Category: Branding

Unpacking a Multi-Generation Workforce and How To Recruit Them

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

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Today’s workforce and candidate pools are more blended than ever. While inspiring, it comes with recruitment challenges. Executing a multi-generational recruitment strategy is no small feat, and it must start with understanding each group individually. Buyer Talent Solutions’ research team has analyzed these three prevalent groups in today’s workforce—Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. Understanding the characteristics of each group is essential to building successful recruitment strategies.

Pew Research defines Gen X as those ages 39-54. They grew up during the computer generation and worked their way through the rise of the Internet, which changed the professional world forever. Glassdoor describes this group as being in the thick of their careers, having significant responsibilities both personally and professionally. When recruiting Gen X candidates, benefits and development opportunities should be the center of your messaging. This group values growth and chances to step into leadership, but has little room for risk when it comes to healthcare, 401k, and other stakes.

Then comes Millennials, Pew deeming these individuals ages 23-38. Millennials remember a time before the Internet, but grew up as it took off and were able to adapt to its innovations as they came about. Social issues and a work/life balance are extremely important to this group. This is a great opportunity for organizations to revamp their Employer Brand to highlight diversity, inclusion, and work flexibility. Workplace culture should be at the forefront—any lack of one could make or break application numbers.

Gen Z is next, these individuals being ages 7-22, the oldest just entering the workforce. This generation has grown up on technology, therefore a focus on technology is important for recruitment. As of 2018, Pew notes that Gen Z is the most educated (58% enrolled in 2 and 4-year colleges) and racially/ethnically diverse (52% being non-white) generation ever. Like Millennials, diversity and inclusion are essential to Gen Zers when choosing an employer. IN addition to ensuring your messaging aligns with the needs of Gen Zers, it’s important to also re-evaluate the media channels that you use to reach this group. As digital natives, Gen Zers prefer platforms like Twitter, TikTok, and Twitch to traditional media. Investing media dollars into digital advertising will expand your reach to Gen Z.

While little research is available, it is important to acknowledge Gen N. This group will follow Gen Z into the workforce as products of a post-COVID world, with full immersion in technology and the Internet from youth. The organizational changes companies make today will be strongly felt by the upcoming generation.

Generational changes are inevitable in the workforce, and recruitment efforts must be nimble and adjusted to align with candidate expectations. With 50+ years of recruitment marketing experience, Buyer Talent Solutions is ready to leverage our resources and industry knowledge to meet your hiring goals. Contact us at info@BuyerAds.com to learn more about our customized recruitment solutions.

Is Your 2021 Hiring Strategy in Place?

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

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After a year like 2020, everyone is looking forward to a fresh start—and the opportunities that come with it. As companies continue to re-open, we anticipate a significant need for talent. Going into 2021, it’s important that you incorporate a strategic and purposeful hiring strategy to secure the best candidates. To do this, consider these guiding questions from our recruitment experts:

First, think about your re-opening strategy. A successful onboarding process has to be in-line with your company’s current situation. Come the New Year, will you be remote or in-office? How are you planning to onboard new employees and engage them?

Next, try to project what you’ll need for talent in the New Year. What do you anticipate your hiring needs to be in Q1 and Q2 of 2021? What type of budget will you have, and how flexible does your strategy need to be to accommodate changes to your anticipated hiring needs?

Stand out from competitors. This year has seen a significant shift in the way companies operate. To connect with talent, have you considered virtual hiring events, utilizing AI, or other COVID-conscious methods of screening candidates? If your company has evolved over the past year, how are you promoting these changes? Redefining your employer brand will allow you to emphasize your unique company culture while directly addressing timely subjects such as inclusion and diversity hiring. Using these tactics demonstrates your company’s ability to adapt and shows resilience during uncertain times.

Start planning and get excited for the year ahead. With 50+ years of recruitment experience, we’re ready to leverage our resources and industry knowledge to meet your hiring goals. Contact us at 857-404-0864 or info@BuyerAds.com to learn more about our customized recruitment solutions.

Buyer Talent Solutions: Talent Engine

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

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With 50+ years of recruitment advertising experience, we have deep-rooted knowledge of the daily challenges employers face when looking to hire. It’s allowed us to create an all-in-one solution our clients use with great success—Talent Engine.

Talent Engine is our search engine optimized hiring platform that empowers recruiters with a smarter way to attract, engage, and track candidates through the hiring process—backed by a team of industry leaders with a passion for customer service. It features Buyer’s extensive suite of recruitment solutions and is categorized into four main areas: attract, engage, optimize, and analyze.

Attract

Talent Engine Attract is all about eliminating waste, driving better candidate flow, and improving ROI. Our programmatic ad management solution drives candidates to the jobs that need the most applies. We do this through automated ad placement to determine which jobs need more exposure, detailed analytics to optimize media/advertising budgets in real-time, and non-contract, performance based tracking down to the job level. We’ll also ensure your ads appear on major traffic drivers like Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, and more.

Engage

Talent Engine Engage works to captivate top talent with a customized career site. Start fresh with our Employer Brand development services to showcase your workplace culture, or upgrade your site’s user experience through the implementation of video, dynamic job descriptions, and original content.

Optimize

With over 250 million job searches occurring on Google each month, it’s crucial to position your job opportunities for optimal exposure. Talent Engine Optimize elevates the position of your job postings in organic search results to increase your career site traffic. The platform is customizable to preserve your unique brand/content, with no need to change your current ATS.

Analyze

Finally, Talent Engine Analyze evaluates your recruitment marketing efforts while increasing your ROI with real-time, track-to-hire source metrics. Key metrics could include cost per qualified applicant, cost per hire, time to fill, candidate conversions to applicants, and much more. With Talent Engine Analyze you can send text/email reminders to candidates to prevent application falloff while identifying influential media/direct sources delivering candidates and hires.

Talent Engine is a direct product of Buyer’s resources and industry knowledge, and we’re ready to leverage it to meet your hiring goals. Contact us at 857-404-0864 or info@BuyerAds.com to learn more about our customized recruitment solutions.

Confronting Coronavirus in Your EVP

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

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Coronavirus has undoubtedly changed the recruitment landscape—from the essential skills employers seek, to the values candidates expect. In cultivating a “new normal”, employers must re-evaluate their Employee Value Proposition to be in-line with current attitudes.

An EVP is the unique identifier within your Employer Brand—the promise your company makes to a prospective candidate. If you are not actively managing it, your current and former employees as well as today’s job seekers will.

Taking control of your Employer Brand starts with research—learn where talent is, how to grab their attention, and what they’re looking for in a post-COVID workplace. Then, align that with what your current employees share as unique benefits of your organization. With over 53 years of experience cultivating unique Employer Brands, we know that a compelling and engaging Employer Brand can lower your cost per hire by 50% and reduce your turnover rate by 28%.

Leave nothing to interpretation. Now more than ever, candidates are looking for a clear commitment to compassion, community, and wellbeing. Attract the right candidates for your organization, while exercising leadership that sets you apart.

Buyer is here to help. Contact us at 857-404-0864 or  info@BuyerAds.com  to learn more about our customized recruitment solutions that deliver results no matter the budget.

Using Rewards & Recognition to Shape a Successful Company Culture

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_09When employees come to work on time every day, stay until the work is completed and do the job well, they deserve more than just a paycheck. Recognizing an employee’s contributions to the workplace plays a considerable role in retaining the best members of your staff. The cost of losing an employee is about one to two times his or her annual salary [1]. Consider these ways in which retaining employees through recognition and rewards is good for your bottom line and your corporate culture.

Motivation

Earning a reward, even something as simple as an “Employee of the Month” mug or a sticker for the employee’s ID card, motivates that person to continue performing at a high standard. When an employee is given a reward that is tangible and visible, other members of your workplace will see the reward. These awards could be given out monthly, quarterly or annually. This regular issuing of rewards could motivate additional members of your staff to up their performance levels in hopes of earning their own recognition.

Acknowledgement

While a private “good job” on an employee evaluation is helpful, sometimes a public acknowledgement of exemplary work is even more important and empowering to your employees. You do not have to go overboard or make a big deal, which could cause workplace resentment, but it is important to make a public acknowledgement about the contributions of employees when they go above and beyond your expectations. A moment at a monthly staff meeting for acknowledging and recognizing superior performance shows your staff that their work has not gone unnoticed.

Retention

Employees who are rewarded and recognized for their work are likely to remain in your organization. These people may become known in your workplace culture as rock stars and the go-to person for expertise and advice. Even if these well-recognized people do not become executives, they will continue to be a source of pride and inspiration for your corporation. Employees who feel valued and excited to come into work each day, anticipating recognition for their efforts, will stay at your organization for the long term.

 

[1] http://www.cio.com/article/2868419/careers-staffing/how-to-improve-employee-retention.html

Building a Strong Company Blog By Including Employees as Authors

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_08Including your employees as authors on your company blog helps to build a stronger company culture. The different voices that your employees have to offer also provide your blog with a wider perspective and range of writing styles. According to Marketeer, corporate blogs with 15 posts per month generate an average of 1,200 new leads [1]. Allowing more people to participate in blog authorship can expand your reach even more.

Offering a New Perspective

Each employee in your company offers a new perspective on what it means to be a member of the organization. Writing from the same perspective all of the time can be boring to your audience. If every blog is written by the CEO, your readers will have no way to know what the rest of the people think. Allowing different employees to author blog posts shows that you value every member of your company equally. Including various employees at different levels of your company also demonstrates that every person’s voice is respected.

Exploring How Employees Joined Your Company

Companies often seem like impersonal, huge entities to the public. Including employees as authors on the company blog provides a more personal view of what happens in your company. Employees can explore their career history and how they came to be a member of your business. Each person’s career takes a different path, and this sort of biography can be fascinating for your loyal customers and business partners to read. This information also shows how your employees have the skills and experience to do their jobs.

Highlighting Employee Work

While the general public and even the other workers at your company know what the CEO, CFO and COO of your company do, they might not have a good idea of what your business analysts, customer support staff or human relations coordinators do on a daily basis. Allowing your employees to write blog posts about how they contribute to your organization highlights the fact that your company would not be what it is without everyone there working together to help the entire business succeed.
[1] http://marketeer.kapost.com/corporate-blogging-stats/

How Managing Your Organization’s Online Reputation Attracts Better Talent

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_30On a daily basis, one of your customers, employees, or potential job recruits is posting something about your company on the Web or a social media platform. Although the comments may not be accurate, everything that is written online contributes to the public’s opinion of your organization. The novel aspect of social media is their conversational tone: Knowledge sharing takes place through processes including discussion with questions and answers (online forums), collaborative editing (wikis) or storytelling with reactions (blogs) [1]. While you can’t control what customers or potential job candidates say, your organization can respond to posts online.

Many organizations have a social media specialist that is tasked with managing the company’s brand and reputation. This includes responding to online customer complaints, providing factual information when inaccurate information is online, and extending resolutions to unhappy customers.

Potential job candidates often search for reviews online before they make a decision about a job offer. Social media can be a positive tool for your company’s reputation if managed properly.

Enlist your current employees to be brand ambassadors. It is not necessary to forbid employees from posting on social media about your organization; simply providing some guidelines to your workforce can significantly improve what they post online. It is possible to respect their rights while requiring them to protect the reputation of your company.

The top talent has numerous job opportunities available to them. Competition is stiff, so your online reputation can encourage them to join your organization or not to join.

One powerful tool online is employee reviews. People truly take the time to read a credible review. If there are numerous negative reviews by customers, employees, and others, this is a red flag for a potential job recruit. If everyone is saying the same thing, something is probably wrong within your organization.

Being an employer who engages your employees, satisfies your customers, and creates a good corporate culture is the best protection of your online reputation. Top talent will definitely be attracted to a company that has a positive online reputation.

 

[1] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/managingsocialmedia.aspx

 

How Proactive Branding and HR Teams Build Employee Loyalty

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

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Reputation management is an essential part of what human resources and marketing managers must do in order to build great teams and maintain employee loyalty. An organization’s reputation affects how potential applicants view the firm. Reputations also have an effect on how people working for the company feel about their employers. According to a recent Glassdoor survey, 84 percent of survey participants would consider leaving their current company if another company with an excellent reputation offered them a job [1]. By taking the time to proactively brand your organization and build strong human resources teams, you can help to build loyalty within your organization.

Daily Experiences in the Organization

A big part of proactive branding is ensuring that an employee’s daily experiences are positive. Your human resources teams will need to set the tone for the culture. When a company’s values are in line with the individual employee’s values, he or she is more likely to have a positive experience at work every day. Proactive branding at work should be included in the mission and vision statements as well as workplace policies. One positive branding message could be, “To treat every person with respect.” This sort of positive messaging is actionable and inclusive.

Focusing on Improvement

Admitting that your organization could use improvement is a great step in proactive branding. Working on improving how your organization does things gives every person a goal to work toward. Because improvement never stops, the idea that there is more to be done motivates employees to stay on at your organization. As employees see that work they are doing is improving your company, they will maintain their loyalty to your brand.

Integrating Brand and Business Strategy

Proactive branding should be intertwined with your overall business strategy. This means doing some brand research to see what people inside and outside of your organization think. The way that the top talent outside of your organization feels about you will have direct impact on who applies for jobs and who wants to initiate business relationships. Allowing your employees the ability to anonymously make comments about the business culture will help to build loyalty. Your organization can use that information to work toward maximizing internal resources and keeping your most talented employees on staff.

 

[1] http://www.careerarc.com/blog/2016/01/13-recruiting-stats-hr-pro-must-know-2016/

How to Get Employees Excited About Your Company’s Brand Image

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_29Forbes reminds businesses that strong brands aren’t created exclusively in the marketing department [1]. Instead, every employee in the company contributes to its brand and image. Having employees who fulfill their contractual obligations is a far cry from employees who act as brand ambassadors even when they are off the clock. These suggestions help get employees excited about your company’s brand image.

Involving Employees in Social Media Campaigns

Employees have a unique and credible position in social media. Unlike executives or owners, who the public may believe have an agenda, employees can feel like a more realistic, friendly and legitimate source of information. That’s why it is so important to have employees feel free to contribute to and participate in social media campaigns. At Nokia, for example, employees are encouraged to talk about the brand on personal social media, and they have the freedom to give their honest opinions [2]. Social media expert Jenny Kuglin also suggests having staff take photos at work, during holiday parties or whenever something exciting happens involving the brand [3]. Using these photos on social media is a captivating way to show the genuine side of the brand, and it also excites the employee who took the picture.

Give Employees Product or Service Discounts and Perks

Small Business Trends pinpoints one of the key ways to generate interest in a brand: provide employees with discounts to offer friends and family [4]. This makes employees feel like an insider with valuable information, which in turn makes them more likely to speak positively about the brand. Those who receive the discount will have a better overall experience to know they got a deal, which keeps the positive momentum going.

Recognize Their Efforts

Turning employees into brand ambassadors and making them feel genuinely excited about the brand is not an easy task. When it does happen, reinforce what a great thing it is by recognizing the employee. According to Entrepreneur, this could be as simple as commemorative shirts for staff or a mention at a meeting if someone gets positive attention for the brand on social media [5].

Together, these tips can be integral in getting employees excited about your company’s brand.

 

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2013/10/08/three-steps-for-transforming-employees-into-brand-ambassadors/

[2] http://linkhumans.com/blog/how-nokia-employees-brand-ambassadors

[3] https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/expand-your-online-branding/

[4] http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/09/turning-employees-into-brand-champions.html

[5] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241560

Best Practices for Branding Your Company

Posted on by Buyer Advertising

image_02The way your brand speaks to others can have a great impact on the success of your company. According to LinkedIn’s 2015 Global Recruiting Trends Survey, 56% of 4,125 global talent leaders in 31 countries surveyed for said they believe cultivating their employer brand is a top priority [1]. Good branding takes a lot of thought, hard work, and the consolidation of resources. Here, we will discuss some of the best branding practices that can help your company find its unique identity in a competitive market.

Purpose of Your Brand

Before you get into the intricacies of branding, start with the fundamentals. One of the most important steps is defining the purpose of your brand. While you are still in the discovery phase, ask yourself some questions. What kind of impact do you want your business to have on others? What ideals does your company value? Who is your target market? What goals do you want to achieve in your company’s future?

Developing Your Brand

Now you are ready to build your brand. Understanding your target market and knowing what they want is key to developing your brand. From there, focus on your brand identity. Find out what separates your company from the rest, and once you have that figured out, focus all of your attention on building up from there. After you have developed your brand, you need to exert your passion and energy into preserving your brand long term. Keeping your brand consistent will keep your brand memorable and your customers happy.

Marketing Your Brand

Now that your brand has been established, you need to communicate your brand to the public. This can be done in the form of business cards, websites, and even social media. Establish your presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Further your brand through other channels such as physical networking. Create partnerships and referral networks with those who will be able to help positively promote brand awareness. Hold events that center around your company’s purpose and its core values. When using a PR strategy, select media outlets wisely. You want to make sure your brand is always represented in a positive manner. When marketing your brand, not only are you reaching out to customers, but you are also reaching out to your future employees.

[1] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240951