JWT HR Blog
The Challenge: Raise awareness for JWT INSIDE’s internal brand offering.
The Approach: Create a compelling blog about how to attract purpose-driven candidates.
The Result: This article picked up by ERE: Recruiting Intelligence.
A content strategy collaboration with the marketing team at J. Walter Thompson INSIDE.
Are you purpose-driven enough to attract the right people?
Consider a guy named James who goes to work everyday rich with purpose, or a woman named Julia who finds deep-seated passion from what she does at the office. You want to hire them, right? Someone who feels that sort of calling is bound to set others ablaze, wouldn’t you say? The real question is - are you a company purposeful enough to reel them in?
There’s a wise old proverb that says, “If you want to find a true friend, then be one.” And we immediately notice how this way of thinking flips culture’s fetish with finding happiness somewhere out there on its’ head. Good friends won’t last through the peaks and valleys of life without the tough stuff of personal sacrifice, honesty, give and take, and a shared commitment to growth. Friendships aren’t found under a rock, or discovered in a hay stack. Friendships are made. Like goes to like.
So, if we want to hire and retain purpose-driven employees, then we better be a purpose-driven company. And that means more than lip-service to company goals and mission statements. It’s more than logos and outdoor picnics. It means at the core, we’re committed to looking beyond ourselves, and can attract the kind of people who want to join something larger than themselves. People that want to show their colors, voice their organizational pride and tell stories to their friends about how awesome it is at work.
If you want to measure whether or not your company is truly purpose-driven, then ask yourself the following questions. And if you can’t say yes to all of them – go to work on the ones you are falling short. A little pruning never does anything but help plants grow.
· Have you crystallized your purpose into communications that inspires your people? Do you lead by example and motivate others to embrace its’ pillars? Do you reward behaviors that align with your purpose objectives?
· Is your internal messaging authentic and personal, and tailored to different audiences? Do you think through who they receive information from and where it is placed? Does your company’s purpose breathe life into the thread of daily communications?
· Have you backed your vision with the strategic weight it needs, including proper funding and staffing to ensure its’ success? Do you provide ongoing, long-term commitment and investment to it?
Purpose starts from within. And in corporate culture, just like personal friendship, like goes to like. So let us do the hard internal work that will ensure that we’re a company that the guy named James, or the woman named Julia, is dying to work for.
* This article has been picked up by ERE: Recruiting Intelligence and can be found on their website: http://www.eremedia.com/ere/