Does Clay only hire for culture fit?
We hear you think: ‘Not again about that Clay culture’, and we can’t blame you. Our culture is our biggest strength, and we are not afraid to use it. There. We said it again. However, this doesn't mean we only hire for culture fit. There is a big misconception nowadays that companies who advertise with ‘a great culture’ only look for similar people or copies of the employees that already work there to fit that culture. Surely this happens, but it’s safe to say that's not how we roll at Clay.
Let us fill you in on what we consider a great ‘culture fit’ and how we try to ensure our applicants get assessed correctly.
Why company culture is important
First things first, what is company culture, and why is it so important? The culture of a company is basically a combination of multiple elements. The companies’ values are a big part because they should represent the overall employee and employer attitude, how they act in certain situations, their overall behavior, and their outlook.
The culture of a company is important and goes both ways. For the employer, employees must fit the culture; they tend to be more productive and happier. Therefore the turnover rate is lower, and new hires are more likely to hit the ground running. For employees, on the other hand, it’s important since they tend to have a better relationship with their coworkers and overall have a more satisfying feeling about their job.
Sounds like a win-win situation, right?
The Clay Culture
At Clay, we established four ‘Core values’ that are not copy-pasted from Google nor a summary from a random Wikipedia page. No, they are actually distilled from the Bricks themselves*. A survey was done among the team members, and these four values resemble what we as a team find important traits in each other as workmates:
Stronger together
Passionate and proud
Inspired and inspiring
Honest and outspoken
*Our turnover is below average, so the core values are still relevant!
Why is it toxic to hire only for culture fit?
If we would only be looking for hires with the highest culture fit, it would probably set us back a couple of years. Hiring only the same kind of people could keep us from growing and innovating. We don’t want to carefully select a group of people who end up being all copies of each other. We want to learn new things and be inspired. This can only manifest if you combine different people from different backgrounds who don’t necessarily have the same thought pattern. They don’t need to have the same ‘vibe’, but we do hope these different people vibe together. As a company, we want our employees to challenge themselves and grow. This might mean we will butt heads from time to time, which we consider a good thing. We look for people who will help the company and product grow, not stagnate.
How does Clay find the perfect balance?
We are not saying all hires should fit the ‘Clay culture,’ but we do use our core values as a red thread throughout the hiring process. This means we not only hire for culture fit. We search for people who want to contribute to our culture besides having the right technical skills. Who have read our core values and feel they relate and want to bring a fresh perspective to the table. People who are not applying to put themselves on the map but know that together you can make bigger changes.
To hire for ‘culture fit’ is to hire for culture contribution. Our teams should be self-steering and are only as good as the last Brick who joined. We need the right person who will lead by example at the right time. A flock of like-minded people stick together and looking at history, this is far from a good thing. It can even be dangerous to have too many people looking in the same direction.
Are you the one looking up? Apply today: my-clay.com/careers
Clay Solutions - A SALTO Group company is the daughter company of SALTO Systems. A lock hardware manufacturer based in Oiartzun, Spain. While Clay builds the cloud-based software that allows users to tap their locks open with their phone, SALTO provides the hardware and the locks that are enabled to communicate with the software. This website functions as a platform to showcase our company culture in our office in Amsterdam, the way we build our software, and why and who the Bricks are.
Feel free to browse around, head over to SALTO to find more about the hardware, or apply if you see a job you think you are just perfect for.
Thumb Photo by Samsung UK on Unsplash