The Cultural “Fit” Factor: Assess
Culture and Value Systems for Fit and
Employment Opportunity
Lizz Pellet
Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
Copyright 2013 all rights reserved
Program Information on this Session
• Identify key indicators of organizational culture
using a defined evaluation process
• Discover your personal value system and how to
identify stated value congruence
• Employment Brand and Personal Brand Alignment
• Use social networks to conduct “current state”
evaluation of the employment experience
• Top 5 questions to ask
What Are We Looking at - Culturally to Determine Fit?
• Brand identity – employment brand and
personal brand alignment
•
Reputation and Relationships:
employees, customers, community,
awards
•
Communication: social network signs
and signals
•
Insider information and history
Why is Culture Important to Everyone?
•
Numerous studies show that organizations with
performance-driven cultures have better:
o Revenue growth – Built to Last
o Employment growth – Greater opportunity
o Stock Price growth – Shareholder value
o Net Income growth – Personal wealth
•
Bottom line: Companies that live their culture are high
performing and better places to work
•
Why wouldn’t you want to work for an organization with a
high performing culture?
How is Culture Created?
Actions and Behavior
of Executives
Executives
What Leaders Pay
Attention To
What Gets Rewarded
& What Gets Punished
Allocation of Attention
& Resources
Culture
Executives Agree that Culture Can Be a Significant Advantage
“We do a lot of things right but all those things can be copied by a
competitor tomorrow. The only thing they can’t copy is our culture. Culture
provides us a competitive advantage.”
Colleen Barrett, President – Southwest Airlines
“We have had firms study our processes and benchmark us for years, but
they are hard-pressed to duplicate our success. When it comes to a
sustainable competitive advantage, our GE culture is one of the most
difficult things for others to copy.”
Jeff Immelt, CEO – General Electric
“We have no patent on anything we do, and anything we do can be copied
by anyone else. But you can't copy the heart and the soul and culture of our
company and that distinguishes us from everyone else.”
Howard Schultz, Founder – Starbucks
“We have a culture dedicated to creating a place where talented people
want to work. This gives us a tremendous advantage when it comes to
attracting, developing, exciting and retaining exceptional people.”
Ian Davis, Managing Director – McKinsey & Company
Today’s Employees (That’s You!) Want Transparency
•
•
•
•
Employees are looking for a
meaningful, authentic and
congruent work experience
Cultural fit is paramount in finding a
job you love (how long did you stay
at a job that you didn’t fit)
Potential employees are tweeting
about their job interviews, the
people who are interviewing them
and how they are being treated.
Potential PR nightmare or
outstanding exposure opportunity.
Values Alignment is KEY
Values Alignment
Knowing your intrinsic values and gaining an understanding of a
target organization’s values provides clarity
Values Alignment Exercise: Part 1
Accountable
O
Balanced: work/life balance is honored
O
Bureaucratic
O
Career Advancement
O
Clear Direction
O
Clear Expectation
O
Cutting Edge
O
Community Minded
O
Consistent
O
Continuous Learning
O
Cool Place to Work
O
Creative
O
Customer Service Excellence
O
Values Alignment Exercise: Part 2
Differences in individuals are honored and
respected
O
Energized
O
Engaged
O
Ethical
O
Fair
O
Family
O
Flexible
O
Fun
O
Honest
O
Independence
O
Innovative
O
Respectful
O
Results Oriented
O
Values Alignment Exercise: Part 3
Risk Taking is Encouraged
O
Rewarded
O
Serious
O
Shared Decisions Making
O
Strong Leadership
O
Team-based
O
Trusting
O
Next Step in the Values Analysis






Take your personal values analysis and the company’s
stated values and conduct a gap analysis.
Can you live with the gaps?
Narrow your top 10 values as a “must have”
Next 10 “should have”
Next 10 would be “nice to have”
Redo your gap analysis based on this criteria to
determine values fit and congruence.
Cult-like Cultures – What Do They Have in Common?
•
Strong sense of identity – BRAND a core ideology. They are VERY
clear about who they are and who
they are not
•
Greater tightness of fit. Employees
either “buy-in” or “get out”
•
Self selection process... “this is just
not for me”
•
Show evidence of elitism. They
create a sense of belonging
[internally] and superiority
[externally]
Cult-like Cultures – What Do They Have in Common?
The Starbucks Brand: Same Employee Experience No Matter Where You Are
A Picture Can Be Worth 1,000 Applications
This was an actual picture on the career site for Harrah’s Casino in
Las Vegas
Interested in applying?
Values
We believe in our values here at ReTargeter. So much so, in fact, that we've
made them a part of our decor http://pic.twitter.com/JvTBBPOY
In Your Next Position, Consider Quiet Clues
Do You Want to Be Clever?
Do You Want to be Empowered?
The Social Experience – Where Should I Look?
•
Social networking is KEY. Facebook,
YouTube and Twitter are the new
norms in communication and have
changed the branding landscape
•
YouTube: UAB Emergency Room
Rap
•
Glassdoor – a real look behind the
curtain
How Many Social Conversations Have You Had This Week?
Social Media
•
•
We cannot talk about cultural
fit without talking about how
Social Media is changing
today’s employment.
Social Media has created a
fundamental shift in the way
people communicate via realtime conversations online.
Video/Photo
Sharing
Blogging
Podcasts
Key Social
Platforms
Micro
Blogging
Message
Boards
RSS
Chat
Rooms
Social
Networking
The Reality of Our Job Searches
The future of placement in general is social. Talented people in your target
industry are openly sharing their ideas, experiences, and insights online. It’s
more important for companies to connect with people in the way they want to
be connected with, than ever before.
Hires Through Social Media
•
Companies that have successfully
hired a candidate who was identified
or introduced through a social
network or social media?
YES
58%
63%
Through which of these networks was that
hire made?
89%
73%
26%
15%
Jobvite SOCIAL RECRUITING SURVEY RESULTS 2012
2010
2011
2012
You Have to Have “Meaningful” All Star Status on LinkedIn
How to Create Your Promise of Value and Personal Brand Statement
Sample Worksheet:
Your unique promise of value and your personal brand statement are closely
linked. The statement is an expression of the promise. Both of them focus on what
your target audience expects from you - they create an expectation of what you
can deliver. These are probably the most important pieces of your personal brand
profile, so you want to get them right before you start to communicate with your
target audience.
You use your unique promise of value to write the all-important personal brand
statement. When you work on your statement, envision your best self. To begin
your thought process on what your brand might include, answer the following
questions:
What three or four key words describe your essential qualities quickly and clearly?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Goodbye Desktop for Internet Research and Communication
Surprisingly, even though mobile recruiting is officially ‘here’
and that nearly 70% of you jobseekers would like to use their
phone for career related purposes, only 3% of employers have
a mobile job app.
How Employers are Using Social Media to Reach Candidates
Facebook and Twitter
recruiting adoption
growing rapidly while
LinkedIn becomes
nearly universal
Jobvite SOCIAL RECRUITING SURVEY RESULTS 2012
Do you search a potential manager’s LinkedIn profile
before interviewing for a position?
Are you following the companies you want to work for on Twitter?
Many recruiters are tweeting openings every day.
http://www.advanceweb.com/web/AdvertisingPromos/2012/OTB/July/July12.html
Start to Engage on Facebook
It’s all about the conversation!
Start to Engage on Facebook
Sodexo offers
16 ways for
candidates to
network with
them.
Very
engaging!
It’s all about the conversation!
What’s the Next in Social Site for Candidates?
5 Great Cultural Questions Candidates Should Ask
1.
What are a few things that really drive results for the company?
2.
What are the common attributes of your top performers?
3.
What do you expect me to accomplish in the first 60 to 90 days?
4.
What do employees do in their spare time?
5.
How do you plan to deal with...?
OWNERS' MANUAL | Jeff Haden
Aug 6, 2012
Ask About the Onboarding Experience: Apple VS Facebook
Cultural Fit is Paramount in Attract, Retain and Repel!
Questions?
(480) 221-9649
www.linkedin.com/in/lizzpellet
lizzpellet@gmail.com
www.Twitter.com/LizzPellet