Employer Reviews- A gamechanger for hiring

“Krulak’s law- The closer you get to the front, the more power you have over the brand.”

Social proof is the backbone of reference checks in hiring. Recruiters believe the words of other managers and co-workers when validating the work & character of candidates the same way candidates research employers. And it makes total sense. We trust what our friends tell us almost without question, including when we’re researching about employers. While that is being debated in the science field, social proof is still widely used for various reasons.

This phenomenon is known as social proof. And as Wikipedia explains;

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation. This effect is prominent in ambiguous social situations where people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior, and is driven by the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation.

Some sources of social proof include;

Logos, Reviews, Testimonials, Case studies, Social Media Popularity, Media/Press Mentions, User Generated Content, Influencer endorsements, Celebrity, Wisdom of the crowd, Experts, Statistics, Badges, Business credentials, Certifications

In layman’s terms, this means we tend to believe what others (influencers, friends, crowds) think or say. Customers are looking for proof of what you’re saying. Show them. This thinking is also the reason behind one of the most widely used customer satisfaction metrics in the world- the NPS score. As we’ve shown here, emotional branding is fast becoming a top priority for hiring managers. Some statistics include;

Linkedin reports that companies that have a stronger employer brand compared to those of their competitors on average see a 43% decrease in the cost per candidate they hire.

75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job (CareerArc).

Candidates trust employees 3x more than the employer to provide credible information on working at the company.-LinkedIn

Companies with a strong employer brand see 50% more qualified applicants and take 1–2x faster to hire. (LinkedIn)

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Company Reviews

It’s not the seller who sells, but the buyer who buys. Or in HR speak, “You don’t pick talent. Talent picks you”

As we mentioned in the previous articles, companies have to provide much more information to candidates to beat the war for talent. Hiring is a marketing play. Millennials have reshaped how hiring is done because they evaluate career choices differently than their predecessors. This recent PWC report, among others, has highlighted several things about what potential candidates are looking for in employers;

• In 2008, for example, 88% of those questioned said they were looking for an employer with CSR values that reflected their own, and 86% said they would consider leaving an employer if they found their CSR values to be lacking.(PWC)
• 76% want details on what makes the company an attractive place to work. (Glassdoor survey, October 2014)
• 69% would not take a job with a company that had a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed! (Corporate Responsibility Magazine / Allegis Group Services Study, August 2012)
• 84% would consider leaving their current jobs if offered another role with a company that had an excellent corporate reputation.(Corporate Responsibility Magazine / Allegis Group Services Study, August 2012)

Candidates spend hours and days researching a company or a job to help them make informed decisions. Also, cultural fit is now being deemed as the #1 reason why most millennials don’t stay long in new jobs. By checking out reviews on your company, job seekers can now be able to get information about what others think about working at your company, values, compensation, job, leadership, benefits, etc. This will thus either encourage or discourage them from pursuing a career with you. And in the spirit of transparency, most reviews submitted cannot be edited by users. Most reviews are usually done by previous employees so we also know now that how you treat exiting staff matters as much as everything else. Exits provide us with a good opportunity to know what to start, stop, or continue doing.

Another way of gauging the employer brand is through the eNPS-Employee Net Promoter Score. The modern workforce is a generation of people who can’t recommend ‘uncool’ things to friends so as not to look uncool. This often very accurate metric can help measure how candidates perceive your company. A simple question to your candidates, employees, and alumni can be used to tell so much about your loyalty story. This management tool has been used for years by many Fortune 500 companies & you can read online about how to implement it.

How is this going to help you?

1. Well for one, you will be able to attract a wide talent pool of qualified talent who are interested in working for you. This will help reduce the noise from active applicants & will serve as a more convincing argument for passive candidates who might come across one of your reviews and be influenced to want to find out more. Have a ‘tool kit’ ready for when you’re engaging with candidates, during interviews or talent management strategy meetings. I once attended an interview with one of the world’s top FMCGs. 3 HRPs were in the room including the Country HR Director. When the interview concluded and I got a chance to ask questions, I used the opportunity to get clarification & feedback on some damning remarks I had seen on Glassdoor during my research the previous night. Shockingly, the entire panel of HRs had not looked at their reviews for ages and didn’t even know what was being said about them online. Needless to say, since I was being interviewed for an HR position, their weak answers left a bad taste in my mouth and I decided during the interview that that wasn’t the kind of team I wished to join. My perception did not meet reality and I was hugely disappointed at the lack of ‘sales acumen’. A great salesperson knows his product better than anyone else on earth. Be a fantastic salesperson.

Net Promoter Score Template

1. It will help you monitor, measure & improve your employer brand. Through the ratings & reviews, a company can thus build on its reputation and identify areas of improvement.
2. Statistics show that it is easier for a company with a good reputation to retain talent.
3. It increases your number of referrals. Employees past & current will be more likely to recommend your jobs to their friends & family
4. It increases the rate of conversion in our hiring funnel. We need to use data to measure how candidates hear about us, how many converted to the career page or job board, what were they looking/clicking at, how many of those clicked on open jobs, etc

What Can I Immediately Do as a Recruiter?

• Do online research to find out your brand equity
• Do internal research to measure your perception internally including why people chose you.
• Highlight testimonials, case studies, media mentions eg being rated the top company to work for an award, reviews from your current & previous employees, and social media popularity numbers, show them visibly across your careers website, job advertisements, social media engagement & every other channel you use to engage candidates.
• Add a feedback widget to your website or even use a simple feedback form such as Google Forms to collect feedback from candidates after the hiring process.
• Set up Google alerts & social media mentions monitoring using tech tools available

Candidate reviews

Background checks & references are one of the hardest to-dos for any recruiter. As a recruiter myself, I never got around to getting all the checks done on time and I had a hard time calling referees or emailing them to review candidates who they might or might not have interacted well with. It’s also a harrowing experience for candidates who have to keep sending reference forms or follow-up emails every time they get a new job offer. Most times we ended up hiring candidates with just one or zero references because of the workload that was pending which would not allow us to do this very important task well.

The internet will serve as a powerful tool to showcase your mentions, and achievements as well as reviews to recruiters or candidates.

What Can I immediately do as a candidate?

• Get reviews from your previous managers, colleagues & supervisors. Showcase them on your CV, LinkedIn profile & other relevant sites you’re using for professional work including your website and social media.
• Show logos of companies you’ve worked for on your website or CV.
• Show & get testimonials from your previous clients eg if you’re a software developer
• For case studies, have an achievement chart during & after your employment engagement using the STAR technique that you can produce during interviews.
• Do a thorough brand audit to find out your professional brand perception

The Internet is one of the world’s most powerful tools. Information is in utter abundance. Both good and bad. Information also flows offline in the event halls, campuses to even social places. All in all, be nice to everyone. They might just drop a review on you one day. Whatever is done in secret will be revealed on the mountaintop!

Bad company reviews can also help you identify bad employers early on and serve as a red flag.