Employer Branding Recruitment Strategy: How to Get It Right

Job seekers nowadays are presented with more options than ever before. With 90% of the job market being candidate-driven, those looking for new roles have the privilege of turning down positions, in hopes of a better one coming along. So what will be that extra factor to draw candidates to your organization? Studies suggest that not only do businesses with a solid employer branding plan attract 3.5 times more applicants per job, but they can also reduce the cost-per-hire by 50%. This, alone, is a good reason for you to read ahead and try to adopt a few employer branding best practices.

What Exactly is Employer Branding?

When a job seeker decides whether or not to join your company, they will more often than not conduct some kind of research about the organization. They will try to read some information on the about page, careers page, LinkedIn, perhaps watch your promotional videos, read reviews on Glassdoor and maybe talk to people who’ve worked with your company in the past. All of this information collected will create a picture that leads to a positive or negative employer brand, and you have the power to control this narrative.

A good employer branding recruitment strategy can differentiate your company from the competition and persuade candidates to choose you, even if other things, such as the compensation and benefits that you offer are less appealing. Your employer brand should convey to your ideal candidate that when they apply for a vacancy, they should do so to be a part of your company. They should want to work for you not just because they want the role, but because they want to be a part of your corporate culture, and all it has to offer.

Developing an Employer Brand Strategy

After understanding its importance, let’s discuss employer branding tips and strategy. This is something that will be created over time, with trial and error, as well as receiving as much feedback from outside sources as possible.

1. Talk to Your Employees

Before you even start thinking about marketing your vacancies and company to potential candidates, you have to think about how you promote your organization from within. Your own employees are the backbone of a strong employer brand. Happy and content workers will naturally talk about their work life with their friends, family and on social media, thus spreading the word about how great it is to be employed by you.

Send out internal surveys to understand how you can improve your employee satisfaction and retention. These will also help you understand what kind of values and culture your employees appreciate and you can start creating internal marketing around it. This may include posters for your office, weekly newsletters, monthly events, mentioning the values in meetings, as well as creating schemes for rewarding best employees.

2. Create an Online Brand

Just like with promoting a product, your company culture and values require marketing as well. Once your brand is built from within, it’s time to develop an employer branding recruitment strategy, which will showcase that brand to your ideal candidate. One of the first, more obvious employer branding tips, is to create a careers section on your website, which on top of presenting your vacancies, will demonstrate your company culture. You can do so with precise messaging, employee testimonials, videos where you show a “day in the life” or film team events, place pictures of your team as well as candid shots and more. Be creative and demonstrate what makes your company a great place to work.

The next stage will be to create content which will establish your role as a leader in your field. Try to provide frequent content on your company website, perhaps by using a dedicated blog, which will prove that you keep up with everything that’s happening in your industry. Write about industry news, interview industry leaders, promote advancements in your field, as well as updates in your company. Our next suggestion is to post all of this in your social media channels to drive engagement. Don’t forget to encourage your employees to provide good reviews of your company as well. All of these employer branding best practices will make passive candidates keep you in mind the next time they are job hunting.

3. Communicate Well With Your Candidates

Just like current employees, your candidates can also become brand ambassadors. Every part of the recruiting process and how you treat the applicants will determine the way they talk about your company to other potential candidates. From creating a user-friendly application process to replying to emails on time and keeping them in the loop; from communicating your expectations, making sure they feel welcome when they arrive for an interview, to not ghosting them if you decide they were not a good fit and thanking them for their time. Even if not hired, ask them for feedback about the process to learn how you can improve yourself and your brand.

All of these employer branding best practices will hopefully create a name for your company that will precede it, and make it irresistible to potential employees.