Most people believe that employer branding is simply something used to win over customers and clients, but clever companies know that their brand can also be used to attract the right candidates when they are recruiting.
Looking beyond your logo
Employer branding isn’t just its logo – it should go much deeper than that. Employer branding defines how people ‘feel’ about your business, what they imagine when they hear its name, see its logo, read its emails or walk past its offices. Your brand is determined through every interaction you have – whether directly or indirectly – with those you wish to ‘speak to’.
How can this help with recruitment?
If you are recruiting then it is your ideal candidate that you are hoping to reach out to and influence into believing that your company is the one they’d be lucky to work for. It is therefore important to know the many ways in which you can, or cannot, ‘guide’ the perception people have of your business.
How you can increase your company’s attractiveness to candidates
Your brand, how people perceive your business, is formed through its promotion (what you put out there), your interactions (how you communicate on an individual level) and what others say about you (the shared perception of your company).
Some of these can be influenced directly, others cannot, so we’re going to focus on the things you can do to create a brand that attracts the right candidates.
1. Reviews
Not only do Google reviews affect your Google rankings, but people read them to form a judgement about your business (as they also do with your Indeed reviews, Glassdoor reviews and others), to see what others think of you. Make sure that you ask happy customers to post reviews, as the more positive ones you have, the more people think positive things about your business.
2. Website
Is your website up to date or horribly dated? Does it represent your business in the best way possible, clearly highlighting why you’re great at what you do, showing proof as to why any candidate should aspire to work for you? Does it present the ‘personality’ of the business…its brand? If not, a good designer and/or copywriter should be able to refine it for you.
3. Social
Recruitment companies have been using social media to get a background ‘feel’ for candidates for some time now, but candidates research companies as well. Make sure that your social media accounts represent your business the way you wish it to be seen – through its imagery, copy, links and associations.
4. Package
Money talks, but a package is more than just the salary: it’s the perks and benefits, the ways in which your company shows that it cares about those who work for it, that it understands their needs and expectations and delivers on them. Does your company offer a ‘considered’ package, designed to influence candidate decision-making? If not, ask us for some help as this is something in which we have a considerable amount of experience.
5. Promises
Trust is so important, but it’s hard won and so easily lost. If you take weeks to get back to a candidate with feedback, if you miss arranged phone calls, are late back to the office for an interview with a candidate – these are all ways you can leak trust and negatively affect a candidate’s impression of your business.
6. Media
Local papers, in print and online, will often write about local businesses. You can control the narrative. Press releases and editorials highlighting the messages you want the public to see can influence how they feel about your business. Don’t leave media perception to chance. A decent PR company will be able to assess your current brand standing and can help you to turn this around when necessary.