What is employer branding?
The most commonly used definition of “employer branding” is Brett Minchinton’s from The Employer Brand Institute, which defines employer branding as, “the image of the organization as a ‘great place to work’ in the minds of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders).”
A company’s employer brand is made up of numerous components. Corporate Eye blog breaks these components down quite well. What’s important to realize is that the employer brand is really based on human relationships and human emotions vs. anything else. It’s those companies that think of HR as “Human Relationships” vs. “Human Resources” that are on their way to building and promoting a successful employment brand.
The components of an employer brand
Here are some things to consider with respect to your employer brand:
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Two of the biggest elements of employment branding are communication and culture. People always want to feel like they “fit in” and they always want to be communicated to in an open and authentic manner. This holds true whether you’re thinking about internal employees or external job seekers and candidates.
Promoting your employer brand to the outside world
Companies have gotten better and better at promoting and managing their employment brand internally, but to the outside world they often fail to communicate effectively. This is especially true when looking at how companies reach out to and communicate with job seekers and candidates.
And companies need to move quickly on promoting a strong employment brand if they hope to stay competitive – in the job market and in their own businesses.
…a strong Employer Brand – built from honest dialogue – is an important ingredient in the ability to attract, engage and retain top talent. – Dan Stuart, Head of Strategic Initiatives, Bayt.com
Today’s Web 2.0 and social media technology make it possible for companies to easily have honest dialogue with job seekers and candidates. That’s a critical shift from years past when developing attractive and interactive career sites and recruitment micro-sites was too expensive for most companies. Technology is much more accessible and affordable, although at the same time advancing at a faster pace.
Brands and brand advertising remain important weapons in the War for the Best Talent. The memories you create among the candidates in your recruitment process, however, can be just as powerful sources of brand equity, and for many organizations they are a far more realistic goal to pursue, especially in a difficult economic environment. – Peter Weddle, CEO WEDDLE’s
Peter is making the point that implementing a memorable and positive recruitment process is key to successful recruitment. And that process is part of your employer brand.
Employment branding is a must if you believe in recruiting top talent. And if you look in-house, promoting a strong employment brand is a must to retain your best people. Both recruitment and retention are key issues that will truly differentiate the successful companies from those that fail.
Here are some great resources on employment branding:
- Why employer branding is here to stay
- 10 Employer Branding Strategies to Become the Employer of Choice
- The Candidate Experience Still Sucks, And Yes It Does Matter
- 5 Tips for Getting Started with Employment Branding
- The Top Role of Brand in Recruitment
Career sites and recruitment micro-sites
One of the most important elements of your external employer brand is your corporate career site. It serves as the hub of your recruitment efforts, where you –
- drive traffic through recruitment marketing and advertising campaigns;
- promote your corporate culture and give people an “inside peak” at your organization;
- communicate actively with job seekers and candidates; and,
- make sure job seekers and candidates are treated well.
As well, more and more companies are taking advantage of recruitment micro-sites – targeted, niche career sites directed to specific job categories or used for event-based recruitment. Recruitment micro-sites are great for targeting unique audiences – say sales people or engineers – and demonstrating the appropriate and relevant components of your company’s culture and brand.
It’s important not just to have a career site or recruitment micro-sites, but to make sure that they’re working right. Here are a few basic questions to ask yourself:
- Is my career site well-designed? Is content easy to find? Is the site attractive looking?
- Does the career site reflect well on my corporate brand? And does it speak to the right audience?
- Can job seekers and candidates interact with me on the career site through social media and Web 2.0 functionality such as comments, blogging, chat, etc.?
- Does the career site leverage new technology such as video and search engine optimization to attract the right audience of job seekers and keep them engaged?
Once you have a strong career site or recruitment micro-sites you can more effectively market and advertise jobs. Job marketing and advertising becomes an extension of your career site, and therefore an extension of your employment brand.
Benefits of a strong employment brand
The ultimate benefit is more successful hires. By presenting the right message to the right audience, you will attract and hire the right people. That will increase the success of those people within your organization and improve retention.
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