How important is retaining a brand’s reputation amongst employees? And how easy is attracting target candidates to your organization? Employer branding is a tried and true method used by organizations for hiring worthy employees. The methods have changed over the years yet the concept holds the same importance. For it is branding that helps in customer satisfaction, the growth of the company, and employee retention in the long run.
The Employer Brand
The term Employer Branding was coined in 1990 by Simon Barrow and by 1996 along with Tim Ambler (his senior fellow of London Business School) Barrow had added more meaning to this term with further enhancements.
Previously, the process of Employer Branding was quite simple. The company’s name was associated with a brand and its services or products and then a logotype became the face of the company. Branding schemes and HR strategies combine to make “Employer Branding” possible.
Eventually, employers began taking employer branding seriously and witnessed the difference it made in their company’s efficiency. However, businesses took their time to deeply understand its central concepts.
Some years later as the concept of employer branding further drilled into the market, a survey in 2017 showed that over 55% of talent leaders choose employer branding as the top choice to invest in. Now, fast forward to 2021, 72% of recruiters believe that employer branding has a massive effect on recruitments. Today, 75% of active job seekers are more likely to apply to a job where employer branding is actively managed.
The Evolution of Employer Branding
Digitalization has turned the whole world into a village. Conversely, social media has magnified every aspect of life. Therefore, the businesses are under a magnifying glass leading them to raise the bar for employer branding as well. The massive influence of social media has made a huge impact on marketing and so strategies of employer branding have evolved to consider social media as a crucial part of their branding.
As economies try to recover during the pandemic, employees are looking out for new job opportunities on the go. Social media has played one of the biggest roles in redirecting candidates to their desired places.
Employer Branding Strategies
Employer branding is all about how aptly you design strategies for your organization. A company can reach its maximum capacity with an informed deployment of the branding strategy it opts for. Since COVID-19, lockdowns have prevailed and the continuous on and off situation has proven to be troublesome for both employers and employees. Therefore, employers have come together to restructure their branding strategies.
To attract talented workers, employers may lessen the hiring costs and employee turnover. There may also be benefit plans or other value propositions to gain active in-demand employees. Employers tend to go with the individual strategy that suits best for their company.
State Your EVP (Employer Value Proposition)
Stating employer value propositions (EVPs) is the essential and most used strategy in the market. Employers may offer benefit plans, bonuses, and many other welfare facilities that can grab the attention of the candidates to make your offer stand out from the others.
The Candidate First Approach
The traditional company first approach is now aging out as competitive companies grow in the same market. Many companies prefer branding for appeal and to attract as many candidates as they can to their interview room.
A Candidate First approach cultivates trust in candidates for your brand and allows worthy people to choose your company from their own perspective. This approach helps the company to get hold of the most suitable candidates from the masses.
Here are some pointers for applying the Candidate First strategy:
Employer Authenticity:
Be authentic to your potential job seekers. Your candidate might have been to more interview rooms before heading towards your door, and knows full well what the market has to offer to him. Your authenticity will stand out for him and will help him understand your company’s real goals more clearly. Focus on your company’s genuine vision.
Let your Staff Tell the Story:
The best step you as an employer can take is putting forward your firm’s advocates. Candidates seek inspiration from people who are already on board. They will aspire from the views and comments of employees doing jobs they can personally relate to. The candidate will judge your brand based on the experiences of on-job employees in the firm.
Deliver a Fair View:
Communicate in the best manner you can by unveiling both areas that work well and others that you are actively looking to improve. This will help you in forging a stronger bond with your potential employee and give him or her a clearer picture of his job.
Emphasize the Competition:
Make comparisons to other companies in the market. This strategy always works to gain the candidate’s attention. Explain how your company is better than the others and how your firm works with a different philosophy than the others.
Is Empathetic Management the Best Way Of Branding?
Recently, a survey by Jobvite showed that 58% will refuse a job opportunity with a company that did not contain established COVID-19 protocols. The pandemic has changed the values of many employees. Employees are now prioritizing their safety before any bonus plan. So make sure that your effective branding showcases the steps you have taken in response to COVID-19. Tell your employees about the SOPs your company is following, allow them flexible working hours, and include possible remote/hybrid forms of working for potential workers. We can therefore understand that empathetic emotions fuel employees with motivation to work more for a better tomorrow.
The evolution of employer branding for the new normal is happening fast. After all, the new generation is more attracted to new and creative ideas and prefers working for companies that adapt to the rapidly changing world. The organization’s survival is extensively dependent on how they promote their branding as employers to the targeted world and how they respond to the latest challenges.
