This is a guest post from Freddie Chirgwin-Bell. Working as Marketing & Communications Executive at Morgan Jones, as part of our Recruiting Weekly Series. Freddie shares his thoughts on how to build an employer brand in the modern day.
Modern Recruitment has changed
The modern workplace has changed. Technology started it and now, lockdowns and pandemic have forced change.
It’s affected how we work, operate, run a business, and even how we hire.
As a result, recruitment has changed dramatically. You need to set yourself apart from the competition to attract the best.
You need to stand out to your candidates. Why? Because it improves recruitment, employee engagement, employee retention, and even productivity and sales as a happy workforce is usually a harder working workforce.
A clear effective employer brand makes you unique amongst your competitors.
It’s normally at this point that most people’s eyes would glaze over, but the truth is that employer branding has become important.
Challenges Employers Face
When it comes to standing out from everyone else the challenge employers face is “how?”
It’s a crowded world out there with lots of competition and other businesses fighting to get the best employees.
So why would I put so much emphasis on why you need to grow an employer brand?
Branding is what people say about you when you’re out of the room. Your brand will form with or without you.
It’s part of everything that you do as a business. Having your input into how your brand is perceived and viewed by people would always be the better option.
Most people overlook this aspect of recruitment but taking the time to invest in and grow your employer brand will make the whole process a lot easier and you will naturally attract the best talent.
The question to ask yourself is ‘what do your employees say about you when you’re out of the room?’
The 3 Steps: Think, Ask, Put in Place
Think
You might be a small business owner, a recruiter, or part of the HR department but this step still applies.
If you recruit people, then the first step is to think about why the employee would want to work for you.
Be critical of your brand as an employer. It’s better to admit issues and fix them than to ignore them.
Are you offering just some work and pay with no benefits? Is the pay minimum wage or is it above minimum wage? What about benefits such as work from home, flexitime, unlimited holiday, and more? What is your work culture like?
These small parts all come together to form the image of your employer brand.
Think about how you want your employees to talk about you and what you can do to help set yourself apart from others in your industry.
By thinking about your employer brand, you can then find what’s working, and what’s not, and also provide the course correction to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward when it comes to your employees.
Ask
When in doubt, or conducting research about how to improve your employer brand it’s always best to ask the greatest resource any business has; Your own employees.
Look at reviews and feedback from staff, look at exit interviews, and what people have said in 1-2-1s.
The best place to start is online.
Employees will undoubtedly use platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Glassdoor and Indeed to share their experiences.
In fact, Glassdoor reports that 70% of people look at online reviews before they make career decisions.
These platforms are a source of valuable feedback, so use it wisely. Use this tool to help take a baseline of what people think of your business and working for you.
If this is your first time doing this as an exercise then feel free to send them a questionnaire about what they like, don’t like, and what they would want to see.
Asking these kinds of questions to better understand how your brand is perceived and what your reputation is in employee circles will be the best guidance you can ever possess.
Put in Place
Being able to present yourself in the best light to prospective employees is all well and good but you also need to deliver on that when they join. Don’t lie to them, and don’t lie to yourself.
Think of your employer brand as part of your business brand and business plan. You need to be able to deliver your promises to your employees as much as you deliver to your customers/clients.
You need to be present, understanding, and think about the needs and wants of your employees. Delivering on these will build a positive brand that will make your business THE place to work.
Build it and they will come (sort of)
Building your employer brand is not complicated. It’s simple.
Please note I said simple. Not easy.
A lot of branding comes from thinking about how you want to present your business and what story the client, customer, or (in this case) candidate tells themselves about your business.
By improving the workplace, you make your business more effective and as a result, also makes recruitment so much easier.
Imagine a thousand highly qualified candidates clamouring at your door for the chance to work for your company. How much easier would that make your life?
There are lots of perks and benefits and tactics you can use to help sweeten the deal. But like good construction, these additions are only effective if you have a solid foundation.
All the unlimited holiday, working from home, free events, and regular snack boxes won’t make a difference unless you have a great work environment.
Values Driven is Best
Take an objective look at the good and the bad. Look out for pain points and issues that could put off great candidates from applying. Also, be conscious of the story you are telling about what it’s like to work for you.
Do you know why companies put images and videos of happy employees on their social media posts? It’s more than just a marketing ploy.
Doing this shows that you are proud of and that you value your employees. It shows that you celebrate their achievements, their birthdays, that you support them, and that you are more than just some faceless, soulless business.
This is a fair cliché example, but it proves a point. The companies that have established values and then show off and exemplify those values (I mean truly live by them, not just lip service) will always have amazing employer brands.
Be confident in what you are and represent as a company, show this to the world regularly, and you will find the talent that suits your needs.
Top talent includes cultural fit, as well and so think about how you can improve your existing work culture.
If you have a great working culture within the business, this will benefit you infinitely more than any other perk or benefit you can offer.
A good, happy environment with minimal benefits will always outlive and outperform a bad environment with lots of benefits.
A good working environment and culture humanise you. And that is very powerful.
Lead with your values and company culture in a transparent way. The employer brand starts with visibility and clarity, so be open from the start if you want to impress job seekers.
Authenticity Matters
The employer brand needs to be authentic. Potential candidates want to hear from other employees, not corporate or HR. They want to know why people stay at your company. What makes it special and different? Showcase real employee stories on your job sites and social media accounts.
The promise of continuous employee development is one of the strongest to make. Nearly everyone is motivated by the prospect of investment in professional growth, so if an employer helps your learning and development it will stand out.
Last but certainly not least
First of all, get the salary right. You can’t ask for 10+ years of experience and charge minimum wage.
Don’t put competitive salary or salary DOE on job adverts. This just shows that you are trying to pay as little as possible and will put people off.
Make sure people are paid properly for the role they perform. Without this, you are dead in the water with your job advert.
This may seem obvious but you will be surprised how often this happens.
Author Bio:
Freddie is the Marketing & Communications Executive at Morgan Jones. He is dedicated to creating informative, clear, and actionable content that truly adds value and helps people. You can connect with him on LinkedIn
