iCIMS Hire Expectations™

Corporate Culture.  We hear it so often talked about around the workplace.  For many employers, corporate culture is what draws in the best talent and ranks organizations high on “Best Companies to Work For” lists.  For employees, corporate culture is often the deciding factor for those evaluating a career change or deciding between competitive offers from different companies. 

Organizations of all sizes can easily struggle with maintaining and driving the corporate culture. Smaller organizations most often lose sight of their corporate culture as they grow and mature, while larger organizations could be forced to regain a corporate culture that has already been lost. A company culture must be actively maintained.

Because iCIMS values employees and company culture, we have recently implemented a panel of interviewers that have been selectively chosen to help evaluate candidates against our core competencies.  The goal is twofold:

1. Allow a cross-section of employees to interview candidates against our core values.  During this process, candidates are also given the opportunity to learn more about our culture from this same panel of employees, thus giving them an insider’s perspective on what it is like working for iCIMS.
2. Assist managers in the hiring decision process by offering further insight into candidates.  In one particular case, we had the hiring decision narrowed down to two candidates. Two very good candidates!  The hiring manager, after reviewing the feedback provided by the panelists, was able to make a decision based on their hiring recommendations.

This hiring approach was first brought to my attention by way of the book, “Delivering Happiness” written by Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh. He affirms that the emphasis on corporate culture has led his organization to unprecedented success and should be a company’s #1 focus.  His company later went on to be sold to Amazon for a sum total of $1.2 billion dollars; I trust that he’s doing something right!
 
While it’s too soon to be able to tell if this interviewing process has had any real success, I think it has provided for a great learning experience to all those involved.