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What if your company culture wasn’t just an HR buzzword but the secret weapon to scaling your business?
Welcome to Kan Talk Kulture, the podcast that dives deep into how remarkable company cultures are intentionally built and how they can transform your team, your business, and your bottom line.
Hosted by Kylie Anne Neal, founder of Kan Kulture and a passionate expert in people, culture, and leadership, this show is designed for business owners, CEOs, HR professionals, and anyone who believes that empowered people are the key to long-term success.
Each episode features real conversations with inspiring CEOs, business leaders, and culture champions who share how they’ve shaped their team environments alongside case studies, practical tips, and bold questions that challenge the status quo.
Whether you're looking to boost employee engagement, create a high-performance team, or align your people with your vision, this podcast will help you connect the dots between culture and growth.
At Kan Kulture, we believe in Kindness, Understanding, Learning, Trust, Uniqueness, Respect, and Evolving, and this podcast brings those values to life.
If you're ready to turn your team into your biggest brand ambassadors and create a workplace people love, this is the podcast for you.
Find out more at www.kankulture.com
Hi, I'm Kylie Anne Neal, founder of Kan Kulture and welcome to Kan Talk Kulture. In this podcast, I sit down with some of Australia's most progressive founders and CEOs to explore the heart. Of their company cultures what drives them, what they value, and what it's really like to work for the companies they lead.
You'll also find occasional episodes packed with practical HR insights to help you build. Safer, stronger and more trusted workplaces. So whether you're a new team member, getting to know your workplace, curious about creating remarkable company cultures or just wanting to know more about implementing HR best practice, you are in the right place.
Let's dive in. Welcome to Kan Talk Kulture. My name's Kylie Neal, and joining me today is Georgina Walker, who is a people and culture consultant at Kan Kulture. Georgina, thanks for coming in. Thank you for having me, Kylie. It is a pleasure. And today we are going to be talking about recruitment, so hiring with intention and why recruitment starts with retention.
So Georgina, we've been recruiting for quite a few roles lately. Mm-hmm. And we've seen. The good and the bad and the in-betweens of good recruitment practices and why it matters to do it, right. What stands out for you?
The two things that probably stand out the most is time and money, and that's both for the employer and the employee.
Okay, so let's unpack that. If we look at it from a business perspective. I think it's really important for organizations not to just look at the role at hand, but to look at what has happened in that role in the structure. Mm. So looking at exit interview data, looking at strategy. When we look at the cost of recruitment, we are looking at a substantial amount of money.
Mm. You know, sometimes, some say 150% of the annual salary, some say 1.7 of the annual salary, so 170%. Mm-hmm. So it does. Cost a lot to recruit a role. You don't just have knowledge walking out the door where if you look at it from a retention perspective and someone new coming in, but on the positive side of that, what it does create is a really good opportunity to pause and take speed on what's required for the role and what type of person that you're looking to fill the role.
Mm.
Another thing
on that is I think. It's missed to, there's a missed opportunity there to ask the team. What type of role or person needs to be walking through the door next as well. And it is very reactive, which creates a bit of a weird environment for the team, the person coming on board and then the company.
Yeah, absolutely. And that really does speak to the cultural elements, you know, what is that right? Team fit and how do you. Tease that out of the recruitment process to make sure that the person is not only have the skills and the prior experience, but also looking at that culture fit. And I think sometimes hiring managers don't recognize the importance of that.
No, because it is very reactive. They want someone to jump in the role straight away. They're not waiting for the right person to walk through the door. And that's where it. It just creates so much chaos.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And then we, let's look at it from the lens of the candidate experience.
Yeah. We've had experiences over the last couple of months with managers not being responsive enough, not prioritizing recruitment enough. Mm-hmm. You know, I think we've done a really great job at, well we, you have done a really great job at really refining that. Recruitment process. Yeah. So there's a really thorough job brief and you're all on the same page when the recruitment process starts, but different priorities, different agendas, yeah.
Um, you know, different levels of busyness Yeah. Really come into play. How does that impact the candidate experience?
Oh, a lot. Where do I begin? One thing. I'd like to say is you don't want the candidates reaching out to you. You should be the one reaching out to them. You're taking them on the the process.
Even if they're not the person that you end up hiring that expectation that you know, management perspective, you should be taking them all on the journey with you. When you say no to a candidate, they should. Respect you and appreciate the feedback and think of you and your company as a positive experience.
Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I always think that it's a really, it can be a really emotive experience for a candidate. They've applied for a job and from that first phone call, they're taking themselves into the thought process of what if I get to interview? Yeah. What's that gonna look like? Yeah. So what if I.
I'm successful at this job, what's that going to look like? And they start to put themselves in the role. And sometimes hiring managers are quite disconnected from that candidate experience.
Yeah. So if they are disconnected, they, they won't call them, they won't tell them the next steps. So the candidate is waiting and waiting and waiting.
Do I have the job? They start looking for new roles. They might. Get a new opportunity that walks through the door that they'll take because we haven't taken them on the journey. Yes. And I find that, you know, nine out of 10 times if you. Take the employee or the candidate, sorry, on, on the journey. The structure of the whole process is just so much more smooth.
You're not chasing your tail, people aren't chasing you. It's a really calm experience for both yourself and the candidates.
Yeah, absolutely. And if we look at it, really the recruitment process is the start of the employee experience. Mm. And that's something. You know, for us it can culture it's something that we hold very dear to our hearts, but is something that we continuously need to remind the clients and the hiring managers about the importance of that employee experience.
And if we, you know, if we look at workplace trends, things like clarity in role, things like trust in the organization, you know, strategic alignment to the strategic goals, like those types of things. Are really at the essence of a really good employee experience. Yeah. Yeah. So from a recruitment perspective, if we are.
Letting them know we're providing that clarity of the next steps. We're taking away the questioning or the assumptions or the, have I been successful or have I not, I dunno where I stand. Mm. That's what really, I think, unsettles people through a recruitment process. Yeah. So, you know, the timeliness of it, which you mentioned earlier, that is.
Really critical to let them know, and I feel sometimes. That can be managed. It's not like you need to have interviews tomorrow. No. If the hiring manager isn't available until next week, but it is more about we're holding interviews next week, this is what the next steps are. Mm-hmm. This is how you can prepare.
There's a lot of detail that can go into recruitment that I think candidates really appreciate, and I think it can be a really telling sign of what the organization's going to be like. If they are successful. Definitely.
Definitely.
It's very much a two side thing. And I think sometimes organizations do just view it as, we've got a vacancy, we need to fill the vacancy and you need to get me some candidates.
Mm-hmm. But there's a lot more to it.
And I have had candidate feedback saying that the hiring process was messy and that they're not wanting to pursue the role. Yes. So exactly to your point as if you are clear on your journey, the candidate will expect that through the whole lifestyle lifecycle of the employee.
Yeah. Let's delve into that example a little bit more. Mm-hmm. So from your experience, 'cause as people and Kulture experts, we are in the middle, we're kind of dancing between the priorities for the hiring manager and their time and taking these candidates on a really great. Experience and journey of the recruitment process.
When you look at that example and you think of the messiness that was experienced there, what was the evidence there? What types of things were going on to make it messy?
So in this particular example, there were delays in contacting the candidate after phone screening. We hadn't got interview times down pack, so we said we'd contact you for interviews, but the hiring managers didn't actually have interview times.
We would, we were dancing around when to contact candidates when not to, there were multiple people contacting the candidate, so they had no idea who they were expecting a call from as well. And I think that's really messy. Pick one person to phone screen, one person to tell them if they've been successful or not, to invite them into interview.
And that's via phone. And confirmation of email, too many chefs in the kitchen is never a good idea. Yeah.
So
in, yeah, in that particular scenario, it was just that it was messy. She didn't know what to expect, and I, I felt the same. Mm. So it was very clear.
Yeah. Yeah. And let, let's just talk. A little bit more about closing the loop on recruitment.
Mm-hmm. In my experience, I've seen it a lot where we've got a successful candidate, we go through the offer process, and then it's just like, okay, that recruitment process is done, gone are the days of that. Diligence behind communicating with every single candidate. Mm-hmm. That took time to press the apply button.
Yeah. That took time to write that cover letter. That took time to read the advert to see if they met the criteria. You know, I, I appreciate that. Some people put more effort. Than others into their actual application process. But how important do you think it is to close the loop on candidates?
I guess you'll, you never know when those people will walk through your door again, and it's about your brand.
So in our, in our case, it's Kan Kulture What is the Kan Kulture experience? It's positive. No matter if you were successful or not. Another opportunity might come up for the business or for them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Abs absolutely. And it is really important. It's just, it's respectful, you know, it's, it's kindness.
It's all of those things to manage the candidate process from start to end, but make sure that that end of process is tidied up, you know? And for any candidate that has been spoken to, giving them. As much feedback as you possibly can. Even if they interviewed really poorly. Yes, like being open and honest.
I think candidates really yearn for that feedback. They want to take that experience. If they're an active job seeker and they might be in between jobs, it's nerve wracking going for interviews. They want to respond correctly, but they also. Like to use it as an opportunity to be better next time they present for an interview.
Don't get me wrong, there has been times where I've given constructive positive feedback and it's not been taken well, but 90% of people do appreciate the feedback or those that don't at that particular point in time probably do go away and reflect Yes and think. Actually she, she made some pretty good points there.
Yes. Yes. 90% of the time, yes. Feedback. Yes, yes.
Yeah. Yeah. Good. So I think we've spoken a bit about hiring with intention. You know, reten recruiting, starting with. Retention in mind. You want someone, you wanna bring someone into the business that is going to stay. Yes and no. Nobody recruits thinking, well, some do but they shouldn't.
Mm. Thinking, oh, if they last six months, then that's good. No, we want to go through the process. We want to. As effective at the process as we possibly can so that we do have longevity and we make sure that we are bringing the right people in to the organizations, we're asking the right questions, and we're enabling that evidence that the right candidate is right for the right role.
And that the company is right for the candidate. Yes. Giving them an opportunity to ask questions and to really ensure they know the requirements of the role. Yes. Before they get into the role.
Yes. Yeah, absolutely. So having that clarity, being able to understand what the business strategy is, what the structure is, and how the role fits into the organization, and being able to really articulate that clearly, being able to.
Clearly articulate as we spoke before about what the fit is from a Kulture perspective, um, and you know, what type of profile of person is going to really thrive in that environment. Mm-hmm. And then closing the loop as well on the recruitment process. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yep. So thank you for that, Georgina.
I've, I've really, I really enjoyed that. And I have one final question for you. Oh, no. I'm sticking with recruitment here. What is the weirdest response you've had during phone screening?
This, the first thing that comes to mind is a, uh, example from two days ago where somebody asked for flexibility in the workplace.
So I, I wanted to dive a little bit deeper on this, and she requested that if she didn't like a particular. Bin bag that the employer would actually change the bin bag type. So we'll, we'll just leave it on that. Enough said, change your bin bags,
recruitment and bin bags. Who'd have thought we'd get there?
When you talk about recruitment, our parting words are, change your BIM bags.
Thank you so much for listening to this podcast, and we'll see you next time. Thanks for joining me on Can Talk Kulture I'm Kylie Ann Neal. I hope today's episode gave you a clear review into the values driving your workplace. All sparked new ideas about building a remarkable company Kulture If you're a founder or CEO interested in sharing your Kulture story, or if you are looking to build a safer, stronger, and more trusted workplace, let's connect.
Visit Kan Kulture.com That's K-A-N-K-U-L-T-U-R e.com. To learn more, please hit that subscribe button to hear up more real conversations with founders and CEOs and hands-on episodes full of people. First Kulture advice. I look forward to connecting with you on our next episode.