According to Brian Clarke, we “never convince anyone of anything – we simply help others independently decide that we’re right.” That is, essentially, the purpose of an organisation’s employer brand. To help potential candidates decide that your company is a great place to work without overtly trying to convince them.
However, while 80% of talent leaders believe employer branding is the key to making quality hires, only 50% have a proactive brand strategy in place. According to research, 87% of candidates want to work flexibly. However, only 15% of jobs offer flexibility at the point of hire. As a result, there is a significant gap between what candidates want and what employers are providing to persuade them, causing a talent bottleneck.
This means that employers who have an active employer branding strategy in place are likely to attract the best candidates. So, those who have poor employer branding will struggle to attract the candidates they want to work with.
Essentially, there’s no reason for any modern organisation to have a weak employer brand. All it takes is a willingness to invest in your employees and a strategy to communicate this to potential candidates. So, candidates understand who you are, what you stand for, and whether they are likely to be a personality fit.
To give your recruitment efforts a boost, here are some simple steps to improve your employer branding.
Stick to what’s true, not what you wish were true.
According to research, employees are the most credible source of information regarding what it’s really like to work for your organisation. This is why so many employer branding strategies now include case studies and testimonials from their own employees to communicate authentically with potential candidates.
After all, your employees are not motivated to oversell or persuade candidates. Rather, if they genuinely love working for your company, they will be proud to talk about where they work and why they enjoy it. Candidates know this, and as a result, any company which can back up their employer branding claims with testimonials from employees will be seen as having an authentic employer brand.
Of course, to create this authenticity, your company needs to provide an experience that employees want to talk about.
Ask your employees what they want.
If you want an employer brand that your employees will boast about, ask them what’s meaningful to them. Then, you can craft your brand and culture around what matters to your employees to make sure they feel individually valued. Not all workforces are the same, and different benefits are more meaningful to some people than others.
So, engage with your staff, get to know them and find out what gets them out of bed in the morning. Why not get creative with your benefits to let them know you’ve listened? Providing something that no other employer does will improve your retention rates and capture the attention of those candidates you want to attract.
Tell your brand’s story.
Gaining a reputation is all about marketing, and marketing is all about storytelling. According to Edelman, current “employees are seen as the most credible source of information”. By telling their stories of what it is like to work for your company, they can help to create an authentic employer brand.
However, there are other forms of storytelling you can use to promote your employer brand. Social media is a brilliant platform to tell your story on. 59% of candidates research companies they are interested in working with on social media. Chances are your applicants, or potential applicants, are looking you up to see if they can find out more about who you are online. So, use your social media pages, such as Instagram, to show, rather than tell employees why they should work for you.
As they say, actions speak louder than words.
Telling a story by simply being who you say you are and marketing that effectively on social media can ensure you attract the talent you want.
According to Hubspot, “telling your brand’s story is more than what you write on your website, your blog, or even social media. It’s your values, your mission, and how you communicate them consistently to your audience.”
In this candidate-driven market, as employers struggle to find the talent they need to scale, your employer brand can decide whether someone chooses to apply to work with you or not. So, tell your story and make sure you are an employer of choice.
For more information on how to improve your employer brand, look out for our upcoming eBook.
