“Find work that matters to you.” We give this advice to job seekers and young people all the time. Purpose is often what makes a job worthwhile, and we encourage talent to scrutinize their opportunities and employers through this lens.
But purpose is not just for job seekers. It is an equally important filter for staffing firm hiring managers, executives and team leaders to leverage as they vet talent.
Hiring with purpose offers performance, innovation and retention benefits that make it well worth the time. Workers who find the purpose they want in their workplaces report better job performance and outcomes, according to the McKinsey Individual Purpose Survey. And companies that are mission driven “have 30% higher levels of innovation and 40% higher retention,” according to Deloitte research.
What Is Hiring With Purpose?
Purpose-driven hiring means sharing your grandest and most meaning-filled intentions with candidates, communicating how it will shape their work. It also means looking for candidates whose values align with that purpose. In a staffing firm, that might mean sharing, then discussing, a set of your organization’s values with candidates during the interview process.
But what if your team needs to hire quickly and doesn’t have time to vet for purpose? Consider this: Your candidates are thinking about purpose even if you aren’t. McKinsey and Co. research found that 70% of employees define their own sense of purpose by their work. Workplace purpose is something they expect from you.
How to Hire With Purpose
Most businesses do a good job at identifying their purpose, especially early on when an organization is formed. It’s baked into the vision that turns a good idea into a business. That’s why founders are so good at speaking to it: They were there when that initial spark of “why this matters” ignited.
As a business grows, it gets harder to hold close to that purpose. Ask your HR, hiring managers and marketing teams this: When and how are we talking about our company’s purpose to candidates? If they aren’t sure, you’ve found an opportunity to add a valuable new measuring stick to candidate engagement and assessment.
Here are three steps to get you started:
Find the gaps. If Glassdoor reviews, performance assessments and exit interviews demonstrate that employees believe that working at your business matters, you are successfully centering teams around purpose. If, on the other hand, those feedback loops uncover substantial numbers of people who don’t know or feel disconnected from the company vision or are misaligned with company values, you have a purpose gap to fill.
Fill the void. Where is the company’s purpose being communicated to the market, to talent pools and to staff? Is it enough? Can it be worked into social platforms, job sites and other places candidates get to know you? Find ways to make your purpose and values part of all (or most) communications, from company updates and boilerplates to paycheck stubs. The more you can shine light on your purpose, the easier it becomes for candidates to identify it in your messaging, in the recruiting journey and in the people they meet in the interview process.
Screen for purpose. Once your purpose and values are clear inside and outside the organization, it will become a natural part of the recruitment process. At ClearEdge, we start each of our companywide meetings with our purpose and values. We do the same with candidate interviews. We’re telling candidates who we are and why what we do matters to us. And the question to them is: Does the purpose that motivates and centers us matter to you?
In the end, purpose-driven hiring is what gets individuals and teams through the hard times. Good days at any job are easy to get through — purpose is what gets employees over the rough humps and tough challenges. Teams that are strong in purpose are teams that endure and thrive.
