Employer branding is not just a marketing buzzword. It’s an essential element of your successful talent management strategy. According to recent research, 72 percent of recruiting leaders worldwide agree that a company’s employer brand has a significant impact on hiring and overall business success. You need to constantly develop your brand to remain competitive and acquire the best talent on the market.
Define Your Brand
Employer branding molds all aspects of your organization including culture, mission, and vision, into a cohesive image. It is meant to convey the core identity of your company. It helps you to not only find the right talent but also to foster a deeper sense of loyalty among your existing employees.
• You need to hire and retain team members who have the same behaviors and traits as your brand. Why do people want to work for you? Why do they stay? What are the common qualities personified by your superstar employees?
• Leading employers excel at a practice known as tri-branding. They link their employment brand to their product brand and then take it a step further by getting their employees and customers to sing the praises of and live that brand.
• Define the common attributes of the top 10 percent of your workforce and pinpoint common traits of your most engaged employees. This is the first step in identifying your unique employer brand. Find a common set of value-based behaviors and build them into the core of your hiring process.
• The most engaged employees personify your company values and vision. Place top emphasis on this when hiring. Remember, skills can be learned on the job, but cultural alignment can neither be taught nor bought.
Why It Matters
The story is in the numbers. Employer branding is critical to your business because:
• It reduces your cost per hire. According to LinkedIn, companies with strong employer brands on average see a 43 percent decrease in cost per candidate hired.
• Reputation carries more weight than money. Of course, salary means a lot to candidates, but it’s usually not the most important factor. In one recent study, it was reported that 67 percent of job seekers would accept lower pay if their prospective employer had highly positive reviews online.
• It helps you to source and retain the best talent. A strong employer brand leads to 50 percent more qualified applicants. It becomes even more important in highly competitive professional sectors where niche skillsets are in serious demand.
How can you identify and optimize your employer brand as you meet your talent management goals? Work with the recruitment experts at TRC Professional Solutions as you make it happen, heading into 2019 and beyond. Contact us today to learn more.