The Word on the Street

I'd like to address something a bit more in depth than many of my posts.  It is a challenge I've run into for years, but for some reason, it's become prevalent as of late.  The question is:  Does your company AND organization's proposed culture truly emulate what is known in the marketplace?  And another one:  Is your proposed culture in alignment with what really goes on behind closed doors?  Even more challenging:  What do we do to get the RIGHT and ACCURATE message out there in order to attract the talent you want?

Sometimes an organization can get a bad wrap, be it valid or not.  I specify an organization, because the Marketing group at a particular company may have a stellar image, but the Supply Chain group may have a crappy one.  High turnover, stagnant, tactical, ball-busting...  whatever.  Perhaps the team is in transition and really does have a negative culture, but there are valiant efforts in process to change this - it happens often.  But how do we get this information out there?  Of course, from a recruiting perspective, we're going to spin our words to make everything sound wonderful.  But really, who will believe it?  What is the key to making those A-Candidates stand up and listen and gravitate toward your team?

In thinking about this (a lot, lately), I had an idea - one perhaps that is already being used, so please let me know if your organization has a program like this in place, I'd love to hear about it.  Form an internal Ambassador Program by which the actual Supply Chain, Sourcing, Procurement teams are speaking to their peers at other companies on a regular basis to let people know what is going on within the company.  These may be people they know, referred to or simply find on their own - much like what we recruiters do.  And there doesn't have to be any particular open position or sales pitch - it's simply to get the good word out.  If the professionals in your industry start hearing a buzz from a like professional with no other goal but to market the good news, believe me, it will be like dry grass under a sunlit magnifying glass - it'll light on fire.