Purpose-Led Recruitment

In my last blog we argued that Purpose is our “North Star” – the central point around which all decisions are made and around which our organisation coalesces. In turn our organisational culture is that purpose made real, as evidenced in the values, behaviours, systems and processes that we are using and engaging with. As such it therefore tracks that it is vital that when considering something as fundamental to the future direction of your organisation as recruitment that purpose play a vital role in how that recruitment process develops and is run.

As the autumn months begin to creep in and we turn our attentions to the season ahead, for many of you recruitment projects may well be lining up. Recruitment can feel like a daunting task – whether for those of you looking to bring new people into your organisation, or for those of you looking for a new opportunity – it is a moment of connection and change. Whether you are looking for new team members or you are the one looking to make a change there is a central issue in terms of what the organisation needs both in terms of skills and experience to deliver the work but also in terms of personality and their alignment with or understanding of your values and purpose. It’s not only important to consider what the person needs to do but also who the person needs to be, what professional and lived experience they need to have, what do they need to believe in and stand for. If left unchecked recruitment processes can become subjective and overly directed by the individual viewpoints of those leading the process. This is where Purpose comes in once again. To provide those involved in a recruitment process with a clear framework within which they can consider what is needed from a role and from the person who may hold it in the future.

In our previous blog we touched on the fact that your values need to be informed by your purpose and those in turn need to feed into how you shape a recruitment process. For example, if one of your organisational values (as informed by your purpose) is inclusivity then you must ask yourself questions such as:

‘How does inclusivity manifest in the way we shape this role?’

‘How inclusive is the language we are using? The process we are following? What are we asking of interested candidates?’

From day one your recruitment process should be purpose-led. Taking a purpose-led approach will ensure that all aspects of the process – from the shaping of the role to the onboarding of a new team member – will be authentic to your organisation. It will ensure clarity with candidates about who you are as an organisation, what you need and how you will work with them to create opportunities with and for your priority audiences. Doing this will lead to a more satisfying recruitment experience for those involved (as candidates and as a hiring organisation) and to a reduction in the risks of hiring someone to a role that doesn’t fit or isn’t right for the organisation at this point in time.

So, what does that look like at the very start of a recruitment process? Firstly, the key is absolute clarity across your organisation on what your organisational purpose is and ensuring that all key stakeholders understand what you do and the impact it has with and for your priority audiences. By having that in place and articulated widely you will then develop your organisational strategy in line with purpose and develop key goals (or KPIs) for your organisation which flow from purpose. These goals will then be transferrable to each individual division and ultimately each role as they contribute to them. Further, your purpose will also clearly link to your organisational values and the systems and processes you use to run your organisation. These will be expressions of how you realise and live your purpose not of the preferred approach of any group of individuals. With these in place you will then have a strong foundation upon which to build your recruitment process.

As a role becomes available (either an existing role becomes vacant, or a new role is created) the key is to look at what that job needs to deliver and how that in turn enables your organisation to achieve that purpose (as set out in the purpose-led goals mentioned previously). Practically speaking this means ensuring that you are always bringing a critical eye to each role and adapting expectations and structures to ensure it remains in line with your evolving plans. For example, you may have a vacancy for a role that has existing for over a decade, and which may at first not feel like it needs much development. However, it is still important to look at where the organisation is now and what you are looking to achieve in the coming period and ensure that the role you are seeking to fill remains firmly in line with that overall purpose and associated strategy. Once the role is scoped this should then be developed into a clear job pack – a key advertising tool to communicate the role to prospective candidates.

Job Packs can take various forms depending on your organisation and your perspectives – they could be heavily texted based, video format or more visual. However, whichever format you choose to use these are important documents to outline not just what the role is but how that role fits into your organisation’s bigger picture. They must show a clear throughline between the role and how it supports your organisation to achieve its purpose.

In addition, you will also need to consider how your values show up in these packs. This may involve stating those values as part of your organisation context setting in the packs themselves, but consideration must also be given to how those values show up throughout. For example, if creativity is one of your values, does it make sense for the pack to be presented as a long piece of text on a simple plain Word document? If collaboration is one of your purpose-led values, then how is that represented in the way the role is structured?

Ensuring a purpose-led approach to this initial stage of your recruitment process can ensure that everyone involved – within your organisation and interested candidates – has a clear and direct sense of who you are, what you are doing and the impact you are driving. It will show your organisation as one which is cohesive, authentic and resilient so whilst the pressured timeline of a recruitment process can make it tempting to recycle old role specifications or packs, taking the time to apply this purpose-led lens to the process is proven to have more effective and satisfying results for all involved

My next blog will dig further into this and will explore how to bring that purpose-led lens to the latter stages of your recruitment processes to ensure success.