What is employer branding in recruitment? As the job market becomes increasingly competitive, employer branding is more important than ever. You will always want to give the impression that your company is a great place to work to attract potential candidates and retain the best. That can be a complicated and expensive task.

Unfortunately, while employer branding is an essential element in recruitment, it is often overlooked because many people discount it’s impact on their company’s workforce.

What Is Employer Branding in Recruitment?

Employer branding in recruitment refers to the strategic efforts undertaken by an organization to shape and enhance its reputation as an employer, mirroring the way a corporate brand creates a value proposition for customers and defines its products or services in the marketplace.

It also describes your promise to employees or potential candidates in exchange for their experience, talents, or skills.

It should always reference your company’s values, culture, and mission. To get a positive employer brand you must show that your company is a positive and encouraging workplace, which will help boost recruitment efforts, as well as the retention and engagement of your current employees.

Ask yourself these two questions to see if you have an Employer Brand:

What do you offer—beyond pay—that creates a rewarding employee experience?

Why should a candidate choose your company as a place to fulfill their career goals?

Good employer branding will spark buzz around your company in your industry or community that will attract the most talented candidates. Your happiest employees may even broadcast their positive experience to other talent, customers, clients, and stakeholders. And this is one of the best ways to become an EEO.

As a result, the scope of your employer brand will be further expanded.

The Importance of Employer Branding in Recruitment

You are so focused on your company’s brand that employer branding may fall by the wayside. But here are concrete reasons why you shouldn’t let that happen.

Compelling Statistics Highlighting Employer Branding Importance

Nothing is better than giving actual survey numbers to know how vital employer branding is:

• 76% of candidates are explicitly looking for what makes a business or company an attractive workplace (Source).
• 50% of candidates say they would not work for an organization or company with a bad reputation, even for a pay increase. (Source).
• 80% of talent acquisition managers think employer branding plays an essential role in the ability to hire top talent (Source).
• 55% of candidates abandon their applications after reading negative reviews online. (Source).

Hopefully now you understand how the role of employer branding can play a vital role in building great teams.

Great Employer Brand Helps You Win the War for Talents

When recruiting for a smaller company, the competition to attract talented candidates becomes more difficult. You may not be able to pay in salary or benefits what other larger companies can offer. 

Building a strong employer brand will allow you to attract the best candidates despite those limitations especially when targeting young, talented professionals.

Learn more: Recruitment Marketing vs Employer Branding

Improve the Job Pool of Potential Candidates

When your company has a solid reputation, it will be easy for you to attract new talent.

You won’t even need to spend a lot of time promoting and reaching out to people to find candidates. Candidates will naturally come to you.

Save Money for Your Company

The candidate search process can get expensive once you start promoting your job opportunities on all the career sites. And there is little to ensure that you get the best candidates for that spend. 

When your company has a positive identity, a simple job page on your site, a strong Linked In profile or the social media profile as a recruitment tool will help attract that wide range of talent you are looking for.

Help Retain Your Best Employees

A strong employer brand will make your employees feel proud coming to work everyday. It could make them become free brand ambassadors, telling their acquaintances how much they enjoy working for you.

Additionally, they might give positive reviews online, inspiring other potential candidates to apply.

Conceptual Framework of Employer Branding in HR

There is no denying that creating your employer branding will involve all functions of human resources, knowing your  organizational needs and include employee feedback.

This conceptual framework will make creating external and internal communication of your brand easier.

How to build Employer Branding in Recruitment?

Now, let’s transition from discussing the importance of employer branding in recruitment to sharing 9 key steps that have helped create a compelling employer brand, attracting top talent:

• Step 1: Get to know your organization inside out
• Step 2: Evaluate your employer brand thoroughly
• Step 3: Put employee satisfaction at the forefront
• Step 4: Keep your candidates happy
• Step 5: Embrace storytelling
• Step 6: Show your presence on social media
• Step 7: Engage the management team
• Step 8: Contact with like-minded companies
• Step 9: Embrace and practice empathy as a core value

Step 1: Get to Know Your Organization Inside Out

Before building employer branding in recruitment, it is essential to understand your organization’s vision, mission, core business, culture, and values. Take into consideration your company goals and the  type of talent you need to accomplish those goals.

Below are 5 components of a strong employer brand that go beyond pay and benefits. Pick a few that you consistently can offer and commit to delivering them to all employees: 

1.   Opportunity (career advancement, formal training, on-the-job learning, evaluations, personal development, company growth rate)
2.   People (company culture, relationships, reputation of senior leadership, quality of coworkers, trust, collaboration, team spirit, team-building activities and events)
3.   Organization (market position, company reputation, quality of product/service, company mission/vision/values, diversity, social responsibility)
4.   Work (job-interest alignment, challenging/fulfilling responsibilities, work-life balance, quality of projects, innovation, intellectual stimulation, impact the role plays in fulfilling the company vision)
5.   Rewards (salary, bonuses, health and retirement benefits, vacation time, remote work, gym memberships, tuition benefits, share ownership, and fairness of compensation)

Step 2. Evaluate Your Employer Brand Thoroughly

You probably already know where your service and product stand in the marketplace. However, you’ll also need to understand how candidates see your company in the job market or how your current employees view your company.

Some solutions that you can try are researching both externally and internally with applicant surveys, social media searches, etc.

That way, you’ll have a clear understanding of what areas you need to improve on and promote to retain current employees and attract new talent.

Step 3: Put Employee Satisfaction at the Forefront

There’s no denying that any conflict between an employee and your organization will tarnish the employer’s brand.

Today, employees can be very open to publishing horrifying stories about their employers through word of mouth and social media.

Negative employee comments about your company can spread quickly and easily ruin your reputation.

So, make sure that your co-workers receive appropriate treatment in the work environment or your employee brand work will be worthless. When treated well, employees will be happy coming to work and refer friends and acquaintances.

Step 4: Keep Your Candidates Happy

Job seekers can also help your employer’s brand by spreading positive information about their candidate experience.

Your company should provide a high-quality candidate experience to ensure that every candidate is satisfied throughout the hiring process. Their number one request? Consistent communication and feedback about where they are in the hiring process. 

Step 5:  Embrace Storytelling

It is important to develop meaningful stories about your company and work culture to connect potential candidates with your brand.

One of the most popular ways is to showcase your employees’ success stories through blog posts, videos on your career page, or social media, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Simply put, you’ll want to tell great stories to show the candidates that your company celebrates their employees. .

Step 6: Show Your Presence on Social Media

Social media is one of the ideal channels to promote your employer’s brand, especially when targeting Gen Z. Facebook, Instagram, and the LinkedIn Career Page are our recommended options.

Inviting your employees to promote your company’s values on social media is also a good idea. 

Don’t hesitate to provide content for your employees to post on their accounts and conduct social media training to make sure everyone knows how to use your brand in  social media in the most appropriate way.

Step 7:  Engage the Management Team

It cannot be denied that building an employer brand will require a team effort and that effort starts at the top. 

You will need the help of your company’s stakeholders in your employer branding. For example, it is okay to rely on your management team to promote important messages on social media.

Step 8: Contact With Like-Minded Companies

You can get help from other companies in building employer branding. Build healthy relationships with like-minded companies that share your values or the values you want to associate with. Create social media messages with them that promote the values your company upholds.

Step 9: Embrace and Practice Empathy as a Core Value

Empathy is key to creating meaningful connections with your candidates through various brand touchpoints, both offline and online.

By putting yourself in the candidate’s shoes, you can dramatically improve the candidate experience, encouraging the right candidates for your culture to continue through the hiring process. 

The Bottom Line

Building a good employer branding is a complicated process that requires a lot of effort. However, this process is worth it as it will help your company improve its position in the job market, allowing you to attract talented candidates quickly and easily.

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References

• G. Shanmuga Priya, Dr. UmaRaman.M. (2021). A Study on Strategy of Employer Branding and its impact on Talent management in IT industries. Ilkogretim Online – Elementary Education Online. Retrieved from https://www.ilkogretim-online.org/fulltext/218-1616434358.pdf
• Red Caffeine. (2019). Employer Branding Playbook 2.0. Lombard: Red Caffeine. Retrieved from https://www.redcaffeine.com/media/sxplnucq/employer-branding-playbook20-red-caffeine.pdf