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In any hiring process, there’s a fair chance that candidates will ask, “How would you describe the company culture?” Candidates deeply care about company culture; 72% would reject an offer because they feel disconnected from the culture. Yet in a remote hiring process, culture can get lost in translation.
Touring an office and shaking hands with employees makes the intangible concept of company culture incredibly tangible. But with remote hiring now the norm, recruiting teams grapple with conveying culture through a Zoom screen.
Recruiters must take a thoughtful approach to sharing company culture—a difficult task, but not impossible. Read on for our top tips on how to communicate culture when hiring remotely.
Before the Remote Interviewing Stage
While most hiring teams focus on conveying culture during interviews, you shouldn’t ignore the pre-interview stage. First impressions matter; it’s important to communicate your culture before candidates even walk through the (virtual) door.
Optimize Your Careers Page
The careers page is much more than a place to display job openings. With the proper optimization, your careers page can act as a gateway into your company culture.
Our friends at Greenhouse gathered several examples of careers pages done right. Here are some elements from those pages that make company culture stand out:
- Clearly defined mission and values
- Company story
- Quotes from employees
- Videos/photos of employees collaborating
- Engaging interactive features
- Strong brand voice and tone
Fine-tune Your Interview Scheduling
Don’t underestimate the significance of the interview scheduling stage. The way that you navigate this stage reflects your company culture. To communicate a culture of understanding and empathy, you need to show it through your scheduling.
For instance, accommodating a candidate’s schedule conveys that you value their time. Be sure to ask for your candidate’s availability upfront.
Another way to communicate an empathetic, flexible culture is by straying away from all-day interviews. Scheduling all-day interviews suggests that your company doesn’t value a work-life balance. Most candidates would much rather interview in chunks across several days.
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During the Remote Interviewing Stage
Once you reach the interview stage, it’s time for all systems go. This is the prime opportunity to relay what your company culture is like.
Nearly all (90%) of the companies from our 2022 Hiring Insights Report said that they designed their interview process to reflect their culture. However, 47% said that they don’t actually communicate their culture to candidates.
Don’t be like those companies. Here’s how to make your culture loud and clear.
Train, Train, Train Your Interviewers
Your interviewers are your company’s spokespeople. Their interactions with candidates should align with your culture. That’s why it’s essential to have each interviewer participate in interviewer training.
Interviewers should learn how to speak about company culture in a vivid, true-to-life manner. This doesn’t mean listing a jumble of different adjectives. (What does having a “fun” culture even mean?) Instead, interviewers should share concrete, specific examples that paint a picture of your company.
Emphasize Diversity in Interview Panels
Remote hiring opens the door to a broader talent pool—and more diverse candidates. These candidates want to know that DE&I is vital to your company culture. But they don’t want to be told that your company cares about DE&I—they want to see that your company cares about DE&I.
One of the best ways to show that DE&I is crucial to your culture is by increasing the diversity in your interview panels. Candidates from underrepresented groups want to be interviewed by diverse interviewers with whom they share traits. Seeing employees similar to them makes candidates feel represented by their potential employer.
After the Remote Interviewing Stage
The post-interview stage can be a nerve-wracking period for candidates. “Did the interviewers like me? Did I interview the best that I could?” How you approach this stage says a lot about your organization and company culture.
Keep Consistent Communication with Candidates
Is there anything worse than a recruiter who ghosts candidates? Interviewing can be a high-stress ordeal for candidates, and dropping contact with them out of nowhere can kick their stress into overdrive.
Ghosting reflects incredibly poorly on your culture; if candidates feel mistreated before joining your company, how can they expect it to be any different as an employee?
Be sure to maintain consistent communication with candidates. If setting up a second interview takes you longer than expected, give candidates a quick update to show that you haven’t forgotten about them. Not only will this reflect positively on your culture, but it’ll also dissuade candidates from looking for opportunities elsewhere.
If Rejecting Candidates, Do it With Tact
No one likes to deliver bad news—especially when it’s employment-related. Rejecting candidates is an unfortunate yet necessary part of being a recruiter, and there’s a right and wrong way to do it.
The way that you reject candidates says a lot about your culture. Tactfully rejecting candidates sends the message that your company has a heart. A personalized email with thoughtful wording breaks the news in a considerate manner.
And remember: delivering bad news is better than providing no news. A survey found that a whopping 75% of candidates never hear back from an employer. Receiving no response after trying your hardest in an interview deals a significant blow to your self-esteem; deliver the rejection as soon as possible so that candidates can move on and discover the job that’s right for them.
Level Up Your Remote Hiring Process Today
Amid your recruiting tasks, never lose sight of your company culture. It should permeate every corner of your remote hiring process (and it’s much easier to convey than you think). Successfully communicating your culture can be just the thing that gets candidates to a “yes” when it’s time to deliver offers.
To cultivate a remote process that’s head and shoulders above the competition, you need some extra firepower in your corner. You need GoodTime Hire.
Hire harnesses Candidate Relationship Intelligence to automate coordination, build relationships during interviews, and provide actionable insights to continuously improve your hiring process.
Learn more about how Hire’s interview scheduling software can transform your talent acquisition process.
