Any good business leader recognises that their workforce is the heart of their company, and they can actually act as one of their biggest advantages when it comes to beating the competition. Recruitment, and nurturing the best talent, is a crucial area for any company that wants to succeed.
Your Human Resource (HR) manager might seem like a tool to keep things flowing at a steady pace, and preventing unwanted clogs in workflow, but they are actually a key component when it comes to getting new talent into a company, and also caring for it so that it can become the best it can be.
They ensure compliance with labour laws and employment ethics, as well as ensuring that everyone is in sync with each other for a better and more productive workplace, as well as one that is more relaxed.
With good talent becoming increasingly harder to find, with around three-quarters of CEOs worried about the availability of essential skills, around 36% of companies are suffering from talent shortages. Employer branding is a lot more than it seems, and your HR department plays a key role in the entire process.
What is Your Brand?
Before we get into the concept of employer branding, I just want to quickly go over what a brand is, and specifically, what yours is. Essentially, it is the window in which your customers and clients look so that they can see what your company is and what it stands for.
They see your practices and ethics, which then impacts how popular your company is. It is made up of your values, goals, message, customers, prospects, media reactions, investors, and employees – to name a few of the main cogs. Most large companies have already bridged the gap between branding and HR, but the smaller ones have yet to achieve it. Let’s take a closer look at employer branding.
Why is Employer Branding So Important?
Right, employer branding is a set of attributes and qualities that make an organisation stand out, and that promises a specific type of employment experience – appealing most to those that are going to thrive within its culture.
The things that they have heard, read, and seen will help to influence their choice, but so will the way in which you present your careers page/experience to them – whether it’s online or at a job fair. You have to stand out from the competition, ensuring that you attract the top talent, and implementing a strong employer brand will massively increase the number of applicants for the vacancy.
What is Your Employer Value Proposition?
Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is the foundation of your employer brand, and it outlines the values that your company holds, as well as the benefits that your employees receive when they work for you. You need to know your organisation like the back of your hand, right down to the roots, if you want to create a convincing and engaging campaign. Here are some of the questions you will find yourself asking when it comes to figuring out your EVP:
– What drives your current employees?
– Who are the candidates that you want to target?
– What drives the candidates you want?
– What does your current employer brand say to candidates?
– How can you create an environment that caters to them and their motivation?
Take the time to plan this carefully.
Be Unique and Develop Effective Practices
Think carefully about how you want your employer brand to come across, and make sure it works in such a way that your branded behaviours remain present in your current employees, while also remaining flexible for the new ones. Your HR and branding team can work together expertly to create the perfect campaign that reflects what both you and your employees (current and future) want. When working together, they will be able to recruit top talent effortlessly.
Get Personal and Deliver Your Promises
You need to make sure you remain personal within your branding, especially as the digital age means that candidates are able to interact with your company in multiple ways. Every interaction, whether through social media or a job board, influences them and provides you with the unique opportunity to engage with them in such a way that you may just end up with your next best employee.
Due to this, companies have started to rely more on HR and their access to technology in order to better their recruitment process and create a more efficient one that allows for new talent to apply quickly and easily, while also remaining engaged and intrigued by the brand. While HR will involve a lot of automating, this doesn’t mean you can’t get personal.
This is because the recruitment software that we have today makes it way easier to communicate with huge numbers of candidates, while also ensuring a personalised response and interaction with each of them – whether they are successful in their application or not. Each message is personalised, but there is only one way to really get close to your future employees.
You need to start thinking like them, asking yourself what would make you leave with a positive view of your company when browsing for jobs, and what would make you come back and hit the apply button. Plus, with mobile applications becoming even more popular, you need to make sure both your branding and application process are simple to access.
When it comes to delivering your brand and the promises it made, it is essential to ensure that your EVP and employer brand are realistic – and it is something that goes past even HR. You want to recruit better people for your company, and these employees will expect the brand they chose and experienced to live up to their expectations.
Make sure that your employer brand is perfectly synched with the culture within your company and the current employee experience. When your new arrivals realise that they are working in the place that they experienced, you will find that they become more driven, engaged, and passionate about their work, so everyone is a winner. They become a part of the employer brand, and it is up to you to uphold that atmosphere and sense of culture and community.