Branding is vital in the social media era. However, the concept can also be a little difficult to grasp or put into action. Employer branding is about managing how your company is perceived, fine-tuning your image to appeal to the employees you want to attract. It can cover everything from what you choose to share on social media, to what platforms you use, to how your company’s CEO is perceived. Here’s what some employer branding pros have to say, and how it applies to your business:
“Employer branding today is more of a press conference than a dialogue … There isn’t a whole lot of power given to the candidate. I think that will change soon.”
– Hannah Fleishman, Inbound Recruiting Manager, HubSpot
Takeaway: The traditional ways of hiring employees are becoming outdated. Companies can no longer throw up a listing on a few job board sites and expect to attract the best candidates. You need to stand out from other businesses vying for the same caliber of talent. Keep your social media engaging, relevant, and personalized.
“Big data is a great tool to aggregate, listen and analyse employee feedback to improve the strategy. As humans move towards wanting more personalised approaches in everything they do, big brands will need to align their messaging to suit each individual.”
– Sarang Brahme, Global Social Recruiting & Talent Brand Manager, Capgemini
Takeaway: Employers have more tools than ever to gather and analyze information from current and future employees. A personalized approach is generally the most effective way to reach out to a candidate, and these tools let you do that.
“It’s meeting candidates where they are, and creating content the way they consume it. … If they build their networks on messaging platforms, you’ll need to develop a strategy for messaging platforms. If they speak in emoji and text, you’ll need to adapt to their language.”
– Carmen Collins, Social Media & Talent Brand Lead, Cisco
Takeaway: Adapt your website, marketing, and communications to what your target audience is most comfortable with. If you are not personally fluent with the latest communication trends, it can be worthwhile to hire someone who is.
“The future is for CEOs to embody the employment brand.”
– Estela Vazquez Perez, Global Employment Brand Director, Royal Bank of Canada
Takeaway: The CEO is usually the most highly visible member of the company and needs to keep employment brand in mind as he or she will be under additional scrutiny. If your CEO maintains a good public image, everyone from clients to future employees will start to build a positive association with the company itself.
“No more job descriptions or even ‘jobs’. We will have project work in the gig economy and brand will be everything!”
– Shaunda Zilich, Global Employment Brand Leader, GE
Takeaway: This will be more applicable for some companies than others, but many businesses have found a gig-based system is an efficient way to expand their services and their roster of talent.
Branding and Employees Go Hand in Hand
Now that you’ve figured out a strategy for employer branding, it’s time to cast a wide net to draw in the best possible job candidates. At Ad-VANCE Talent Solutions, we connect job seekers with employers all along the Gulf Coast. Whether your business is in the hospitality sector, health care, administration, or more, we can help bring the best candidates to you. Drop by our recruiter website to get started today.