When it comes to attracting the best possible talent to help your business grow, establishing an employment branding strategy is critical. A targeted approach will ensure the best individuals in your industry come to you when you need creative staffing.
Employment branding defines how your company is perceived throughout the job market. Having a name and a brand that is recognizable and synonymous with happy employees will enable you to always have a steady stream of highly qualified applicants whenever your business is hiring. Monster reported that when you are developing a strategy, think of employees like customers.
Now that you know it’s importance, it’s time to begin implementing your employment branding strategy. Here are some best practices to help get your started.
1. Determine Your Target Candidate
According to ERE Media, you and your management team need to develop a strong understanding of the type of person you want to hire and how new applicants fit inside of your existing office structure and culture. Who you are as a business will show through the caliber of employees your company attracts. With a little self-reflection, you can start to develop a sense of what type of candidates you want your employer branding strategy to entice.
An employment branding strategy starts with reflecting on your existing team.
2. Create Brand Awareness
Once your business has a sense of the type of employee you want to appeal to, the next step is to use the Web to expand your message. Sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and even nowadays, Instagram are great platforms to build your employment brand, as well as your over-all brand awareness. The type of information you share says a lot about your company and culture. Additionally, the way you interact with your audience is just as important and showcases your distinct voice and identity. Take a look at these employer branding examples to see how some of the best brands are marketing their culture.
Does your organization need help finding and recruiting top tier talent? Contact Profiles to learn how our comprehensive creative staffing services can help you build full marketing and development teams.
3. Monitor Your Digital Footprint
Direct social media engagements with your audience helps build your positive perception, but keep an eye on what the buzz is about your company when you are not part of the conversation. Monitor the discussion around your company through Facebook, Indeed, and Google+, and Twitter, as well. As a plus, Google+ ratings can be seen through search results, which only enhances your visibility. Bonus!
If you want to go even deeper, set-up an alert, such as Google Alerts or Mention to inform you when your brand is referenced throughout the Web, i.e. in comment sections of industry blog. Likewise, check out employee testimonial websites like Glassdoor to see what your former employees have to say about your business.
4. Use Big Data
Advanced analytics can be used to help inform your personnel decisions, ERE Media reported, and a successful employment branding strategy is informed by good data.
“A successful employer branding strategy is informed by good data.”
Your own employee retention rates and net promoter scores can help you understand the wellness of your staff. By using online data, you can also gain better insight into the potential candidates in your area. These tools can give you a better valuation of your team and a framework for developing a more in-depth strategy for attracting the right sort of employee.
5. Employee Feedback
Consulting your employees directly about their experience is also an important way for coming up with the best approach to employer branding. Ask employees about their experiences from the application process all the way through onboarding with the company. By asking the right questions, your staff can also give you a detailed look into how they viewed your business prior to joining the team. A company-wide online survey is a good way to get as much information as possible, and making it anonymous may yield surprising answers.
Implementing the right employment branding strategy is key to any successful business. A strong employment brand will enable you to attract and hire the right employees that fit into your brand and culture, creating an engaging and happy work environment.
For additional recruiting and hiring assistance, contact Profiles to learn how our expert recruiters can help your organization fill positions quickly and easily.
