are, you offer more perks and flexibility than a ping-pong table, an Xbox and free sodas. But culture is about much more than that — it needs people to keep it moving. At our agency, we have a culture committee that plans fun activities and outings for holidays and everything in between. This provides leadership opportunities for staff and ensures that there’s always a team committed to making sure that culture remains a part of our normal operations.

How are you promoting your company’s culture to your hires?