In a previous post, I mentioned that building a strong employer brand is an important key to a successful corporate reputation. Any smart business owner knows how important it is to hire the best hands for the job.
While you can use customer reviews to build your business from the outside, your employees hold the insides together. If people have something against you as an employer, it will have a negative impact on your growth.
As a result, you may find it difficult to hire and retain the right talents.
But don’t take my word for it. Let’s us look at some statistics that show how important it is to have a strong employer brand:
- Did you know that with a strong employer brand you can increase your retention by 28% and decrease your cost per hire by 50%?
- A whopping 94% of people are likely to apply for a job in a company that has an active employer brand management.
- 84% of job seekers take employer brand reputation into consideration when applying for a job.
- 93% of job seekers suggested that job seekers should carefully consider every aspect of a company before they accept an employment offer.
- Companies with excellent employer brand management get two times more people applying to work for them than brands that don’t. And they spend less money hiring employees.
Are you convinced yet? I hope so.
Employer branding is fast becoming a topic for debate and a point of focus for companies nowadays. The question is: Do you know what a strong employer brand looks like? What would it take to stand out in the eyes of job applicants? What do you need to do to build and sustain a reputable employer brand?
To answer those questions, let’s look at 5 tips for building a strong employer brand.
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Get A Hang Of Your Value Proposition
As an employer, you need to know what you have to offer to your employees. This is the first step of your employer branding journey.
Ask yourself what it is you bring to the table. What do you have to offer that will make job seekers want to work for you? It’s easy for you to ask candidates what they can do for your company. But it can be difficult to think that you should have anything to offer to your employees.
After all, they are getting paid, right?
Wrong.
Job candidates aren’t just looking for a fat pay check. At least not all the time. Many of them seek an environment that has a rich culture. Does that sound like your company?
Other things that may be important to candidates (besides a pay check) include:
- Innovative technology,
- Workplace diversity,
- Remote work opportunities,
- Flexible work hours,
- Self/career improvement,
- Office perks and benefits like free Wi-Fi.
Make sure that whatever you come up with as your value proposition is actually valuable to your candidates. With this in place, you will be able to clearly outline what your employer branding message will be.
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Take A Holistic Approach
If you do not see your employees as potential employee brand ambassadors, you are doing something wrong. Even though you should have a leadership team that handles your employer brand, you need to get everyone involved.
Work with everyone in your company to come up with your value proposition and build a unique narrative. Ask them to lend their ideas to create an authentic message, tone, and style for your employer branding.
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Build A Strong Presence And Engage On Social Media
Looking to build a strong employer brand? Then go to where the people are – social media. Social media is a great place to demonstrate your value proposition to potential candidates.
You could share your employer journey and how you have changed as a company. Share your employee brand evolution, what you have learned, and how it would benefit potential candidates. Display your strength by sharing your inside stories with the world.
And, do not forget to engage with your audience. Respond to questions about your employer journey and value proposition. Be sincere. Job candidates can usually sniff out a company that really cares about their employees and those who are all talk and no show.
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Listen To Your Employees’ Feedback
Now this can be pretty difficult for many employers out there. Some believe that employees have nothing more to talk about than a pay raise. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Your employees may have repressed concerns about the work environment that they’d like to talk about. If you shut them up, you may be doing yourself a disservice.
And let’s say they want to talk about a pay raise, it could mean they feel they aren’t well compensated. Whatever the case, it pays to listen to your employees. Employee feedback holds a wealth of data. Data that could give you the insight you need to improve your employee brand.
You can collect employee feedback through survey forms, suggestion boxes, performance reviews, face-to-face consultations, team interviews, or online reviews.
There’s one thing to note…
However you go about collecting feedback, make sure your employees feel secure. That means they should be able to provide feedback without fear of retribution from you.
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Pay Attention To Online Reviews
Companies with strong employee brand do not shy away from public reviews. They welcome it. Because they know how vital employee reviews on sites like Glassdoor and Indeed are.
Paying attention to online reviews will help you know what people are saying about your company. Do they think it’s a great place to work or not? Are there certain issues or concerns that have been mentioned more than once?
With these reviews, you will ultimately know what potential candidates think of your brand as an employer.
But don’t just stop there. Do well to respond to employee online reviews. This is an excellent strategy. It serves to provide some assurance to potential employees that you value the opinions of those you employ.
Finally, keep in mind that potential candidates do not care about your fancy job post on LinkedIn. They want to know if your company values their employees. And if you are looking to attract unique talents that can take your company to the next level, you need to build your employee brand using these tips.
POSTED ON October 19, 2019Share:
