Is Your Employer Brand Well Received?
You might be asking, “do we even have an Employer Brand?”
YES, yes you do. Truth is, you have an Employer Brand whether you work at making it a positive one, or not.
And, your Employer Brand is a Big Deal. It’s basically how your company precedes itself in the marketplace. Your reputation as an employer and how your company is perceived by future employees will help (or hurt) you in attracting and retaining top talent. So, it’s important that the story you want to convey is shared with your ideal employees, and done so authentically!
Here’s the deal, when someone asks an employee at your company “What’s it like to work at XYZ?”, she’s going to tell them about the day to day, the culture, the team collaboration, your values and the truth about her experience being part of your company. Your actions internally play a huge role in what stories are shared externally.
In fact, employer branding is critical to your bottom line. LinkedIN shares that a good employer brand can reduce turnover rates by 28% and even cut your costs-per-hire by 50%. And of the over 40 stats that Glassdoor shares, it’s worth noting that 75% of active job seekers are more likely to apply to a company that actively engages their brand in the marketplace.
So, how do you tell your story and engage your employer brand? Here are a few quick tips:
1.WHAT IS YOUR MISSION
Your Mission and Vision are the driving force for your company. If you start with telling that story, you create alignment with your target talent pool. That’s a great first step in making sure you are targeting the ideal employees to join your workforce and add value towards your company’s growth. Check out these mission and vision statements of highly successful companies.
2. CHECK YOUR BRAND
Good news doesn’t travel as fast as bad news, so check out reviews on sites like Glassdoor and Google - and be sure to respond to commenters. When you know areas you can improve upon, you can then take initiative internally to make reparations and create stronger messaging around your company’s story. You can check internally, too! Actual conversations with employees are more honest, because let’s face it, do you respond authentically to “anonymous employee engagement surveys”? NO. Neither do your coworkers!
3. USE THAT INFO TO SHINE A LIGHT ON THE GOOD STUFF
Once you’ve taken an account of what you do well - highlight it! On your careers page, share stories from internal employees and add that to your company branding. Create awareness around how people align their purpose and passion to your company’s mission and vision. Leverage social media to share the good stuff, and ask your employees to do the same!
4. MAKE THE INTERVIEW AND ONBOARDING EXPERIENCE POSITIVE
If the interview is lacking in engagement and communication through the process … that might indicate to new team members that the onboarding process might also be lacking. So be prepared! Have an organized and efficient interview process, make that experience incredibly positive and engaging.
There is nothing worse than not having what you need when you start a new job!! So, once you make a decision to bring someone on board, make sure you have everything in place for them to hit the ground running on day one. And if you don’t, re-read the first line from this article (and think how that impacts your employer brand!)
5. STAND A FIGHTING CHANCE IN THE RETENTION BATTLE
Every person on your team is unique and brings something special to your organization. Take action to understand what they are all about, what they like, how they like to learn, how they like to communicate and treat them uniquely to who they are. If they feel like a contributing individual from the outset and you give them opportunities to learn and grow in ways they find meaningful - you’ll have more than just legs to stand on when it comes to employee retention. Plus personal and professional development is a win for you both. (This will be part of the story they share with other people inquiring about your organization!)
Creating a trusting and empowered workforce while helping your colleagues enhance their skills, knowledge and abilities goes a long way when building a positive employer brand.
NEED HELP?
Perhaps you don’t have the team to implement a full on Employer Branding strategy. Working exclusively with ITEOM, we engage our clients to help them share their employer brand with the talent we are recruiting for them. We have a unique and high quality process that enhances our client’s employer brand through omni presence on various platforms. Want to learn more? workwithus@iteomtalent.com