Spreading the Good Word About Employer Branding
Since recruiters are on the front line in the battle to attract candidates from a continually shrinking pool of top talent, it’s more important than ever before to aggressively market the benefits of working for the client company. Recruiters must sell the value proposition of working for the company by regaling prospects with enticing emotionally laden tales of the company story. And recruiters should harness the power of social recruiting to spread the good word about a client company.
Walk the Walk With Employer Branding
It’s no wonder that many people want to work for successful companies sporting a positive corporate brand. But companies that consistently appear at the top of lists of the best companies to work for, such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and The Walt Disney Company, also provide employees with rewarding workplace experiences. These companies not only talk the talk, but they walk the walk with effective employer branding. The stakes have never been higher. Kortney Kutsop, Universum’s employer branding specialist said, “The desire for young professionals to change jobs soon and frequently proves the dynamism of today’s job market and the need for employers to constantly recruit. If companies don’t communicate proactively, poor employer brand awareness will jeopardize their time-to-fill positions.”
Inspire Candidates and New Hires to Broadcast Positive Messages
Disciplined recruiters can spend every minute of every day promoting employer branding to prospective candidates, new hires and other interested stakeholders. But if the actual workplace experience doesn’t live up to the hype, the negative reviews will soon leak out. That’s why HR, recruiting leaders and line managers should reinforce the employer brand internally at every opportunity when communicating with employees, especially new hires. Branding experts Libby Sartain and Mark Schumann, authors of “Brand From the Inside: Eight Essentials to Emotionally Connect Your Employees to Your Business,” warn “Only if employees get the chance to live the brand can you hope for them to remember the brand.” Happy satisfied employees, who are valued by their organizations and recognized for their contributions, would willingly sing the praises of their companies.
Recruiters can also encourage employees to spread the good word by rewarding them for providing employee referrals. And recruiters, who make the time and effort to provide each prospect with a positive candidate experience, will be rewarded with positive feedback. Whether or not they are offered a job, prospective candidates treated well would relay their experience to others in their networks.
Harness the Power of Social Media Channels
Harnessing the power of social media is all about engaging your followers, forming relationships and establishing yourself as a thought leader and subject matter expert. Recruiters can leverage social media channels to promote employer branding by engaging with targeted prospects on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and industry forums. It’s also vital that recruiters provide interesting, unique content that’s easy to share, such as YouTube videos. Shared content should add value to your target group, as well as promote your client company as an outstanding place to work. And make sure you entice prospective candidates with a dynamite job description that creates excitement about the employer brand. Such job descriptions will be shared across social media outlets with friends, family and colleagues,
When employer branding is effectively communicated to candidates and employees and promoted across social media channels, your efforts will attract good workers, and the company will become known as a great place to work. It certainly makes your job as a recruiter easier, when successful branding pushes top talent in your direction.