Attracting the right talent to your business, can be a difficult task. In a competitive hiring market, how do you stand out amongst your competition? Creating an effective employer brand to attract and retain candidates at your work place, will make all the difference.
Employer branding does not require you to bring in an agency and create some sort of overarching face-lift of your business. Rather, it takes a few small, proactive steps to draw the people you’re looking for, from the crowd.
Set your Goal
What is it you’re hoping to achieve from your employer brand? The answer is not always “hire people”. Do you wish to increase your brand presence in the market? Attract better candidates? Attract more candidates? It could be any number of things. Whatever it may be, it needs to be defined before you can take any further steps. Make sure that the goal your setting is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.
Define your Audience
Who are the people you want your brand to be in front of? It is important to create a persona for your intended audience. This can include the types of organizations they currently work in, whether they are permanent or contract employees, what type of skills they possess, what their values are, and how they find new career opportunities. Don’t limit yourself to a set list of traits; pick what is going to be important to your decision making. You’re going to have to make decisions related to the methods in which you deliver your brand to the audience, where they see it, how they see it, and when they see it.
Craft your Message
Now that you have identified what you want to achieve, and the audience that you want to achieve it through, what is your employer brand message going to be? This message should be true to your organization and relevant to your target audiences’ motivators. “Motivators” are the factors that your candidates will be driven by when choosing a new opportunity. These can include commute time, compensation, benefits, technologies used within the job, and many other factors. It is important that these motivators are true to your brand. Consider consulting your current team about what specific factors drew them to the organization.
Deliver your Message
Once again, based upon your audience’s defining traits, where will be the best place to deliver your message to them? Does your ideal candidate spend their free time primarily on social media? Are they likely to attend an upcoming trade show? Which job sites do they look at when searching for new opportunities? There are any number of areas in which you can display your message to potential candidates. It is up to you to decide which areas will be most effective. In addition to where the message will be delivered, you need to decided what form the message will arrive in. Potential candidates might read blog posts, or email newsletters, or maybe they prefer videos over everything. If you are unsure which will be best, test several different forms and see which one prompts the most engagement.
Measure your Success
Based on the goal you set at the beginning, you should have a metric to measure it. For example, if your goal was to increase your employer brand presence in a new market by 5%, then you can check the increase in visitors to your internal opportunities page on your website. If the increase is 5% or more, than you hit your goal and your employer brand has in fact gained more presence in the new market.
Hopefully this helps you create a basis of a strategy to follow, and achieve your goals. Keep in mind, that sometimes the best candidates aren’t actively looking for a position. Recruiters can help deliver your employer brand and help the best candidates realize that their next career step might be with you. For more information on how we can help, check out our client services here.