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A competitive salary is vital, but a high-calibre candidate will also want to understand what your company stands for.
When you need a new team member, you want technically skilled candidates who are also going to be the right fit for your workplace. That means talking about your company culture and values in your recruitment process. That is often much easier said than done, though, and it is very easy to fall into the trap of either sounding like you repeated a generic description or just threw together a group of unconvincing buzzwords.
Does company culture really matter to finance candidates?
To be honest, it was probably a little unfair to frame that question in relation to finance, because almost all professionals will be looking for more than just stability and salary when it comes to choosing to apply for a role. Candidates frequently tell us that they want to work with a company that aligns with their personal values, understands their work life needs, and fits with their long-term goals.
What matters to the best candidates clearly matters to the prospective employer, too. When your new hire aligns with your company values, you see better retention, smoother onboarding, and faster integration into your teams. The danger of a mismatch between your values and those of a new employee is that you will either lose them quickly or have an unhappy and therefore less productive and badly integrated team member.
When it comes to expressing your company culture and values, it’s important to get it right. So, what does ‘getting it right’ look like, and how do you go about explaining them?
Be specific and avoid being superficial, even in general terms
Finance Professionals tends to be highly focused and also detail driven. That means they will look for specifics over cliches and terminology. As a result, unless you qualify them with examples, terms like “fast-paced,” “great culture,” or “work family” can suggest a lack of clarity. Worse still, they may even wave a red flag.
So be specific about what these terms relate to. Do you hold quarterly team strategy days where everyone is asked to contribute? Are junior finance staff encouraged to challenge assumptions? How do you support work life balance?
Where possible and practical, explain buzzword terms like ‘team-focused’ or ‘achievement-oriented’. Being specific in this way builds credibility and gives candidates a real sense of how your values come to life in the day-to-day.
So, for example, ‘We encourage our employees to work with independence’ is OK, but it can also be seen as saying you leave them to just get on with it unsupported. ‘We will give you the space to take ownership of your work, backed by clear objectives, support when you need it, and ongoing development’ sounds a lot more focused.
Let your voice come through
One of the areas that your marketing people will talk about is your company ‘voice’. They mean the way your brand sounds to the world. Try to talk about your workplace culture in the same way. If you like to be lively and vibrant, use upbeat language. If you have an ethos of teamwork and collaboration, talk in those terms where you can. A less formal environment could be reflected in less formal language and so on.
Voices make policies real
You can say you value buzzwords like ‘collaboration’ or ‘trust’ to candidates during the employment process, but it’s more real to them when your team says it as well. Could you include some snippets from the workforce? Perhaps why they joined you, or what makes them stay. If you say you encourage input and collaboration, how about a line or two from employees saying how that is welcomed?
It’s also worth remembering that your candidates will probably check your social media and particularly LinkedIn profiles and company pages to see if your values are reflected there.
Signpost values, but don’t let them be a closed gate
What we mean here is that your company values should resonate with the candidate without sounding exclusive or even a little bit preachy.
You want people who align with you, but, realistically speaking, not everyone is going to be 100% enthusiastic all the time. Even more importantly, some people can be excellent employees without being the poster person for your culture. See our article here on the difference between steady workers and quiet quitters. There is a fine line between enthusiasm and overbearing.
Cultural alignment isn’t just a “nice to have”, it’s about performance. Finance professionals who resonate with your company’s values are more likely to:
- Communicate effectively with existing teams
- Make decisions that align with your business goals
- Stay longer, reducing recruitment churn and training costs
Allowing that to happen also means allowing your employees to choose to be part of your culture because it works for them.
Go for authentic over fluff every time!
Be who your company really is with the candidate from the start. They are professionals and they’re talented, skilled individuals. That means they have probably been around the block a few times, and they’ve read the same stock phrases time and again. They’re looking for substance, not slogans. Clearly communicating your values and culture with precision and honesty won’t just attract candidates, it will attract the ones you want to meet.
Let us help you from the start
As specialists in recruitment for the finance sector, we know that identifying a candidate with the right cultural and value-based fit is best started from the moment you decide you need a new employee.
That’s why we say contact us as soon as possible so we can work closely with you to:
- Understand your business model, leadership style and internal dynamics
- Translate your ethos and values into compelling, candidate-friendly language
- Screen candidates, not just for skills and experience, but for alignment with your culture and ways of working
Cultural fit matters in an employee, so it’s a big part of our remit to help you attract the right candidates. By the time you’re interviewing, we want you to be speaking to professionals who already understand your business and how they will fit with it. Candidates who are not just seeing you as a potential employer, but also as a part of a better future for everyone.