Strong Employer Brand

Candidates today are shifting their preferences a lot, what was good enough yesterday is not sufficient today. Offering the perfect salary and super benefits? OK, but almost everyone has that today, you need to come up with something extra that will make the candidate want to accept the position. And this competition between companies for the best people will only get tougher and tougher. Employer Brand offers partial help in the competition for the best candidates, and also provides a strategic response to shifting candidate and employee preferences.

Candidates today give a lot to the impression a company gives them, as the vast majority of them can choose their employer. And it doesn’t matter whether we’re going through a recession or a major upturn. It will always be easy for excellent candidates to get a new job. Great products and services are no longer enough, the image of the organization plays an irreplaceable role.

However, a good Employer Brand is not just about the external labour market, the employees of the company play an equally important role. If a company does not invest in a good internal environment, then the investment in branding is lost upfront. Employees talk about their employer and can spread a bad reputation.

And candidates tend to trust information from employees more than what the company tells them about itself. We are overwhelmed by advertising and can filter out positive messages. Therefore, a strong Employer Brand works internally first and then communicates externally.

Building and Communicating a Great Employer Brand

Just imagine that you are a highly talented and experienced professional and know your value in the job market. So what would be your first step in finding a new job? You’d probably end up doing a Google search on the best companies to work for in 2020 or something similar. They’re not just looking for a good salary and great benefits, they also want a good employer image. And that’s not just about being well paid, it’s a collection of many little things, including community involvement and volunteering.

Doesn’t that make perfect sense? With talented millennials entering the job market, a fat paycheck isn’t the only criteria you should consider as an employer. They want a great place to work and the associated brand image needs to be of a high standard.

Brand image is not about a big marketing budget for the HR department. It’s a comprehensive communications framework where the company clearly and consistently communicates the key elements of why it exists, how it contributes to society, the opportunities it offers and how it benefits its community. If any element doesn’t work properly, then the company always has to pay some extra for it, or settle for a worse reputation in the job market.

A good Employer Brand never stands alone, it is always linked to recruitment strategy and HR Marketing. These three tools need to be perfectly integrated, otherwise they are not in sync and the messages to employees and candidates are not consistent.

In fact, 86% of job seekers would not want to work for a company with a bad reputation, regardless of the payout. But beware, this is a number that applies to the US and there are always exceptions. In general, the more advanced the economy, the less weight total financial compensation has in the decision to accept a job offer.

What is Employer Branding? (Very briefly)

In a nutshell, it is the presentation and differentiation of a company’s image as a highly attractive place to work for the best job candidates. Very simply, it is marketing, but this carries great risks because you cannot apply pure marketing practices. Marketing communication is mainly focused on products and branding is often secondary, Employer Brand however is about setting positive emotions about the employer. Read more about EB definition.

We must always remember that it is not about the product or services, but about promoting and creating a positive image of the company for job seekers and internal employees as well. A positive brand image helps you hire top talent in the industry and helps you retain existing employees.

Employees are often forgotten, but they too need to strengthen their emotional connection with their employer as this has a positive impact on job performance, employee engagement and motivation.

However, employers usually make the mistake of associating employer branding with the brand itself, i.e. the brand associated with the product or services. However, Human Resources must communicate the company culture, the atmosphere in the organization and what makes the company unique in the job market.

They must tell a detailed and compelling story about the company culture, work-life balance, the company’s core values, etc.A strong story builds a good employer brand.

Section Content

General and detailed information about the different aspects of Employer Brand:

Specifically, on a topic of Implementing Employer Brand in a company:

How Companies Build a Strong Employer Brand
How to Build a Positive EB
Different Employer Brand strategies (models)
Setting and agreeing on EB goals
Target groups for Employer Brand
Survey or EB Audit when implementing or changing Employer Brand
Implementation of EB and KPIs

Just a small advice - Start Building the Brand Small and Grow the Name Carefully

You need to be careful when implementing. This is an area that is still relatively new to Human Resources and our knowledge of marketing practices is relatively limited. It is an opportunity to spend a significant amount of money that will not produce the expected results.

So it’s always better to start small and gradually learn what works for your target audience. Understand who our target groups are and what messages are important to them. And then don’t forget the most important thing, don’t forget trustworthiness. Employees need to get to know the company and not think they work somewhere else.