A successful business needs great employees. That’s why employer branding is so important. An amazing candidate might have to choose between you and another business, and your reputation as an employer is going to influence their decision. That’s where an employer branding strategy comes in.
The war for talent is getting bigger and bigger as candidates are taking an increasing interest in the culture and values of their potential employers. Because of this, businesses need to invest more in their employer branding strategies. Wondering where to start? We’ve got you covered. We’re going to explain the basics of employer branding and show you how to build a successful employer branding strategy.
Employer branding is everything an organisation does to promote their employer values. Here’s some examples:
If you’re not convinced so far that employer branding is crucial to a great business, we’ve put together a list of reasons why it’s so important:
84% of job seekers state that a company’s reputation is important to them.
Attracting more, better quality candidates means you won’t have to spend as much on your recruiting efforts.
High-quality employees will benefit your business. A better rep means access to the best talent, and your employees are the key to your success.
Companies with strong employer reputations do better at attracting diverse talent. A diverse workforce equips your business with a variety of experience and skills.
You can’t build a brilliant employer rep overnight. Your reputation is something you must continuously manage. But, there are some essential steps you can take to help you get there:
An employee value proposition is what your company stands for. It’s comprised of:
The point of an EVP is to define your company’s essence, and what makes it unique from the rest.
Recognising your company’s recruitment challenges will help you identify its future needs so you know where to focus your efforts.
It’s important that you’re able to measure the success of your employer branding efforts, to do this you’ll need to identify the goals you’re aiming to achieve. Examples of these are:
If you can get inside the mind of your dream candidate, you’ll be able to tailor your employer branding efforts to them.
A candidate persona is a fictional representation of the perfect candidates. To define your candidate persona, think about:
Who better to promote your company than your existing employees? Ask them to share their own stories on social media, for example they could create a ‘day in the life’ style post on LinkedIn.
A company’s culture and brand message will be much more believable coming from the C-suite executives. Involve them as much as you can in your social media strategies.
If you want to keep improving your employer branding activities it’s essential that you measure your efforts. Refer back to your initial goals so you can work out how much you’ve achieved so far, and where to focus your future efforts.
Every business has its own employer brand, naturally, but if you want to compete for the best talent you’ll need to establish a strong branding strategy. It’s the way that successful businesses engage, recruit and retain the best candidates. Following these 7 steps will put you on the right track for recruitment success.
Good luck!