With corporate responsibility firmly in focus, an organisation’s values have moved from the sidelines to the forefront of what attracts – and retains – the best talent.
What an organisation stands for has become part of what it offers as an employer.
Candidates increasingly want to understand the business behind the opportunity: how it treats people, the impact it has, the decisions its leaders make and whether its stated values show up in practice.
That puts ESG, Environmental, Social and Governance, firmly into the talent conversation.
For employers, there is an opportunity here. A clear and credible approach to ESG can strengthen the story you take to market, particularly when you're competing for people who have choices about where they work.
Candidate expectations are changing
Salary, progression and the role itself will always matter. But candidates can also arrive with questions about purpose, sustainability, inclusion, leadership and the wider impact of the organisation they are considering joining.
The importance of those factors will vary between individuals. The useful point for employers is that candidates have access to more information about organisations than ever before.
They can look at your website, leadership team, employee reviews, sustainability commitments and public statements before they ever speak to a recruiter.
That means the experience of joining your organisation begins long before the interview.
Credibility matters more than the statement
ESG becomes meaningful to candidates when they can see evidence of it.
If sustainability is important to your organisation, what are you doing about it? If inclusion is part of your culture, how is that reflected in leadership, progression and decision-making? If good governance matters, how does that shape the way the organisation operates?
The recruitment process gives candidates an opportunity to test those claims.
Hiring managers and recruiters therefore need to understand the organisation's ESG commitments well enough to talk about them clearly and credibly.
As Douglas Cross, Director at Denholm Associates, explains:
“Finding candidates who are skilled and values-driven requires a recruitment strategy that gives people a genuine understanding of the organisation. When ESG is visible throughout the candidate experience, people can make a much more informed decision about whether the organisation and its ambitions align with their own.”
The people you hire shape what happens next
ESG also has implications beyond attraction.
An organisation can set ambitious environmental, social or governance goals, but people ultimately have to turn those commitments into decisions, behaviours and results.
A business pursuing significant sustainability targets may need leaders who understand how those ambitions affect operations, investment and customers. An organisation with ambitious inclusion goals may need leaders capable of building those priorities into how teams are developed and decisions are made.
That makes ESG relevant to the hiring brief itself.
When you are recruiting someone into a role with meaningful influence, it is worth asking how their experience and leadership approach will support the organisation you are trying to become.
ESG can strengthen your employer story
There is a reputational dimension too.
People considering a move will form an impression of your organisation from what they see and hear. Clear commitments, backed by visible action, give recruiters and hiring managers something meaningful to talk about with the market.
That becomes particularly useful when approaching passive candidates.
Someone who is already successful in their role may need a compelling reason to start a conversation. The organisation's purpose, direction and impact can become part of that reason alongside the opportunity itself.
Bring ESG into the recruitment conversation
ESG should be considered when defining who you need, how you take an opportunity to market and what candidates experience during the hiring process.
Denholm works with organisations to understand the people they need and how to reach them, particularly where experience, leadership style and cultural alignment all matter to the appointment.
Explore our Talent Strategy & Delivery Models, learn more about Recruitment, or explore our People, HR & Learning expertise.
If you're thinking about how ESG, values or culture should feature in your hiring strategy, call us on 03303 359 818 or email connect@denholmassociates.com.
You might also be wondering...
Should you include ESG commitments in job adverts?
Where they are relevant to the organisation and the role, yes. Be specific about commitments or initiatives candidates can understand rather than relying on broad statements about purpose or values. The aim is to give someone useful evidence about the organisation they could be joining.
How can candidates tell whether an employer's ESG commitments are genuine?
Candidates can look for consistency between what an organisation says and what it can demonstrate. Published targets, progress reporting, leadership accountability, employee experiences and examples of decisions influenced by ESG can all help build a clearer picture. Candidates may also test those commitments through the questions they ask during an interview.
What ESG questions might candidates ask at interview?
They may ask how ESG priorities influence business decisions, who is accountable for delivering them, what progress has already been made or how commitments around sustainability and inclusion affect day-to-day working life. Hiring managers should be prepared to answer with specific examples where possible.
Can ESG help attract passive candidates?
It can form part of a wider reason to consider an opportunity. A passive candidate may already have a good role, salary and employer, so the conversation often needs to offer something more. The organisation's purpose, direction, leadership and impact can all help someone decide whether a move is worth exploring.
Should ESG be assessed when hiring senior leaders?
If the role will influence areas connected to the organisation's ESG ambitions, those responsibilities should form part of the leadership brief. That might mean exploring previous experience, how the individual has made decisions involving competing priorities, or how they have translated organisational commitments into action.
How do you assess values alignment without hiring people who all think the same way?
Be clear about the distinction between shared organisational values and similarity of background, personality or opinion. Recruitment should leave room for different experiences and perspectives. Assessment can focus on behaviours that genuinely matter to the organisation, such as integrity, accountability, collaboration or how someone approaches difficult decisions.
Who should own ESG within the recruitment process?
Responsibility is usually shared. Leadership needs to provide a credible organisational position, HR and talent teams need to translate it into the employee and candidate proposition, and hiring managers need to be able to discuss it authentically. Recruiters can then take that story into the market and help candidates understand what it means in practice.
