What role does Employer Branding play in Recruitment?

It’s natural to want the crème de la crème. The best job, the best workplace, the best employees. Although to get the best, you will need to pick selectively and wisely, and this is especially true in recruitment. While you’re scouting for possible recruits, they’re scouting for you. While you’re seeking to find the best, they’re trying to ascertain whether you’d be the best fit for them. So how do the quality candidates find you — or rather, how do you find them? This is where employer branding plays a key role in attracting and retaining top and quality candidates.

Typically, employer branding is used in the context of increasing market share for companies and improving perception of clients and customers. However, until very recently branding has become extremely essential in finding quality candidates. According to UndercoverRecruiter, 72% of recruiting leaders around the world believe that employer brand has a substantial impact on business success.

For starters, what really is Employer Branding? It’s nothing but the way in which an organization portrays its reputation as an employer, and its value proposition to its team members. It is what the organization communicates to its potential and current employees. It talks about the organization’s mission, values, culture and personality of the employer. This is a huge contributing factor in terms of recruiting new employees, engagement and retention of current employees, and the overall perception of the organization out there.

So, why does it matter?

Attracting top quality candidates

A LinkedInSurvey says, a company’s employer brand is twice as likely to drive job consideration as its company brand. So why not work towards your employer brand?

Positioning your brand in the right manner makes it easier for your company to attract the right type of talent. Today as technology is taking over, companies are moving towards having a strong social media presence to increase their employer branding stance. Social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook are being utilized by companies to show their culture and values to the masses. According to a study, 62% of candidates research companies on social media before hiring. Simultaneously, they are also using these platforms to connect with potential candidates nowadays, whereas applicants are at the same time connecting with these companies which creates a direct relationship between the two.

Engaging your already existing team members

It is essential to have engaged and enthusiastic team members as it is a huge contributing factor for the growth of the company. When they talk about their work passionately, people know about it which builds the company’s image and at the same time, they tend to put in more effort into their work too. When a team member talks positively about their company, it inculcates interests in candidates since they are curious to know what it’s like working for your company. Curiosity won’t kill the cat here!

A company with a strong employer brand, tends to have more engaged team members. They are bound to have a higher level of motivation because they are proud to work for the company. Having a strong employer brand, not only improves the perception of people, but also helps in improving the perception within the company itself.

Source: Microsoft

Improved recruitment process

Most candidates research online about the company before they wish to apply to that company. Hence, it becomes essential for the company to have a strong yet good social media presence. This creates the first impression of the company, and if it portrays a positive image then they are likely to apply and are more than willing to join. A company that is less well known might not be as appealing as a well-known company to candidates.

A positive employer image will help in drawing attention towards your company and aid your recruitment process. Highly talented candidates would want to join your company and current employees would want to stay. Employer branding will help in having a better turnover rate and lesser attrition rate as well. A company with a better yearly turnover rate is always more engaging and appealing.

What are some of the best employer branding practices?

There might be several methods of practicing employer branding. However, personally I believe there are just a few good ones out there that can help make a difference in the war for talent acquisition. Let’s run through each practice in detail.

Defining company culture and values

Don’t bother working on your employer brand if you haven’t already defined your company culture. Some questions need to be answered — What does your firm stand for? What does the company offer to current and future employees? How do your employees represent the business, both towards others and towards themselves?

This is not it, a more cohesive list needs to be made which needs to be narrowed down to the most crucial markers of the company. Apart from defining your goals, mission, vision and values mention the rewards, milestones and challenges that would offer an enticing advantage to potential employees.

Your company cultures define your employer brand and is reflected in everything, from the way your team members communicate, behave and dress up, to your office setup and all the content that is pushed out on all platforms. This is why it’s so essential to know your culture inside and out.

Making your team members the Brand Ambassadors

Once the culture has been defined and your team members knows what your company stands for, why they love working there, there is no better way to make your team members representatives of your company. They are the best option to help you spread the word, through word of mouth or just by simply embracing technology!

Source: Meltwater

Your team members being the brand ambassadors comes along with an additional benefit. They help you with referrals, and employee referrals are becoming a popular way to recruit. Usually it’s a given that the team member who made a referral means that the person is likely to stay for longer and the chances of the referral being a ‘culture misfit’ are way lower. This method helps in saving costs and is a way faster method to recruit. This has a positive impact on your company’s turnover rate.

Giving the best candidate experience

When a potential candidate walks into your office for an interview, the first impression they get isn’t the only impression of you on which they base their judgements. But it is also of how well you greet them and treat them. A smile on your face and a firm handshake always works, or even a general conversation starter like “Was it easy for you to find your way here?”. Even offering a glass of water goes a long way!

Apart from that, a smooth interview process plays an integral role in creating an employer image and brand, the one that begins on time, doesn’t keep the candidate waiting or doesn’t drag on for hours together. To build a strong employer image it becomes crucial to give the candidates an experience that they’ve never had before so they spread the word to those who might in the future be prospective candidates.

Embracing technology

Careers Page: When one looks for a job, where do the majority of job seekers go? Careers page, of course. Hence, goes without saying — seamlessly use those employer branding practices into your careers page. Apart from displaying your job listings, showcase your culture, the perks and benefits you have to offer and have expressive imagery and videos! Or simply just use excellent and attention-grabbing content just like Huge is for it’s careers page. Here’s an interesting bit of the page for your inspiration:

Notice how they’ve made it short, to-the-point and aren’t willing to use the conventional method of using cover letters but are bringing in the element of quick videos. This also puts a face to the name! Makes it a whole lot easier, doesn’t it?

Video advertising: Conveying messages through videos are commonly used in marketing, however, recently it is being used in recruitment marketing as well. There are several ways you can advertise your employer brand through videos, and people are more likely to watch appealing videos than simply read about your brand on the internet.

Recording testimonials of team members talking about why they are passionate about their work or why they love the work they do at your company and uploading them on your careers page can help attract a lot of potential candidates. Even taking a short appealing video of your workplace, the company culture, the people, or simply sharing a recruiting commercial will fascinate a pool of candidates waiting to come join your clan!

Apple came up with a clever hiring commercial, it is a recruitment video talking about the way leaders work. It provides insights on product development to creating innovative technologies.

Catch a glimpse of it here –

Inspired? So are we.

Blogs: Publishing an article on your company blog or even as a guest as on a relevant blog with a sense of commitment and to do it on a consistent basis will help you to reach out to a huge pool of candidates.

Through this medium you will be able to reach to people who might not even be aware of your company, and reading out about relevant topics you write about may generate interest within them. This helps not only in attracting candidates but adds to your employer brand.

You don’t want to miss out on the company blog of HubSpot. This startup was one of the first startups to master content marketing. This company blog has it all! This blog ranges from actionable how-tos, marketing thought leadership, to sales, this blog has got it all covered.

Social Media: To up your employer branding game, it becomes essential to be present on every social media platform. Each platform has its own preferred type of content so make sure you do your research on the type of content that can be used for each of these and the best practices that can be taken forward. However, the content needs to be up to date with the current trends, so make sure they’re all worked upon because honestly, no one likes to see the same old monotonous posts!

Well, there are several companies doing the best they can on social media platforms but what what really caught my eye was HP’s Linkedin Page. Their posts range from boosting and developing roles of women in tech, to improving lives through education and technology, to reinventing recruiting processes, to progress in diversity. This page doesn’t seem to miss out on anything!

Email Campaigns: The candidates you don’t take the process forward with, make sure are on your database and finally nurture those leads by sending them updates on your milestones and achievements, and mentioning the job openings and vacancies. Through this, you are reaching out to a pool of candidates who were already interested in your company, but will now spread a good word to their network. However, there are certain rules you need to keep in mind. While sending out these, ensure you don’t overload their inboxes because who wants to be marked as spam? No one does, so be careful!

Before I wrap this up there’s something to keep in mind — utilize these practices, but don’t forget, you will need to consistently and continuously work on these practices. Because it’s not just about implementing, but is also about maintaining your brand.

Commitment and dedication is all.

Happy branding!

About The Author:

Archishaa Mehra, a graduate holding a Master’s degree, works towards ensuring equality and strength in the workforce. She aims at giving her 100 percent in everything and through her words, wishes to connect with people around her.

She also works at inculcating the theories of Psychology in the corporate world in the hope of making working in an industrial field a better experience for everyone.

She is currently working as an HR Generalist at GreedyGame.