How to Build a Compelling Employer Brand
July 19, 2023
SEB Marketing team
Many employers today are facing challenges in attracting and retaining good talent as the tight labour market is showing no signs of easing. If a potential candidate has similar offers from more than one company, what would it take for them to accept your offer? If your current employees get offers from other companies, what would get them to stay?
It does not all boil down to having great recruitment strategies or packages.
How can you as an employer become more attractive to potential and current employees?
This is where developing a compelling employer brand comes in.
Employer branding is the aspect of your brand that aims to make you more attractive as an employer, and helps you build an edge and differentiation in the labour market.
So how do you go about doing that?
The challenge is in two-fold and requires developing a solid strategy for:
- Building an attractive image and reputation of the company as an employer for external audiences to attract good talent.
- Initiating & Immersing existing employees in the brand & company culture to build affinity and engagement and to help increase retention.
From that perspective, employer branding is not a recruitment activity, but rather a branding activity that helps improve company consideration among potential candidates and creates a sense of belonging among current employees.
Strategies that can Help you Build your External Employer Brand
- Improve your Job Postings content & format: Introduce your company in a compelling way highlighting your vision, mission and values, and craft the content of the job posting to appeal to your ideal target candidates, in an appealing branded format.
- Enhance your Website & Career Page: Provide more clarity on what you do on the home page and throughout your website. A useful tip here is to gauge your most recent recruits on their understanding of what the company does, and improve your web content accordingly. Create a compelling career section that provides a glimpse of company culture and values, include employee testimonials to build credibility, have exciting content, and update regularly. It would also help to encourage your current employees to leave good reviews for your company on Glassdoor.
- Leverage Social Media to Create an Appealing Employer Brand Image: Your social media account should serve to paint a picture of what the values of the companies are, and what it’s like to work there. Be active on social, and post on company culture, events, news & activities. It is also important to enhance your LinkedIn page with a well-crafted company profile, good branding & useful information.
- Familiarize Recruiters with your Brand: If your company uses external recruiters, it is important to familiarize them with your brand and company advantages not only through the job posting, but also through supplemental materials. Here you can communicate your hiring process, organization structure, industry appeal and your special edge as an employer. They will in turn relay that image to potential candidates. It is also important to maintain transparency and adequate feedback throughout the recruitment process.
Strategies that can Help you Build your Internal Employer Brand
- Create a Compelling Company Culture through systematic immersion and adoption of company mission, vision & values. This can be done through continuous communication of these values, in addition to creating interesting company events and activities that will engage employees.
- Immerse New Recruits in the Brand from the Beginning: Introducing the brand mission, vision and values should be part of the onboarding process for new recruits, and with continuous training and communication, they will gain a sense of the brand, and integrate within the company culture and develop a sense of belonging overtime.
- For Employees (1-5 years): Invest in your employees through training & development, help them build their career path, and chart a way for their growth within the organization. Create engagement and participation in company culture, ensure their wellness, recognition, rewards, appreciation, and organizational fit.
- For Tenured employees (5 years +): The goal here is to build their managerial growth track, revive their spirit, empower them with leadership training and new responsibilities to prevent stagnation, and make them feel recognized and appreciated not only for their tenure but for their achievements as well.
Building an employer brand does not happen overnight. It requires a consistent and focused effort overtime. It might seem natural for a company to focus on recruitment strategies in order fill open positions, but it is as important to build a great image as an employer to establish brand preference among potential candidates and create a sense of affinity and belonging among current employees.