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Your employer brand is the perception of your company that lives and breathes in the hearts and minds of your past, present, and future employees. Simply put it’s how your company is viewed as an employer. It encompasses everything from your company culture and the work environment you provide to the salary and benefits you offer. The act of controlling the narrative of your employer brand is called employer branding.
What is Employer Branding?
It’s the story you tell that shows potential employees what working for your organization could be like. It is achieved by using specific messaging to help attract prospects that embody your ideal candidate persona, but more than that, it’s also about living out that story. After all, in the age of social media, satisfied employees speak volumes in an environment where user-generated feedback weighs heavily on a brand’s reputation.
Why is Employer Branding so Important?
There’s almost no way to overstate the importance of employer branding and to show that we’ll start with a few eye-opening statistics.
69 percent of job seekers wouldn’t be willing to accept a job with a company that has a bad reputation. That means even the fear of unemployment isn’t enough to overcome a negative employer brand.
75 percent of job seekers research a company's reputation and employer brand before they apply for an open position. That means a large majority of top candidates may never consider your company as an employer if your employer brand is poor.
84 percent of employees would consider leaving their current job if presented with an offer from a company with a better reputation. That means without a good employer brand you could easily lose the top talent you already have.
Today’s candidates tend to search for career opportunities in much the same way consumers make a purchase, by searching online and considering public opinion and feedback. Therefore, strong employer branding is needed to not only successfully attract but also retain top talent.
How do You Build an Employer Brand?
In a well-rounded recruitment strategy building an employer brand should be considered the earliest stage of talent acquisition. But how do you go about building a good employer brand? The first step is to be a good employer, but it takes more than that.
Know Thy Self
Before you can toot your own horn, you first need to get familiar with what makes your company unique, what your objectives are, and what talent is needed to accomplish those objectives. You’ll also need to clearly define your organization’s vision, mission, values, culture, and what it is that makes you stand out from the competition as an employer.
Conduct an Audit
You’ll never be able to effectively influence or manage your employer brand if you don’t know how your company is perceived by your current employees, as well as by your target candidate group. Within your organization, identify top talent, and survey what they feel are the top reasons to work for your company. Externally research how your brand perception is positioned in relation to your direct competitors. This audit should help you identify any gaps that exist between how the company is presenting itself and how it’s perceived by candidates and employees.
Define Your Employee Value Proposition
Next, define your employee value proposition or EVP. Your EVP answers the question “What’s in it for me?” It is what you offer employees in exchange for their skills, time, and talent. It should clearly outline what the individual candidate can expect of the company as well as what the company expects of the individual employee.
Where do You Implement an Employer Branding Strategy?
Now it’s time to take your message to the masses. But, where to start? Your employer branding strategy should encompass everything from your job descriptions to your website and social media presence.
Job Descriptions
Job descriptions are often the first direct interaction job seekers will have with your company so make sure they reflect who you are as an employer.
Social Media
With more than 4.48 billion users worldwide, chances are high that your ideal candidates are social media savvy. During a past Seiza survey, we found that 93.4% of job seekers utilized social media in their most recent job searches. Harness the power of social by sharing engaging branded content, videos, and photos of employees and job openings and career opportunities.
Career Page
A company's career page is one of the most important touchpoints for any potential candidate. It should be the anchor for all of your employee marketing efforts. Use compelling photo and or video content to assure potential candidates that your company is the place they want to be.
Online Reviews
As we said before, 75 percent of job seekers will research a company's employer brand before applying for a job. Don’t let negative reviews stop them in their tracks. Instead, use them as an opportunity by offering a response. 62 percent of job seekers say their opinion of a company improved after seeing how they responded to a negative review.
Current Employees
When job seekers want to learn more about your employer brand, the source they trust the most is the voice of your existing employees. One study showed that on average, employee voice is trusted three times more than corporate messaging when it comes to gauging a company's reputation as an employer.
The Takeaways for Employer Branding
Given the parallels between modern candidates and consumer behavior, employer branding is rapidly shifting from being a buzzword into a core HR discipline. There once was a time when all a recruiter had to do was post a job, screen the applications, interview the top candidates, and hire the best of the bunch.
Today, however, a lot more is required from a company that hopes to attract and retain top talent. At Seiza, we offer best-in-class solutions to help you excel in your employer branding strategies combined with on-demand sourcing, automated SMS, data analytics, and more.
To learn more about a free trial of our automation platform, or if you’re ready to start with employer branding contact Seiza today.