The Importance of Articulating & Positioning Employer Branding

image_03In recent years, labor markets have become increasingly competitive, which in turn has become a major concern for employers trying to attract and retain employees. Finding the perfect candidate who not only has the skills, but who also will contribute to the strategic goals of the organization can be a difficult task. HR leaders need to know the importance of articulating and positioning employer branding in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Just as consumer branding attracts customers, employer branding serves as a means for attracting talent to your organization. Before marketing your brand, make sure you fully understand what your brand stands for. By gathering information both internally and externally, you’ll see what makes your organization’s brand engaging, compelling, and unique.

In order to position your brand in the marketplace, you must first create an accurate view of what it’s like to work at your company. Be real and upfront with people. Instead of using stock photos on the company website, take real pictures of employees working in their actual work environment. When you clarify your brand in the marketplace, you will attract more candidates that are in line with your goals.

Once you have your brand positioned, you need to consider a method of reaching your desired audience. The Internet should be one of your main marketing tools as it is a great platform to reach a large pool of job candidates. Social media is also trending among employers looking to reach young, emerging talent. Of course, newspaper, radio, and television ads are also good traditional methods. Even involving your employees can be a great way to reach people and disseminate the message you want to share.

Employer branding can help attract key talent, increase the number of employee referrals, and even improve the quality of job candidates. As an HR leader, you have the responsibility of sustaining your employer brand. It’s not something you can check off a list; maintaining your brand is an ongoing project. Once you actually see the results of what articulating and positioning employer branding can do for your company, you will have a noticeably stronger business.

 

The Importance of Selling the Job Opportunity

image_017Every employer wants the best staff that his or her money can buy. In order to attract the most desirable candidate, you need to sell the opportunity as you would any other product. The purpose of this is to attract top individuals to your organization. These prospective employees need to feel like working for your company is the ideal career choice.

Peaking Their Interest

When you post a job opportunity, there is little doubt that you may see an influx of resumes and applications. With the job market the way it is, even unqualified individuals may send in their information. By putting more effort into selling the job, you may increase the interest of candidates that excel in the position. With his or her skills and knowledge, the candidate can find a job in a variety of locations, and you want your organization to stand out among those prospective employees that have superior qualifications.

The Competition

The employees of competing organizations are what drive its success. If you don’t secure highly qualified staff members, you could be inadvertently strengthening the competition’s hold within the market. By enhancing the listing of the job opportunity to engage those individuals, your company could become stronger as a whole. Cases in point, brand name organizations such as Apple and Google are successful because of the people working within the establishment. Talented employees can drive the success of virtually any business platform.

Being More than a Brand

While many people will seek employment from various companies simply because of the brand name, others may want to know why they should apply. What kinds of opportunities are available for growth? What is the general atmosphere like? Questions such as these can speak to a potential candidate and give him or her information about what it would be like to work for your company. Certain working atmospheres can play into people’s personalities creating an enjoyable environment. The happier staff members are to remain at their jobs, the less likely you’ll have to find replacements and train new employees.

Selling the job opportunity doesn’t need to sound like you’re begging for qualified staff. You need to focus on why a person would want to work within your organization. This can help you find the right staff member who will be an asset to the team and enhance the company profile.

Effective Blogging Strategies for Recruitment

image_010Locating and then recruiting the right staff members is a challenge for any organization. As job candidates increasingly look to blogs, online postings and social media to search for jobs, one way that Human Resources personnel can recruit the top tier of applicants is by taking to the blogs themselves and enticing the best candidates to apply for openings within the organization. These top four blogging strategies for recruitment are effective and efficient at getting the most desirable person into the job.

Infuse the Blog with Personality

Even corporate blogs should be infused with personality that is in line with the operations of the organization. The tone of the blog should allow readers and future applicants to get a feel for the culture of the organization. A light touch of humor can go a long way in helping applicants feel welcome to the company.

Vary the Posting Types

Readers of a business blog do not want to read the same material over and over again. Vary the type of posts to maintain reader interest. Consider various post options such as tips for applicants, hints about what is going on in the industry and success stories of people working in the company. Interviews with current staff members and list-type posts also help to recruit top-notch candidates.

Make a Point in Every Post

Give applicants a reason to come back and join the corporation. Every post should have a point. Making each recruitment posting worthwhile helps applicants understand that their time is respected and that future events at the company, such as staff meetings, will be productive and worthwhile. Blog posts should not be too wordy or too vague.

Share Industry Insights

Keep it interesting by sharing industry insights that show why the business is top in its field. Infographics are an up-to-date means of sharing information in a way that is eye-catching and easy to understand. Embedded videos are another way to share insights while maintaining the applicant’s interest in being recruited to the organization.

 

How to Create an Attractive Corporate Culture

When it comes to recruiting, having the right company culture is the key to drawing top tier talent. Even companies with high wages and great benefits can still experience high employee turnover if their company culture is lacking. Here are some tips on how to create a more attractive corporate culture:

Encourage Innovation

Few people enjoy being micromanaged. Many businesses find that allowing employees to be creative and take ownership of their work leads to increased performance. Communication is the key to inspiring employee ownership within your organization. At the beginning of a project or company initiative, encourage managers to sit down with employees and discuss their vision for the project. Once they have a clear understanding of what the expectations are, allow them the freedom to accomplish it in their own way.

Promote Fun

Creating a fun work environment is a great way to boost employee satisfaction. Company sponsored sporting events, family days and barbeques are great ways invest in morale-building activities. Another idea is to give your company break room an overhaul – consider adding a Ping-Pong table, pool table or designated nap area for your employees. Remember that the more your employees enjoy working for you, the more productive they will likely be.

Embrace Company Values

Employees enjoy being part of something larger than themselves. You can accomplish this by establishing and maintaining the priorities and values of your organization.

Celebrate Achievements

Do not let open enrollment and disciplinary meetings be the only interactions you have with employees. This is a quick way to lose some of your top talent. Take time to celebrate accomplishments of all sizes. For small accomplishments, take some space in the employee newsletter or on the interoffice board to congratulate employees for a job well done. Larger accomplishments may warrant a luncheon or a certificate. Regularly acknowledging and celebrating accomplishments is a good way to keep your employees striving towards their personal bests.

The way that your corporate culture is perceived has a huge impact on the type of talent that your organization will draw. These simple tips will allow you to create a company culture that draws and retains high-performing, happy employees.

Your Two Brands: Part 2

Last week, we had the chance to discuss your two brands: your company and your employer brand. This week, we’d like to unpack it all and offer some practical advice for moving forward developing your reputation as an employer.

After reading our last entry (you did read it, didn’t you?), you understand the importance of developing your employer brand. Let the information you gathered from your research step help direct your advertising and marketing recruitment efforts. If you have dissatisfied workers in your ranks, launch employee rewards programs, incentive programs, and specialized internal advertising to bolster the sagging morale. Likewise, if people just don’t know much about you as an employer, that’s an indication to hit the magazines with some advertising, start a social media presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter, and use other media to get the word out about why working at your organization is a great idea.

In any case, take the time to develop tangible assets like your Employee Value Proposition. And plan, plan, plan. That’s why experts like us at Buyer Advertising exist—to maximize the effectiveness of your employer brand and deliver the talent needed to make your business succeed.

Until next time,
www.buyerads.com

Your Two Brands: Part 1

As a successful organization, you know the value of your brand. It connects customers with your services, instills a sense of confidence in buyers, and finds a home in the brains of your target audience. It’s the buzz surrounding your business. But, as you’ve probably deduced from this title, we’re talking about two brands. The second being, of course, your employer brand.

How you represent yourselves to employees-to-be is very relevant to the success of your business. That’s because as you recruit talented people, your overall expertise and capabilities grow along with your employee pool. Your two brands don’t exist in a vacuum. There is always cross-contamination—for the better or worse. One example is Google—a fun, ultra-modern, Internet-savvy brand has since paved the way to an exceptional employee brand.

Even still, building an effective employee brand takes special attention. When it comes to your employer brand, take the time to get to know yourself. Conduct polls both inside your organization and outside to accurately gauge where you stand. From there, you can build a campaign that’s specific to hiring top talent—maximizing your advertising dollars spent. At Buyer Advertising, we recognize the critical importance of an employer brand, and in many cases, work specifically towards redefining that aspect of your company.

Tune in next week for more tips on building your employer brand!