What is employer branding and how to increase the quality of candidates?

What is employer branding or employer branding?

Employer branding is the process of managing and building a reputation as an employer. Customers here are job seekers, internal employees. Employer branding includes the activities and campaigns that employers use to promote their brand. Employer branding is not something the business actually owns. This reputation exists in the minds of candidates and employees. And formed by their thoughts, impressions.

Think of recruitment and retention efforts as a series of individual interactions. Every touchpoint leaves an impression on candidates and employees. That shapes the employer brand. From there, it affects the attraction of candidates and the retention of talents. Without the right management, one of those touchpoints can become a negative factor, making it difficult for businesses to recruit candidates and not create engagement with internal employees.

What is the importance of employer branding?

Although the concept has been around for quite some time, it went unnoticed until recently. As social networks develop and online job networks have brought businesses closer to candidates. The workforce is more proactive than ever as they have access to so many jobs around the world.

Employers have gradually adapted to this change. Also start taking proactive steps to attract and retain talent. However, there are still many organizations that are not taking advantage of the benefits of employer branding.

What are the benefits of employer branding?

Take a look at some of the metrics below to better understand what employer branding is and why it's so important:

According to Glassdoor, 95% of candidates identify a company's reputation as a factor to consider when looking for new career opportunities. Almost every candidate will consider the company's reputation before applying.

According to LinkedIn, 66% of job seekers want to learn about a company's culture and values. Employer branding efforts can be a great way to communicate this information.

69% of candidates will turn down an offer from a company with a bad employer brand, even if they are unemployed.

40% of passive candidates will accept a new position with a slightly lower salary than expected if the company has good employer branding. An active employer brand is absolutely essential.

Only 49% of employees would recommend their company to a friend. This is not really good news. Because employee referrals are often the best source of quality candidates.

What's more, these statistics demonstrate that employer branding impacts every aspect of the employer-employee relationship. At the same time, employer branding also affects employee engagement and retention.

How to build employer brand and increase candidate quality

We already know what the importance of employer is. So, let's refer to how to build a good employer brand below:

Evaluate the company's employer branding

You can't make an impact or manage your employer brand without knowing what people think of you. Therefore, assessing what employer branding is in the eyes of candidates and employees is the first step.

Check out every means by which the company interacts with candidates and employees. These can be mentioned as recruitment fanpage, job description, recruitment website, recruitment process, email notification of interview invitation/interview results, introductory documents, internal contact information... and analysis.

Next, get feedback from candidates and employees. Remember that the goal here is to understand how they really think and feel about the company, so it's a good idea to ask informative questions. For example, how would they describe the company to a friend? Why did they choose to apply? Why did they choose to accept/reject the offer? Why did they stay/leave the company?

Be aware of how much this crawls. You can choose the amount you want, but don't overdo it. Gathering too much information makes data analysis difficult. Once completed, an employer brand assessment will help identify and bridge the gaps that exist between the way the company presents itself. And how candidates and employees perceive the company.

Determine EVP (Employee Value Proposition – employee value)

EVP answers two important questions:

What employees or candidates can expect from the company.

What the company expects from an employee or candidate.

When determining EVP, it's important to be realistic. Many businesses tend to offer attractive offers to candidates and employees when the reality is not so "bright". This often results in short staff hours and high turnover rates. That's why it's so important for employers to develop their brand from within. If the company wants to attract new talent, the prerequisite is to make the company a better place to work.

Use your EVP as a guide to your employer branding efforts. EVP will position the brand and differentiate itself from the competition.

Optimizing the employer branding channel

There are different channels that organizations use to promote employer branding and grab the attention of candidates. Some of the top popular channels include: company websites, social networks and free job postings. Therefore, what is important in optimizing the employer branding channel? It's about identifying and optimizing the channels candidates use to research recruiters.