Last week, Lego showed up to the office as “L’Eggo my Eggo.”
Yes, our office dog. Dressed as a waffle. Complete with syrup bottle.
The year before, he made his debut as a tiny Lego brick (hence the name). This year, he graduated to breakfast food with a pun.
We took photos. We laughed. I posted it on LinkedIn. People loved it.
And you might be thinking: “That’s cute, but what does a costumed dog have to do with professional recruitment?”
Everything, actually.
Why We’re Telling You This
Here’s what I’ve learned after years in recruitment: the companies with the best cultures attract the best talent. And the recruiters with the best cultures make the best placements.
Not because culture is some trendy HR buzzword. Because culture is what makes people want to show up, do good work, and stick around.
When we celebrate Lego’s Halloween costume, we’re not doing it for social media content. We’re doing it because it genuinely makes us happy. Because work doesn’t have to be miserable to be professional. Because a little joy in the office matters.
And that matters to our clients and candidates too.
What Lego Actually Represents
Lego is our Chief Morale Officer. That’s his official title.
He comes to work most days. He greets visitors. He sits in on meetings (sometimes). He reminds us to take breaks and not take ourselves too seriously.
But more than that, he represents something we value: authenticity.
We could have a sterile office with no personality. We could present ourselves as “serious business people” who never crack a smile. We could pretend we’re too professional for Halloween costumes or gong-ringing videos when we make placements.
But that’s not who we are. And pretending wouldn’t help anyone.
The candidates who work with us appreciate that we’re real people. The clients who hire us know we’ll bring that same authenticity to understanding their culture and finding people who’ll fit.
Culture Isn’t Ping Pong Tables
Let’s be clear about something: office culture isn’t about perks.
It’s not free snacks or casual Fridays or a ping pong table in the break room. Those things are nice, but they’re not culture.
Real culture shows up in how people actually work together.
What Culture Actually Looks Like
At DMA, culture shows up in specific ways:
How we collaborate. Brenda and I work together on searches all the time. When one of us is leading a placement, the other jumps in to help. We’ve built something where teamwork isn’t forced—it’s just how we operate.
Remember that EHS Specialist placement where we dropped the ball on communication? We owned that mistake. We fixed it. We learned from it. That’s culture too—how you handle things when they go wrong.
How we celebrate wins. Every placement gets a gong. Every single one. Senior executive or entry-level technician—doesn’t matter. We celebrate the work and the people.
Sometimes I ring the gong wearing a horror movie hoodie. Sometimes it’s after months of searching for someone with very specific expertise. Sometimes it’s a role we filled in 7 minutes because our network was that responsive. All of them matter.
How we show up. “Elbows Up, Canada” isn’t just a catchy phrase. When we placed that US Tax Accountant and proved that incredible local talent exists right here in Calgary, that mattered to us. Supporting Cameron Griffith for CFL Fan of the Year mattered. Getting our COR certification mattered.
These aren’t disconnected things. They’re all part of how we approach our work and our community.
How we treat people. Candidates aren’t transactions. Clients aren’t just revenue sources. The professionals we place are people building careers and lives, not just filling roles.
That’s why we stay in touch with people between placements. That’s why we’re honest when contract work is the reality instead of pretending permanent roles are just around the corner. That’s why we actually answer our phones and return calls.
Why This Shows Up in Our Recruitment Work
You might be wondering how Halloween costumes and office dogs connect to successfully placing engineers and technical professionals.
More than you’d think.
We Ask Better Culture-Fit Questions
Because we actually think about culture—not just as a concept but as something we live daily—we ask better questions.
When a client says they want someone who’s a “team player,” we dig deeper. What does that actually mean for your team? How do people collaborate? What happens when someone makes a mistake? What does a good day look like in your office?
We can spot the difference between a company that genuinely values collaboration and one that just put it in the job posting because it sounds good.
Candidates Trust Us
When people see we’re authentic—that we post about our office dog, celebrate our wins with actual enthusiasm, admit our mistakes—they trust us more.
They tell us what they’re actually looking for, not just what they think we want to hear. They’re honest about their concerns. They ask better questions.
That trust makes placements better. We’re not just matching resumes to job descriptions. We’re helping people find places where they’ll actually thrive.
We Understand “Fit” Because We Value It
When a company tells us they need someone who’ll fit their culture, we get it. Because we’ve thought about our own culture and what makes someone a good fit here.
We know that skills can often be taught. But whether someone will mesh with a team, share the company’s values, and enjoy coming to work? That’s harder to change.
So we pay attention. How do candidates talk about their previous teams? How do they describe what makes a good work environment? What lights them up when they talk about their career?
These things matter for whether someone needs strong soft skills beyond technical expertise. And they matter for whether a placement will last.
What Job Seekers Should Look For
If you’re job hunting, don’t ignore culture. Especially in technical fields where people sometimes think “just do the work and go home” is enough.
It’s not. You spend too much of your life at work for it to be miserable.
Red Flags in Company Culture
They can’t articulate their values. If a hiring manager can’t tell you what their culture is actually like beyond generic words like “collaborative” or “innovative,” that’s a problem.
High turnover that they can’t explain. People leave bad cultures. If everyone’s been there less than two years, ask why.
Nobody seems to genuinely like each other. Pay attention during your interview or office tour. Do people smile when they interact? Do they seem comfortable together? Or does it feel tense?
All work, zero personality. If the office is completely sterile and everyone seems like robots, that tells you something. Some personality and humanity should be present.
Leadership is unapproachable. If senior people seem intimidating or disconnected from the team, that filters down to everything else.
What they say doesn’t match what you observe. They talk about work-life balance but everyone’s there until 8 PM. They mention teamwork but everyone works in isolated silos. Trust what you see, not just what they say.
Green Flags Worth Watching For
People genuinely like working there. You can feel it. There’s energy. People seem engaged.
They celebrate wins together. Not just big wins—small ones too. Recognition matters.
Clear values that show up in action. They tell you they value safety, and you see evidence of it. They mention community involvement, and they can tell you what they actually do.
Leaders are real people. They’re approachable. They have personality. They seem to actually care about their team.
They’re honest about challenges. No job or company is perfect. The good ones will tell you what’s actually hard about working there.
There’s room for personality. People can be themselves. There’s some humor. Work is professional but not joyless.
What Employers Need to Know
Your culture is either helping you attract talent or costing you good candidates.
In Alberta’s energy sector right now, technical talent has options. Competition for P.Eng. holders and specialized engineers is intense. When candidates are choosing between similar roles with similar compensation, culture tips the scale.
Culture as Competitive Advantage
According to Glassdoor research, 77% of job seekers consider company culture before applying, and 56% say culture is more important than salary for job satisfaction.
That means your culture either attracts the right people or drives them away before they even apply.
We see this constantly. Two similar EPC roles, similar pay, similar scope. One company has a reputation for good culture and collaboration. The other is known for being difficult to work for. Guess which one gets better candidates?
Being Authentic Matters More Than Being Perfect
You don’t need an office dog or Halloween costumes to have good culture. You need authenticity.
If you’re a serious, buttoned-up organization, own that. Be clear about expectations. Find people who appreciate that environment.
If you’re more casual and collaborative, show that too. Let your personality come through.
The mistake is pretending to be something you’re not. Candidates figure it out eventually—usually right after they start and realize the job isn’t what was advertised. Then you’re dealing with regret, disengagement, and probably turnover.
Small Touches Make a Difference
Culture doesn’t require a huge budget. It requires intention.
Celebrate people’s wins. We ring a gong. You might do something else. Just acknowledge good work genuinely.
Let people have personality. If someone wants family photos on their desk or a quirky coffee mug, let them. Sterile environments don’t inspire anyone.
Create small traditions. Maybe it’s coffee together on Friday mornings. Maybe it’s a monthly team lunch. Doesn’t matter what it is—just something that brings people together.
Support what your team cares about. When we supported Cameron Griffith for CFL Fan of the Year, that mattered to him. Find out what matters to your people and show up for them.
Be transparent. Share what’s happening in the company. Explain decisions. Trust people with information.
Own mistakes. When things go wrong, acknowledge it. People respect honesty more than perfection.
How Culture Connects to Successful Placements
Here’s what we’ve learned: the placements that last are the ones where culture fit was right.
Technical skills get someone in the door. Culture determines whether they stay and thrive.
The Manager of Financial Services Story
Remember when we placed that Manager of Financial Services for a smaller municipality after another firm couldn’t fill it? Technical qualifications mattered, sure. But what really made it work was that the candidate genuinely valued public service and community impact.
That alignment between personal values and organizational mission? That’s culture fit. And it’s why that placement is working out so well.
The US Tax Accountant Placement
When we found that Calgary-based US Tax Accountant when the odds were slim, the role could have been in Houston or Calgary. The candidate chose Calgary partly because of the company culture—they valued having people local and invested in the community.
That “Elbows Up, Canada” moment? That was about more than location. It was about finding someone whose values aligned with the company’s.
Every Technical Placement
Even in highly technical roles—Project Engineers, Electrical Designers, I&C Specialists—culture matters.
Will they collaborate well with other disciplines? Will they handle the fast pace and changing priorities? Will they fit with the team’s communication style? Will they share the company’s approach to safety and quality?
These questions determine whether someone succeeds or struggles, regardless of technical qualifications.
Building Culture Intentionally
Culture doesn’t happen by accident. At least, good culture doesn’t.
It Starts with Leadership
Culture flows from the top. How leaders behave, what they celebrate, what they tolerate—that shapes everything.
If leadership says they value work-life balance but emails people at midnight expecting responses, that’s the real culture. If they talk about collaboration but never ask for input, that’s the culture.
At DMA, the culture we have is the culture we’ve intentionally built. The gong-ringing, the celebration of local talent, the authenticity on social media, the way we handle mistakes—these aren’t random. They reflect what we think matters.
Hire for Culture Add, Not Just Culture Fit
“Culture fit” sometimes becomes code for “hire people exactly like us.” That’s not what we mean.
You want people who share your core values but bring something new. Different perspectives. Different experiences. Different strengths.
Lego adds something to our culture (joy, levity, reminders to not take ourselves too seriously) without requiring everyone else to be an office dog. That’s culture add.
Create Space for Humanity
Work is done by humans. Humans have good days and bad days. They have lives outside work. They have personalities and quirks and things that make them who they are.
Good culture makes space for that humanity instead of requiring people to check it at the door.
Don’t Take It Too Seriously (But Take It Seriously Enough)
Yes, we dress our dog as a waffle. We wear horror movie hoodies to ring gongs. We celebrate placements with genuine enthusiasm.
But we also take our work seriously. We get COR certified because safety matters. We do thorough candidate screening. We stay in touch between placements. We own our mistakes and fix them.
The balance matters. Professional doesn’t mean joyless. Fun doesn’t mean unprofessional.
The Bottom Line
Lego’s Halloween costume isn’t just cute (though it is). It’s a visible representation of something deeper—a culture where people can be themselves, where joy and professionalism coexist, where authenticity matters.
That culture helps us do better work. It helps us understand what clients really need beyond the job description. It helps us assess whether candidates will thrive somewhere, not just survive.
And it makes coming to work actually enjoyable, which matters more than people sometimes admit.
When we ring that gong for a successful placement, we mean it. When we say “Elbows Up, Canada” about finding local talent, we mean it. When we post about Lego’s costume, we mean it.
That authenticity—in our culture and in how we approach recruitment—is why placements stick and relationships last.
Working With Recruiters Who Get Culture
Whether you’re a candidate trying to find a place where you’ll actually be happy or an employer trying to build (or maintain) a strong culture through smart hiring, working with recruiters who understand culture matters.
We think about it because we live it. We ask the right questions because we’ve answered them ourselves. We can spot authentic culture versus performative culture because we know the difference.
For job seekers: Let’s talk about what you’re actually looking for beyond the technical requirements. Culture matters, and we’ll help you find it.
For employers: Let’s discuss finding people who’ll fit your culture and add to it. We’ll help you articulate what makes your company a good place to work and find candidates who’ll thrive there.
Office Culture FAQs
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How do I assess company culture during an interview?
Ask specific questions: “What does a typical day look like?” “How do people collaborate?” “What happens when someone makes a mistake?” “Can you give me an example of how the team celebrated a recent win?” Pay attention to how people interact during your visit and trust your gut about how the place feels.
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Is company culture really more important than salary?
It depends on your situation. But research shows that people in good cultures with slightly lower pay are happier and stay longer than people in toxic cultures with higher pay. You can’t buy your way out of a miserable work environment.
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What if I’m interviewing at a company with a very different culture than my current workplace?
Different isn’t necessarily bad. Think about whether the differences are about things that matter to you or just about style. A more formal culture might feel stiff initially but could offer other benefits. A more casual culture might feel unprofessional at first but could allow more flexibility. Focus on values alignment more than surface differences.
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How can I tell if a company’s culture is authentic or just marketing?
Look at Glassdoor reviews (with appropriate skepticism—disgruntled people are louder, but patterns matter). Check how long people stay. Notice if what they say matches what you observe. Ask specific questions that are hard to fake answers to. Request to speak with people who’d be your peers, not just managers.
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What if I realize after starting that the culture isn’t what I expected?
Give it some time—sometimes culture takes a while to understand fully. But if it’s genuinely bad (toxic behavior, dishonesty, values misalignment), don’t force yourself to stay miserable. Life’s too short. Start looking, but be thoughtful about your next move so you don’t repeat the mistake.