When it comes to attracting and hiring professionals, there are many theories as to how to attract the best candidates.
In some cases, it’s an attractive salary and in others, it’s writing a first-class job ad.
However, research suggests that 99% of employers believe it largely boils down to one factor.
To avoid the long ‘X Factor-esc’ pause, let’s cut straight to it.
Your employer branding is integral
Yep, that’s right.
In a fascinating study on the future of recruitment, a staggering 99% of employers believe that managing your employer brand and reputation is important to attracting top talent.
However, only 45% of employers devote HR resources to maintain this to a high standard.
Interestingly, the 2017 study stated that 95% of employers believe brand protection will become increasingly essential in the next five years.
As a business, it’s an enlightening revelation that could improve your chances of attracting and securing the very best talent in the country moving forward.
What is employer branding?
The best way to describe “employer branding” is to draw upon our previous post.
Employer branding is
“…a set of attributes and qualities, often intangible, that makes an organisation distinctive, promises a particular kind of employment experience, and appeals to those people who will thrive and perform best in its culture.”
It’s not a case of how big or successful your business is, it’s about how your employees feel when they work for you.
Getting this element right will not only make recruiting professionals easier, but it’ll give your staff retention rates and general brand presence a welcome boost too.
The biggest problem is that it’s much easier to ruin your employer brand than it is to maintain one.
You must always be a good employer and respect your employees, otherwise, you could receive an unsavoury review on Glassdoor or social media.
While these things don’t seem like a big deal at the time, future candidates will come across any negative comments and reconsider their position.
On the flip side, there is a possibility of overdoing it.
If you frequently shower your team with compliments and constantly post about your team bonding escapades or employee of the month awards on social media, it will come across as very fake.
To give you a better idea of how to improve your employer branding, let’s explore a few ideas.
How to improve your employer branding
First and foremost, you must decide what your brand is going to look like.
Ask yourself:
- What’s the most appealing thing about your company to employees?
- Why do your current employees stick around?
- What causes them to leave?
For example, do you not provide your current employees with good benefits or enough opportunities to progress their careers?
It’s important to consider who you want to attract as well. So, if you’re looking for millennials with a technical mindset, creating employer branding that’s based around traditional values isn’t the best way to go.
Your employer branding needs to filter through everything you do.
For instance, it’s no good just mentioning what you stand for and the type of work culture you have in the job ad alone.
Candidates will do their research and look at all of your marketing collateral – whether it’s your website or some obscure white paper you published five years ago!
In other words, your brand and employer brand needs to harmonise in everything that you do.
Social media is another area worth thinking about, as it’s one of the most powerful tools you have to keep your employer brand looking fantastic.
As I mentioned earlier, posting an excessive amount of pictures of your team bonding nights and employee of the month awards can look false.
However, if it comes from your employees themselves, it’s a real positive.
If you don’t allow your team to use social media throughout the day, you could be missing a trick here.
When an employee receives a free beer on a Friday, gets taken to a big conference during work hours or is raising money on behalf of the company, what are they likely to do?
You guessed it, they’ll share it on their personal social media channels. As a business, you can then like or share these posts and build a positive image of your company.
There’s even evidence to suggest that giving them the luxury of social media access can increase productivity levels by at least 9%, as well as:
- boosting morale and relationships;
- giving employees a much-needed mental release from their hard work;
- allowing them to communicate more quickly and efficiently.
Final thoughts
Getting your employer branding right isn’t an overnight fix.
If you believe your business hasn’t quite mastered this element yet, it pays to address it immediately.
As time goes on, you’ll start to notice a more positive response to your job ads and greater employee satisfaction as well.
At the end of the day, all professionals want to enjoy what they do and who they work for.
So, if you’re not presenting your business in the best possible way via quality employer branding, there’s every chance you could be missing out on top talent.
For more tips on achieving this, take a look at our previous post: ’10 Tips For Building a Powerful Employer Brand that Attracts the Best Staff for Your Business’.
