The Corporate Cultural Web: Initial Recruiting Steps

Internal or external recruiting acts as the front line gatekeeper of company culture. It doesn't matter what their position is in the hierarchy, or if they even work for the organization the recruiter has the ability to project and enforce their vision of the company's culture. These people are always a recruit's first impression and tell the first stories about the organization.

I have had a lot of success recruiting and developing employees through the years and found the following steps essential to the process no matter if I was an Training Supervisor, Program Manager, or Education Director.  

1. Make a point to have one on one time with the recruits. It doesn't matter if it was passing someone in a hall, chatting at their desk, or even a ride share private time is a must.

2. Use active listening.  It's a training cliche because it works.  People will tell you all their hopes, dreams, and fears if you're paying attention and interested. To really set the hook, ask probing questions.

3. Keep you to yourself. No one got to hear about what I did until they either asked, or mentioned something tangentially related.  Never make the conversation about you.  It's about their goals.

4. Show respect for the person.  Everyone has a story and everyone has struggled. Relating and empathizing with similar instances in your life will help create the connection necessary to sway the recruit.

5. Invite them to explore the connection. Something as simple as "Check out our website at Grayareamanagment.com to learn more and get in touch!"

These initial steps are essential for creating buy in from a potential employee. The best part is, it does not matter who in the organization does them! Everyone can be an effective recruiter if given the correct stories and tools. If properly outfitted a good internal employee recruitment a should lead directly into the next thread of the Corporate Cultural Web: HR Recruiting.