Companies used to be in complete control of recruiting. You’d write an advert, put it out in the market, whether that be on your own website, or on job boards and then wait for the deluge of CV’s from which you could easily choose 5-10 people to interview.
Is that still the case for you?
There has been a huge shift in power from the employee to the candidate. Over 75% of people now start their job search with Google. Never has it been easier to get behind the scenes of an advert. Candidates can now, with just a few clicks, get information about your company culture, salary information, employee satisfaction and everything else they might want to build up an image of your employee brand. You may have a fantastic career page and enticing job descriptions, but if this isn’t reflected by your brand image it can be the decision between a perfect candidate submitting their application or dismissing your company as someone who isn’t that appealing to work for.
Managing employer reputation is more important than ever before.
So now is not the time to wonder whether a brand image is important as part of your hiring strategy, now is the time for action. Guaranteed that if they haven’t already done so, your competitors are defining their brand image to scoop up all the top talent in the area, leaving you with open positions or worse still, the wrong people in the wrong job. Your company culture is your competitive advantage and promoting your brand image is paramount to business success.
Branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room
Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon
What is brand image and how do you make it attractive?
We’ve spoken in previous blogs about your employer brand already existing but it still needs continued nurturing and development to ensure it remains an efficient attraction tool.
To attract the right level of people who will help increase profitability for your company, you must first identify who these people are and build a brand image that will attract them to you.
You may be needing to attract more senior members to your teams and this demographic will be interested in things like work/life balance and family friendly policies. Whilst if you are looking to attract millennials you need to really get to grips with the up and coming technologies that they are using on a daily basis and promote things like your city centre location, social activities and career progression. The brand image you portray needs to reflect the changing needs of these groups.
Get into the mind of your perfect candidate.
Create an image that makes you the company that people dream of working for. If your brand is uninspiring or undesirable then this just won’t happen. Putting renewed energy and focus into your brand image will increase your ROI on all your recruiting methods.
Getting Social
Recruiting the best talent isn’t easy and social media has changed the landscape of recruitment for ever. Not only is it easier for prospective candidates to get a real feel for your company before applying for roles, it has also made it faster than ever to build and maintain a large talent pool for your future recruitment with good branding.
In the current market, candidates are very impressionable to a brand image and if your image appeals to them, they will make efforts to approach you. Imagine that! Candidates approaching you without the need to advertise amongst all the other companies looking for a similar skill set.
Similarly, people are engaging with their social networks like never before and happy employees and even potential employees can positively influence your brand further (and your bottom line!).
Developing Your Brand Image
Not sure where to start? The answers may already be all around you – have a look at our blog about using your employer brand to attract, engage and retain for more details around gaining insight into the reasons people choose to work for you. Earn loyalty from your current employees – build your brand image around them and attract more people who share the same values.
Here’s our 5 key points for developing your brand image –
Personality / Language – before your start, identify what language style best matches the personality of your brand. Are you serious and corporate or are you fun and creative? The language you choose must represent your culture.
Story Telling / Emotion – every brand has a story to tell, whether it be how it came to being or what makes it unique in the market place. Think about your story and how you can use it to build a connection with your talent pool. Look inside your current teams – is there someone who has a story to tell about why they chose to work for you and what it’s like to be part of the success. A story from an employee can hold a lot of weight and can be seen as a trusted source of information.
Competitors – when recruiting, a competitor isn’t just someone in your field, it may be the company down the road or someone in the next city looking for the same skills. One of them may have a brand image that really appeals to you, but it’s important not to copy your competitors! Your brand image is what makes you unique and can be a powerful business tool if utilised correctly. How do prospective employees see you versus your competition? There are sure to be things that make you different.
Be True/Be Consistent – whatever the brand image you promote, make sure your messages align with your employee perceptions. Ensure that there is consistency throughout the recruitment process with all your communication. Utilising an ATS for template responses that fit with your brand image makes this a fairly simple process.
Monitor and Evaluate – more and more companies that have already embraced employer branding are measuring, analysing and continuously developing strategies based on brand image and attractiveness. Regularly review what’s working and what’s not working and use these finding to develop an adaptable brand strategy that will continue to appeal to your perfect candidates.
Sometimes it takes someone from outside your company to help develop the perfect brand image to help with attraction, engagement and retention and this is where JobHoller can help. We know what it takes to give you the position of power when it comes to employer branding. To find out more, give one of our employer branding and recruitment experts a call on 01244 567 967 or pop us an email at [email protected]
