1. Are your Company Values Attractive to Candidates?
2. Clearly Define your Values in the Hiring Process
3. Measuring your Company Values and Culture

What do you stand for?

And no, we don’t just mean to go and make your 4^th cup of coffee for the morning.

Our values and culture define who we are as individuals.

They help us to navigate our world and make decisions based on our desires and needs.

When recruiting top Cloud talent, your company culture and values are crucial.

Why?

Because they tell candidates what you stand for, and to help them make the decision to join your business.

The best talent on the market has their pick of the top cloud jobs, so showing them why your business stands out from other IT Solution Providers is vital to stay ahead of your competition and to secure your next great hire.

Here at InfraView we know all about not only how IT solutions providers work, but also what candidates are looking for in today’s cloud jobs market.

If you’re in need of quick, personalised advice you can give us a call on 020 3617 1040 and one of our team can give their insight.

But for now, let’s learn more about what you need to know about your company values and culture.

Are your Company Values Attractive to Candidates?

Developing your company values is crucial in differentiating yourself from your competition.

It helps top IT Solution Providers to attract and retain the best Cloud talent.

Our Co-Founder Tim Davey has some great advice on making your company values attractive to candidates.

“Company and values are a core piece of not only any business strategy but also any organisation’s hiring and recruitment strategy.

It’s one of the key ways you can appeal to new talent and, more importantly, differentiate yourself from the competition and secure the top people.

I suppose if you think about it, on paper, all IT Solution Providers are exactly the same. Everybody is a vendor partner who sells, architects, designs, implements and supports technology solutions and services.

But we all know in practice if you look at any two IT Solution Providers they’re very very different.

Mainly, that comes down to their company values and culture.

So how do you make culture and values attractive?

First of all, you need to have some! I suppose that goes without saying, but many companies don’t define their purpose, mission and values. 

Secondly, you have to make sure they’re accurate and true to who you are as a business. Essentially, you’re going to be or going to have to be living by these. If they’re not a good representation of what you are, what you want to be and how you want to be perceived, they’re not going to be as effective as they could be.

Thirdly, you have to involve people internally. Your cloud company values and culture have to be driven from the top-down, through HR and across the business. Everybody has to live by these, so make them central to everything you do and accurate to your business. 

Fourthly, you should publicise your values and culture both internally AND externally. This could be through your company website, physically up on your office walls, through job descriptions, social media etc.

At InfraView we have ours displaying proudly on the wall, we write them on internal job descriptions, and we have clearly defined purpose, mission and values that we’re working towards and live by on a daily basis.

Very much think where you’re at in terms of your company values and culture. Are they really attractive to top Cloud candidates? It will go a long way to differentiate your IT Solution Provider business from your competition to top talent moving forwards!”

Clearly Define your Values in the Hiring Process

Having attractive company values will enhance your hiring process.

Of course, they will only improve it if they are an integral part of it.

Where should your values go? How do you tell the world about it?

Our Co-Founder Tim Cazemage has all the answers.

“It’s easy to underestimate the importance of company values and culture when looking at recruiting top Cloud talent.

You should be signposting what it means to work for your business throughout the hiring process.

Having clear company values will only enhance your brand and recruitment process. It will also help hiring managers and decision makers strategise and target the right characteristics and personalities of those Cloud candidates you are looking to hire, position in the right cloud job role.

You want to show the candidate that your business is one that is definitely worth joining, and that they are confident they will be the right fit.

I always talk to my clients working at top IT Solution Providers about how important it is to have a detailed requirement analysis. Expressing your company values during this process and at the beginning of your recruitment efforts is absolutely key.

Candidates want to know what type of business they would be joining, and whether they share the same kind of values.

It’s crucial at the beginning of the requirement analysis and hiring process, before doing anything else, to express your company values and talk about the culture around that.

There are a few things to consider before you begin:

1. Have clear, defined and meaningful values

This creates a clear understanding of the business, the culture and the people. These should be mentioned at every step of the hiring process. 

2. Make your values visible.

You want to shout about your values! Make sure they’re on cloud job descriptions, job specifications, your company website, social media… 

3. Be proud of your values!

They’re the lifeblood of your business; sing their praises! This will only enhance your hiring process and help to find the top Cloud talent who are bought into the journey your business is on. 

I believe it’s essential for any new hires to be fully aware of your company values and culture, and that you and your employees live and breathe them every single day.”

Measuring your Company Values and Culture

You’ve got attractive company values.

You’ve clearly defined them in the hiring process.

But are they working?

Will Martin has some ideas for IT Solution Providers who want to track the effectiveness of their culture and values.

“As with any part of the recruitment process, you should be monitoring the effectiveness of your company values and culture when hiring top Cloud candidates.

A solid core values system is really important to keep every member of the business moving in the same direction.

It’s much easier to get the most from them if you have them engrained in your business from top to bottom, and throughout any process that involve hiring and onboarding employees. The business will be on an even keel across the year if you can implement this across the company, even in difficult times.

It also takes a lot of your valuable time to prepare your values and define the culture that you wish to have within your business. It would be a shame not to implement them in a way to get maximum return-on-investment!

There are a few ways to implement this:

1. Start from the top

Make sure your employees are living and breathing your company values and culture. You need team leaders, the top members of your staff to advocate your values and instil the culture. If they are seen to be doing so, the rest of the staff will follow suit. Conversely, if they’re seen to NOT be doing this, your employees will most likely leave it by the wayside.

2. Ensure they are implemented in the hiring process

If you incorporate them into all aspects and stages of your recruitment process, any successful hire will be fully aware of them. By accepting your role, they are subsequently accepting your company values and culture within your business before they’ve even started. This can start with company overviews, job descriptions, and making your values and culture visible during interview discussions.

3. Incorporate values into performance reviews

Incorporating values into the performance review process is also a good way of measuring their effectiveness, as well as putting them back to the forefront of the minds of your employees.

4. Reward good value-centric behaviour

You could reward exceptional value-centric behaviour within the business. If someone shows a real passion and commitment to your values, which are then noted by their work with your clients, think about rewarding them! This could be a financial incentive, or simply recognition in front of the team.

5. Discipline non-adherence

On the flip side, you could think about discipling non-adherence to your company culture and values. If someone shows a complete disregard for what your business is all about, you could implement some form of disciplinary process.

6. Look at the numbers

From all of these processes and ideas, the simplest way to measure the effectiveness of your value and cultures is to look at the numbers. Has productivity increased? Has client satisfaction increased? Are employees happier in their cloud jobs? You could try experimenting, tweaking your values and looking at the results.

As with any part of the hiring process, measuring effectiveness is your key to understanding the return-on-investment on your recruitment efforts.”

Conclusion

Your company values and culture are your ticket to securing top cloud talent.

By improving the attractiveness of your values, you will differentiate yourself in the UK IT Solution Provider market to top Cloud talent.

Ensuring your values are visible throughout the hiring process will help to attract candidates which fit your existing employee base.

Then measuring your company values and culture against data will show your return-on-investment.

Need help today?

Give us a call on 020 3617 1040 or drop us an email at hello@infraview.co.uk.