86% of employees report that they would not work for a company with the reputation of having an unhealthy work environment.
And in any business, employees are the greatest asset. So naturally, the mission when recruiting is to not only portray a positive company image. But also, to ensure that your staff are actually happy.
This will inevitably help you find the best potential candidates for vacant positions in the company.
Strategies that help to attract, and especially retain top talent are of vital importance. Enter employer branding.
In this guide, we look at the importance of employer branding in recruitment. And how you can better represent your brand to prospective new hires.
What is Employer Branding?
Employer branding entails more than the company logo and slogan. With employer branding, you market the employment experience. This is especially applicable to job seekers and your internal employees.
The focus isn’t on financial remuneration possibilities, status, or corporate importance. Instead, employer branding wins job candidates over by emphasizing company culture and the employer’s reputation as a great place to work.
To assess your employer branding, you can run an audit and check the following channels:
- Check employer review sites
- Send internal surveys to your staff
- Check social media platforms
- Use a third party that specializes in reputation management
Why Is A Strong Employer Brand Relevant To Recruitment?
These are the top reasons why employer branding is important when recruiting.
Extra Clout in the Competitive Recruitment Field
A strong employer brand gives you an edge in an already competitive world. When vying for the top candidates alongside rival companies, one of your best weapons is employer branding.
Prospective employees are far more likely to respond to you if they see your company as a pleasant place where employees love to work.
This is where even smaller companies can outshine larger corporations.
Recruiting qualified candidates will also serve to keep your recruiting team motivated.
Reduced Recruiting Costs
With a strong employer brand in place, you could reduce your turnover rate by 28%. This may mean that the whole recruitment process will be easier and more manageable. And your recruiting costs may substantially decrease.
Money saved on recruiting is a bigger deal than you may think. The capital saved can be put to better use elsewhere in the company.
Maximized Employee Engagement
Employees that are satisfied with their decision to work for their employer are more likely to be productive. This means they’ll stay with the company for longer, reducing the turnover rates for staff.
This in return, reduces the burden on recruiting staff in the future.
Increased Employee Retention
Getting positions filled as quickly and effortlessly as possible is not the end game. You want and need employees that are not only right for the job but who will stay with the company. Too few HR departments keep this in mind.
When employees feel good about their decision to work at the company and have a positive impression of the employer, they will be more inclined to stay. Even during tough times. Therefore, employer branding will increase employee retention. Which is good news for the future of the business.
Tips For Creating a Positive Employer Brand
How do you maximize your employer branding efforts? And how do you promote a positive employer brand to a new and wider audience?
Here are our top tips for your employer branding strategy:
1.  A Strong Onboarding Experience
This is the first phase that employees go through when interacting with your company. If they have a negative experience off the bat, they might jump ship and seek employment elsewhere.
Give your new employees a welcoming experience and provide them with all the necessary tools for their roles.
2.  Build & Maintain A Strong Social Media Presence
Build the company’s brand by creating company social media accounts. This is an essential form of recruitment marketing that is especially beneficial for smaller lesser-known companies.
If you already have a social media presence, track the metrics. This ensures that your efforts are well received. Or shows you areas that need improvement.
There are a number of social media platforms. Be sure to use the ones that best resonate with your target group.
Regularly update your accounts with content that is of value to potential new job seekers. This will engage both current and potential employees.
Your posts should include exciting news about the company, and perhaps even short video clips of team bonding exercises.
These are fun ways to introduce the company’s values and the company’s vision to the general public. It will do wonders for the company’s reputation and employer’s image, which jobseekers will respond to.
You may encounter negative comments, so it’s important that you respond in a professional manner. And take note of the feedback, especially if there are patterns.
3.  Create An Environment Conducive To Learning & Development
One of the key components of employee satisfaction is growth opportunities. Foster an environment that prioritizes this and highlight your stance to prospective employees.
This will illustrate how important learning and development is. Which will create a strong employer brand.
4.  Keep Up To Date With Employee Opinions
Turn employer branding into a team effort by getting current employees involved. Institute a monthly poll that records the views of your staff, What do they enjoy about working there? Are there any changes they would like to make?
This achieves two objectives. It helps you to determine how to retain employees, and also gives clues as to what new employees might respond to.
By staying up to date with what employees like (or don’t like) about working there, you can adapt and improve your employer’s branding strategies.
Use their feedback to build more positive employer branding that is current and authentic. And you’ll attract quality employees.
5.  Turn Existing Employees Into Brand Ambassadors
One of the top ways to market your company’s identity and promote the company mission and values along with the workplace culture is through reviews. Positive reviews on career sites will do a lot to support your employer branding plan.
Encourage existing staff to become brand advocates on social media channels and career review sites. One of the simplest ways to do so is by asking them to give reviews on platforms like Glassdoor. This will make a huge impact on how people view the company.
Keep in mind though that any negative employee reviews will achieve the very opposite of what you are trying to create.
Discuss employees’ views about the company, workplace diversity, and their day-to-day work environment before encouraging them to leave reviews online. This will also give you a sense of the general employee morale.
Conclusion
Successful employer branding is essential in recruitment.
Positive employer branding helps to attract and retain talented candidates. It is an effective tool that should be prominent in your recruitment plan.
With a motivated recruitment team, the right recruitment software, and effective employer branding, any business will maximize its chances of hiring top-quality talent.
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