Talent Acquisition
Best Impression The secret’s out: 5 ways to improve your employer brand. By John Wilson
The phrase “employer brand” is not only making its way around the recruiting realm—it’s being talked about across all corporations, no matter what their industry or where they’re located. Although many companies have been unintentionally working on their employment branding efforts since the term was coined in the early 90s, it wasn’t a common practice for organisations to actively build and improve it until the past few years. While some organisations have an employment branding strategy, I’ve heard time and time again that their employer brand fails to improve. The two go hand-inhand, and without learning what your current employer brand is, it’s impossible to develop a strategy to improve it. Organisations like Google, Apple, and Groupon have created such a strong brand that the public has a positive image of what it’s like to work at one of those organisations. They pay attention to their brand, nurture it, and develop new strategies to continually bring in top talent. With the knowledge and tools, it’s just a matter of putting your employment branding strategy into place to improve your employer brand. [24]
HRO TODAY GLOBAL
| WINTER 2014
1.
Understand your current employer brand. Simply pinpoint your company’s reputation. What are candidates, competitors, clients, and the media saying about your organisation? Learning what others are saying about your organisation will open your eyes to what you need to focus on improving. Start by checking career community pages for reviews, and ask for feedback from your current employees about the company culture. See if current employees would be willing to refer friends or former coworkers for open positions. Employees can be your greatest advocates, so they need to understand and believe in your company’s core values. They should be trained in how to present your brand and offerings, too. Capitalise on your employee value proposition by highlighting top employees in company videos, featuring quotes from them at your website, encouraging them to write for your company blog, and allowing them to represent your organisation on social media.