Metrics in employer branding: how to measure unmeasurable and justify your success
Measuring employer branding can be challenging. In the job market, there are well-known companies, unknown companies, and companies that fall somewhere in between. Most people have heard of these companies, but can’t remember exactly what they do or where they heard about them. Word of mouth — is a really powerful source in branding. Very difficult to track and predict though.
Hey, I’m Anton Anokhin, an employer branding manager with almost 12 years of experience. I’ve spent most of that time at Wrike, juggling various events, content, and community initiatives. Today, I’m here to discuss what we did, what worked well, and where we could have improved. I hope this helps you with your projects.
Employer branding and HR Marketing worlds
What makes a brand visible, known (or recognisable), and attractive? Is it the product? Surely, for companies like Google, Apple, or other FAANG (MAANG) corporations with widely-used products, this is the case. Is it the people? There are undoubtedly bright and well-known brand ambassadors who help make a company visible on the market. However, many employer brand professionals don’t have these options. The only way to understand if the employer brand is strong is to evaluate its success through metrics and, more often, a system of proxy-metrics.
Gathering data for HR marketing goals that drive leads to your talent team is achievable. Evaluating brand awareness, however, is more challenging. To communicate with my stakeholders, who are primarily engineering leaders, I have developed a system of metrics and proxy metrics that rely on facts, numbers, and conversions. These metrics provide useful data for planning and justification.
Of course, the metrics I will discuss come from the world of HR marketing or recruitment marketing and are not rocket science. They are derived from classic marketing techniques but peppered in HR sauce — candidate journeys, pipelines, and a job offer as the ultimate destination for the funnel. However, interpreting brand awareness without extensive sociological market research or relying on common sense is still a challenge for me. If you have experience with this, please share in the comments, and let’s discuss.
The text below is my approach to making my job and efforts more clear and result-oriented, and motivating my team. The main motivation comes from seeing the impact of our efforts.
Team plannings. Efforts vs Impact.
All of our projects and initiatives are evaluated using the effort-impact matrix.
My team uses this matrix to assess the level of effort required for a particular project or initiative and its potential impact on our employer branding success. This allows us to prioritize and plan our efforts accordingly. We use a 10-point scale and hold team votes to make the assessments.
The Effort Impact Matrix is a simple yet powerful tool that helps us determine which projects or initiatives are worth pursuing. It consists of four quadrants: low effort, high impact; high effort, high impact; low effort, low impact; and high effort, low impact. By placing our projects and initiatives in these quadrants, we can focus on those that have the highest impact while requiring the least effort.
Overall, the effort-impact matrix is a valuable tool that helps us make data-driven decisions and prioritize our efforts for maximum impact on our employer branding success.
4 Layers of metrics
Metrics based on the funnel model or Employee Journey of Visibility-Knowness-Attraction-Satisfaction help us track and evaluate the success of our employer branding efforts. Each of these stages has distinct metrics offering insights into how effectively your employer brand attracts and retains talent.
Stage 1: Visibility. This is the initial stage where potential employees become aware of your company as a possible employer. This is more about brand coverage. Metrics at this stage include: Web Analytics, Social Media Reach, Search Engine Rankings and other quantitative analysis.
Stage 2: Knowness. This stage is about knowledge potential employees have about your company. Main metrics include: Brand Awareness (e.g. through surveys or interviews), Brand Perception (e.g. evaluate how your brand is perceived through reviews on sites like Glassdoor), and Employer Brand Positioning (how well your value proposition, mission, and vision align with the perceptions of potential employees).
Stage 3: Attraction. This is the stage determining whether your company can attract talent. The following metrics are crucial: Application Rate, Quality of Applicants, and Offer Acceptance Rate.
Stage 4: Satisfaction. Satisfaction refers to employees’ happiness working at your company. Monitoring employee satisfaction can indicate the health of your employer brand. Metrics may include: Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), Employee Satisfaction Surveys, Retention Rate, and Exit Interviews. Remember, employer branding is not just about attracting the best talent, but also about maintaining their satisfaction and commitment once they become part of the company. Regularly measuring these metrics can help optimize an employer branding strategy and make it more effective.
If data is the King who’s the Queen?
Your project metrics are definitely the king. It is critical to measure the effectiveness of your employer branding through select metrics. This will help your team understand and communicate their work, evaluate results and plan for the future.
But it’s not all about metrics. Sometimes trying new things and taking experimental steps — even if they are difficult to measure — can make a significant difference because employer branding is a mix of a systematic approach and going off the beaten path. It is important not to focus only on what you can quantify. Remember that if you are constantly experimenting and innovating, you are probably making progress, even if it is not always immediately quantifiable.
