Have you ever considered how your business is viewed by potential employees? If not, then you may need to think about your employer brand.
Wait, what’s an employer brand?
Put simply, your employer brand is how your company is perceived by existing and potential employees. Your employer brand encompasses your company’s reputation, culture and mission statement, as well as its policies on how it values and nurtures its workers.
The primary purpose of employer branding is to present your business as an employer of choice, in order to attract the very best talent.
What are the benefits of a strong employer brand?
1. Remain competitive for talent
It’s a competitive hiring market out there and a strong employer brand could make all the difference when it comes to attracting the best talent. In fact, according to research by LinkedIn, 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before applying for a job.
2. Reduce the costs of recruitment
The more well-known and established your employer brand, the less work you have to do to convince candidates that you’re an employer of choice. And the stats back this up – according to LinkedIn, companies with a strong employer brand enjoy a 50% lower cost to hire, 50% more qualified applicants and can recruit 1-2x faster.
3. Improve employee engagement and increase referrals
A strong employer brand starts with the staff you already have. After all, employees who are proud to work for an organisation are likely to feel more engaged. In fact, research by LinkedIn shows that businesses with a strong employer brand enjoy 28% less staff turnover. And there is no better endorsement of your employer brand than happy employees who spread the word to other candidates.
How do I build a strong employer brand?
So, you see the benefits of employer branding, but now you’re wondering how you can work on yours? Here are some ideas to consider:
1. Consistent focus on candidate and employee experience
It’s important when attempting to define and shape your employer brand that you have a clear view of how your current employees view your business. You could consider questions, such as:
What do they like about working here?
Why did they choose the company?
What is helping to retain staff?
Once you can answer those questions then you have a good idea of what you can offer potential candidates and what makes up the core of your employer brand. Making the candidate experience as seamless as possible is important, so consider promoting your employer brand with consistency across your role descriptions, career page, job sites and social media.
2. Utilise social media effectively
A reported 59% of job seekers use social media to conduct research into companies that they’re considering applying to. As a result, how your employer brand is portrayed on social media is becoming more and more important.
Social media represents the perfect opportunity to tell the story of your company and brand. For the best results, it pays to do some research into which social channels your ideal candidates are using.
A few ideas for social media content that reinforces your employer brand could include:
Highlighting any employer or industry awards that the company has won;
Featuring images/ videos of key events that reinforce your workplace culture and values;
Showcasing employee stories;
Featuring senior leaders talking about your employee value proposition;
3. Choose a recruitment agency who understands your brand
After all your hard work on your employer brand, the last thing you need is to work with a recruitment agency that doesn’t do it justice by, for example, simply blasting your job descriptions out to job boards with no consideration to your core message and values.
Your employer brand needs to be evident from the very first interaction with potential candidates, so when you choose a recruitment partner, it’s important to choose a firm that appreciates the importance of employer branding and takes the time to understand yours.
At Spot Recruitment, we pride ourselves on being your voice in the market. We take the time to get to know your business and keep your employer brand at the heart of all communication with job seekers. We’d be delighted to talk to you about how we can help you attract the right candidates for your next vacancy.