As per the giant of hiring portal LinkedIn– Organizations that focus on employer branding get to see 50% more applicants. This depicts the rising importance of employer branding and how it resonates with the fresh and experienced talent in the market. Also, 84% of the job seekers agree that an organization’s reputation as an employer is very important.
The way organizations and ventures used to attract and recruit talent has completely revolutionized. Advancements in hiring technologies, platforms, etc., have their added advantages. Still, organizations cannot rely entirely on these factors only to hire the right talent. For successful hiring, your hiring strategy needs to be backed by solid employer branding, or else you will end up with a lot of capital and effort but no result.
But before getting into the nitty-gritty of employer branding, let’s understand what it accounts for and why it is important.
Why is employer branding important?
Employer branding is an organization’s reputation and capability to prove its worth to potential candidates. The ways for employer branding revolve around the aim to attract the best talent and also retain them for a longer period of time.
Employer branding plays a significant role in upgrading the employers’ value to their employees. It is paramount to make the talent stay and grow to benefit the organization. The biggest reason for employer branding is to maintain and enhance your company’s business identity. It’s the road to stand out to the potential candidates for jobs. And the journey doesn’t end here; employer branding is equally needed for retaining the employees.
Crashing the Myth!
There is a big misconception that only HR professionals are responsible for employer branding. This is absolutely not true, for positive and holistic employer branding, employees from across departments need to participate actively.
By creating and showcasing real employee stories, a credible reputation is imparted to the world. When potential candidates hear directly from your employees, they get a more detailed review and connect even more. It is similar to buying products online. Like buyers mostly go for higher reviewed products; similarly, the organizations that display positive employee stories attract more potential candidates. In no time, you will see candidate applications pouring in rather than your recruiters running behind them. So, let’s see the ways in which you can work at improving the employer brand reputation of your organization.
Tips for building an outstanding employer brand
Here are the tips for building an outstanding employer brand-
- Investing in digital and social media presence– As per a finding by Glassdoor– “68% of Millennials, 54% of Gen-Xers, and 48% of Boomers indicated they visit an employer’s social media properties specifically to evaluate the employer’s brand”. The right set of digital tools and social media can be the make-or-break situation for the business. As candidates are more engaged over all kinds of social media platforms, social media presence has become mandatory these days. By advertising over social media platforms, you will be catching the attention of the desirable candidates then and there rather than putting in additional efforts by shortlisting through the conventional approach. Thus, start by posting timely updates and testimonials. Video content is more eye-catchy, so try posting more and more videos capturing the work environment and culture. With this, you will soon gain traction and will own it.
- Showing consistency on website upgrade– Potential job seekers will not leave any stone unturned when it comes to checking the employer brand. They will go through all the services, recruitment pages, partners, content, etc. Hence a well-designed website will not be enough. You will be needing to consistently upgrade the website focusing on the ongoing trends and offer a sneak peek into your organization’s culture. One way to get real-time feedback is by involving the present employees. They can be asked to provide their inputs on the corporate website. Apart from this, you will also have to keep an eye on your competitor’s website to stay one step ahead in the game.
- Promote employee references through incentives– Sometimes you are searching for the best of the candidates everywhere within the organization. Motivating the present employees for bringing their known candidates to the organization will have two-way benefits. Firstly, you get a chance to build a cordial business relationship with your employees that will indirectly elongate their retention time. Secondly, you will have a piece of luck in creating an attractive employer brand. Employees can be motivated by announcing incentives and much more.
- Make the joining experience memorable– Industries are becoming more and more competitive by the day. For staying relevant, just following the traditional joining process will not work. New Joiners lookout for more than just a warm welcome. New joiners are going through a long array of inductions, but they can be made more exciting and interactive. The best trend that is quite a buzz these days is welcoming candidates with a set of joining goodies like corporate bags, work from home stationaries other necessities, etc. A reduced back-out rate is a significant advantage that organizations can derive from such new-age employer branding.
Employer branding strategy and initiatives taken are the accurate indicators for deciding the organization’s future. It will also decide on the talent that will walk through your doors. The time must be dedicated to examining the current status and then identifying your organization’s needs so that they can be documented well with a transparent outlook.
Here’s when an experienced staffing partner can get you through all the efforts by guiding you in the right direction. As an expert staffing solution provider, we can help you build an employer brand that will give your potential candidates more than one reason to choose you over your competitors!