Employer branding: how to become a place people want to work
Contents · 4 sections
More and more companies are putting serious time and money into building a strong employer brand. The idea itself is far from new. Many of the world’s leading companies have used it for years, and it has paid off for them.
Here in Bulgaria, unfortunately, the power of an employer brand is often underestimated, and quite a few companies pay a real price for it. If you own a business and you’re wondering whether building your employer brand is a smart investment or an unnecessary expense, this article will help you decide.
Below I’ll explain what an employer brand actually is and why it matters for attracting great people to your business. For those who want to go further, I’ve also pulled together some key strategies and techniques for building one, all fairly easy to put into practice.
What is an employer brand?
There are different definitions out there. Put simply, your employer brand is the reputation your company has as an employer. It’s what your former and current employees, along with job seekers, think about whether your company is a good place to work.
Employer branding, then, is the work of managing that reputation among employees, potential candidates and key partners.
You’re probably thinking there’s no way to control what people think, and you’re right. You don’t own your employer brand. But that doesn’t mean you can’t shape the reputation you’ve already built. That’s exactly what employer branding is for.
How employer branding helps you attract talent
The job market today faces some serious challenges, and companies have to be flexible to attract the specialists they need.
Finding the right highly qualified people, often called “talent,” is one of the biggest problems for startups and large corporations alike. Add the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and talent’s ever-rising expectations of the workplace, and the problem gets even harder.
According to 2021 research, nearly 7 in 10 companies (70%) worldwide say they struggle to find and hire highly qualified employees. In 2018, that figure was 45%. A strong employer brand is one of the most effective ways to bring more of those people into your business.
Today’s candidates, especially the most experienced ones, look closely at a company’s reputation before they apply. Most won’t send a CV if the reputation is damaged or falls short of what they expect.
For top talent, a good salary matters, but so do the company’s values, career growth opportunities and culture. Qualified specialists are in high demand, so they can choose from many offers, and they’ll go with the workplace that best fits their criteria and values.
So if you’ve built a strong employer brand and made your company a place people want to work, your odds of bringing great people onto your team to help grow the business are much better. When candidates come to you on their own and look for open positions, you spend less on hiring and find the right person faster.
If your company has built up a bad reputation over the years, that’s very likely why you struggle to attract and keep good people. That doesn’t mean you have to live with it. It’s a clear signal that it’s time for an employer branding strategy.
Key strategies and techniques
A strong employer brand isn’t a one-time project. It’s a long, thorough process. If you haven’t done anything in this direction yet, start by taking stock of where you are and identifying any problems and gaps. Find out more about your company’s current reputation through surveys, online reviews and similar sources.
A good employer branding strategy also needs clear, specific goals. Depending on what your company needs, they might include lowering turnover and turning your staff into loyal employees, attracting top specialists to grow the business, and so on.
This is also the moment to define your value proposition as an employer. Think of it as the advantages that set you apart from other companies and can catch the eye of highly qualified people: bonuses for a job well done, career growth opportunities, other financial and social benefits and more. Make your value proposition clear, and make sure it comes through in your job ads, your interviews, your careers page and everywhere else.
Make applying as easy as possible. Long applications and tedious forms can put off even the most patient candidates. Also make sure you’re visible on the online channels where candidates look for jobs or for more information about your company.
Improving your employer brand online
Very few people look for jobs in newspaper classifieds anymore. Far more search online: on popular job boards, HR agency websites, social media and the careers pages of companies they like. Is your company in those places? If not, it’s time to think about why.
A careers page or careers website is essential for building a positive employer brand and attracting talent. A dedicated careers website suits larger companies that regularly have many open positions. A careers page on your corporate website makes sense if you hire from time to time. Either way, it should be informative, present your value proposition, make things easy for candidates and motivate them to apply.
It’s just as important to have professionally run profiles on social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. Use them not only to promote your products but also to show your team, your culture, what a day at the office looks like and so on. That tells candidates your company cares about its people and makes it a place they want to work. Videos or posts where your employees explain why they chose the company and what they love about the job can also give your employer brand a big boost.
Last but not least, keep an eye on the opinions, reviews and other content about your company that show up online, especially on the first pages of Google. This is called online reputation management, and it helps you spot what’s hurting your company. Once you know, you can build a strategy to deal with it. And don’t miss a chance to share your company’s wins and strengths on social media and in the press, because that strengthens your reputation online too.
A positive employer brand can do a lot for the growth of your business. At my digital agency, SEOMAX, we offer online employer brand marketing to help companies present themselves better as employers online. If you need help, feel free to get in touch.
Petar Dyaksov
Entrepreneur and founder of a digital agency, in e-commerce since 2009. He grows online businesses such as Fragrances.bg and Timedix and shares his experience as a speaker, moderator and mentor at nearly 80 conferences and trainings.
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