What Is Employer Branding?
Employer branding is the practice of influencing how current and prospective employees perceive a company’s reputation as an employer. While branding in general targets the perception of consumers, employer branding specifically focuses on a company’s prospective hires and internal employees.
Employer Branding Definition
Employer branding is the practice of managing your reputation as an employer, so that job seekers and internal employees want to work for you.
What Is an Employer Brand?
Your employer brand is your organization’s reputation as an employer. It’s what job seekers and employees really think of you. And though it may not be tangible, your employer brand is an asset that requires serious attention. Because the reality is, you already have an employer brand, whether you’re actively managing it or not. That’s why having an employer branding strategy is essential for attracting and retaining top talent.
What Does Employer Branding Look Like?
Employer branding involves investing in the touchpoints that signal to job seekers and employees what makes you appealing and desirable to work for as an organization. Some of these touchpoints include:
- The careers page on your website
- Your company blog and social media presence
- Third-party companyreview websites
- Your interviewing and hiring processes
- Employee experiences
Why Is Employer Branding Important?
Virtually every candidate out there — whether they’re active or passive — will consider your company’s reputation before applying. Employer branding is not only important for recruitment, though; it also impacts employee engagement, employee retention and even profitability.
The value of strong employer branding includes:
- Winning over on-the-fence candidates
- Strengthening employee retention
- Positively influencing brand perception
- Acquiring top talent
- Making it easier for employees to refer their friends to open roles
- Attracting candidates from diverse backgrounds
More on Employer BrandingWhat Is an Employer of Choice?
How to Get Started With an Employer Branding Strategy
A strongemployer branding strategywill allow you to positively influence the conversation around your organization, ultimately enhancing its reputation among job seekers and your existing workforce. But how do you create an employer branding strategy? Below we break down the process.
1. Analyze Your Existing Employer Brand
You can’t hope to influence or manage your employer brand if you don’t know what people think about you, so an employer brand audit is the first step.
First, examine everything you’re saying to candidates and employees that could impact their perception of the company. Your job descriptions, career page, social media profiles, acceptance and rejection letters, onboarding materials, internal communications, performance reviews — if it exists, analyze it.
Next, get somefeedback from candidates and employees. Remember, the idea here is to understand how they really think and feel about the company, so be sure to ask questions that will provide meaningful information.
Once complete, the employer brand audit will help you identify and correct the gaps that exist between how the company is presenting itself and how it is perceived by candidates and employees.
2. Define Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
After you’ve completed your employer brand audit, you’re ready to craft youremployee value proposition(EVP). In simple terms, an employee value proposition is a quick explanation of what the employee gets out of joining the company, and what the company gets out of having the employee. You can think of your EVP as the guiding light of youremployer brandingefforts. While you may never share it publicly, your EVP will shape your communications moving forward.
Developing your EVP is no small feat, but fortunately we’vecovered the topic in depthto help get you started.
3. Build a Memorable Careers Page
Yourcareer pageis the anchor of your employer branding materials, making it one of the most important touchpoints with potential candidates. Compelling photography or video,employee testimonials, yourcore valuesand more can all help convince candidates that you’re the place to be, so spend some time dialing it in.
4. Write Effective Job Descriptions
Job descriptionsmay not sound like the place to let your personality shine, but they’re often the first interaction job seekers will have with your company, so make sure they reflect your desired employer brand.
5. Create a Great Candidate Experience
If you’re lucky enough to convince a great candidate to apply, at some point you’ll interact with them offline. Whether it’s an initial phone screen or in-office interview,the experience that candidate hasmust align with your employer brand or you’re almost guaranteed to lose them.
6. Engage Your Current Employees
One of the most effective ways to bolster your employer brand is by empowering your employees to speak about their experiences working with the company. One way to encourage this positive word-of-mouth is to set up anemployee advocacy program.
7. Amplify Your Company Story on Social Media and Company Blog
You can’t control your reputation. But, you can do your best to shape thenarrative of your company— and there are a variety of channels in which you can tell your story. These channels includesocial media,podcastsand your owncompany blog.
How to Improve Your Employer Brand
If you want to establish a stellar employer brand, you have to walk the walk. That means creating a positive workplace environment that not only attracts high-end workers, but keeps them there.
1. Revisit Your Compensation Philosophy
Job seekers and employees alike appreciate when companies offerfair and competitive pay, as well as make a point of maintainingequitable compensation practices. This is one of the quickest ways tobolster your employer brand. It isn’t always easy, but it is worth it.
2. Review Your Recruitment Processes
Strong employer branding is built ontop-notch recruiting processes. That means not only sourcing the best candidates — and paying particular attention todiverse recruitment strategies— but putting measures in place that ensure the entire process is smooth for candidates from start to finish.
3. Offer Career Growth and Professional Development
People want to work for companies that will invest in theirdevelopment as professionals, giving them opportunities for advancement and growth. This strategy will not only attract top talent but willencourage your best workersto stick around for the long haul, fortifying your reputation as an employer of choice.
4. Prioritize Employee Well-Being and Work-Life Balance
Nothing can damage an employer brand faster than news of atoxic work culturespreading around. Thankfully, the opposite is true too: Apositive work environment, one in which employees feel valued and supported, with the right amount ofwork-life balance, will strengthen your employer brand.
5. Retain Your Top Employees
A high amount ofvoluntary employee turnover— especially at the top — is often a signal that something has gone wrong within an organization. One of the most surefire ways to enhance your company’s reputation is when people notice that your workers, especially high performers, have longer tenures.
Employer Branding Examples
Employer branding is something you can proactively manage in a number of ways, whether that’s through:
- Career pages
- Company culture videos
- Company blog
- Social media content
If you want to see employer branding in action, check outthese real-life examples.
