Four Tips for a Greener Hiring Strategy

A Gallup poll conducted in Spring 2021 revealed that at least 70% of US professionals felt that a company’s environmental footprint is very important to them, and it is a major consideration for them when deciding to take a job. Moreover, one-quarter of the respondents said that a company’s positive environmental records played a major role in their decision.

In the coming years, any organisation dedicated to environmental and climate change issues will continue to become more important to candidates, especially those from Gen Z. Another survey found that 40% of millennials were keener on working for environmentally responsible companies than those who had little to no interest in caring for the environment.

Sustainability and recruitment

Some recruiters have been smart to make climate change a major component of their process, while others have either not started or say that it isn’t really their responsibility to specifically line up environmentally conscious candidates

Recruiters need to change this attitude sooner rather than later, as companies are taking great strides in becoming more environmentally conscious. Millennials and Gen Z’ers continue to represent a much larger share of the workforce and organisations that hesitate to make sustainability a part of their core business mission risk damaging their reputation.

The same applies to recruitment: those unwilling or hesitant to embrace more environmentally-conscious candidates will likely miss out on opportunities to hire employees, who support their green goals and values.

How can recruiters line up more environmentally conscious candidates?

Four tips for a greener hiring strategy:

1. Make the environment a key part of your mission, values, and culture. Cite these values on all your social media channels, blogs and particularly your web pages. Make them a part of your day-to-day communications as well.
2. Make sustainability a part of the recruitment discussion. Ask candidates about their key environmental concerns to gauge how aligned they are with your organisations’ goals and missions.
3. Let candidates know what actions the organisation has taken in support of its green goals. Share details on what they are doing to cut down their carbon footprint and talk about any projects the organisation may be pursuing to reduce environmental impact.
4. Train hiring managers and other interview-process participants to share green efforts and initiatives in interviews. They should know how to identify a candidate’s climate change priorities and address their concerns accordingly.