War for talent is going on. While talent is scarcer than ever, companies ask themselves how to improve their employer brand so that they can recruit top-notch candidates.
I often found myself asking the following: why particular companies score talented employees when others of them struggle to get the right fits.
Now that I work for a company I am really happy at, I got myself an answer. Employer Branding.
Job seekers are now job shoppers: they are making a consumer decision.
The market is candidate-centric, especially for critical-skill employees. Companies need to show both active and passive candidates why their organization is great, and why they should want to work there.
A whopping 82% of Fortune 500 executives don’t believe that their companies recruit highly talented people.
Considering that high performers in very high complexity jobs are 800% more productive than average performers – It is safe to say that working its employer brand in 2018 is crucial, if not vital.
Careful though, if your employer brand is not authentic and does not highlight true employee experiences: top talent will see right through it.
Building a great employer brand is a challenge usually misunderstood by companies. Looking cool is different than being cool.
Employer branding is a double-edged sword: you attract talent with external employer branding and retain it with internal employer branding.
That said, let’s dive into what company should do to appeal to excellent candidates.
Use Social Media
Demonstrate your company culture on social media.
While searching for a job, be certain that candidates will look at your company’s social media presence.
Your social media strategy has to include your people. Take a look at Salesforce Careers’ Instagram or ours.
A great example of a company using social media at its best is D.D.B Oslo. According to them, a great idea can be explained in one sentence. So they created “The Snapchat Pitch” – Tell us your idea in a Snap – genius.
What’s a day like in your company? What are you doing in your teambuilding events? What kind of atmosphere defines your company?
Potentials candidates are going to find answers to these questions on social media or websites like Glassdoor: websites that let employees rate their company.
So you better keep your employees happy…
Hire the greatest Chief Happiness Officer
But DO NOT hire ours, we love her dearly. This one is essential for your internal employer brand strategy.
Vega’s job is to make us happy (and damn she does). She organizes team building events, makes us laugh every week with a ridiculously funny newsletter, keep us updated about company’s stuff, etc.
Having someone dedicated to making employees happy is a huge asset for any company. It shows to the employees that you care about their well-being. Never forget that a happy employee is :
- Two times less sick
- Six times less off work
- Nine times more faithful
- 31% more productive
- 55% more creative
Last but not least, happy employees are going to talk about you, tell their astonishing friends how awesome your company culture is. That’s when you get great referrals.
You have to turn the people working for you in ambassadors of your employer brand.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, that’s my next point.
Make your Employees Brand Ambassadors
Easier said than done.
Brand ambassadors make for great employees, and vice versa. Even if they will never be as good as Dwight for Dunder Mifflin. We have assembled seven steps to guide you towards this.
Communicate your vision
Make sure your employees know the main mission of your company. What you are providing to your customers. We talked about it in our last article, keep them updated on your strategy.
Give permission
Relax the rules on social media. When Facebook appeared, it was banned from loads of companies. Don’t be that guy, let your employees share content about your company. They won’t do it during their free time.
Provide guidelines
Issuing a policy about social media (dos and don’ts) will also drive engagement. Let them know how to refer properly to your company or products. If there is a specific language, be sure to let them know as well.
Create great content
Any content is as great as its promotion. Infographics, videos, and behind-the-scenes looks at the company will share. In average, content shared by one of your employees is seen 46 more times and has 74 more chances to transform a lead into a customer.
Make it easy to share
Create a weekly email with shareable content. To make sure the news is timely and accurate, include hashtags, sample posts, and tweets. Encourage them to follow, like and share company’s social media updates.
Let employees contribute
The more you will offer the possibility for your employees to contribute in your content, the more they will share it. Do not forget, they are also building their own personal brand.
Create a competition
Are you launching a new product or service? Great. Let your employees know that the most shared or liked post will be rewarded. It is a great way to save on your marketing budget and give it to awesome marketers like myself.
Approach the Most Wanted Talent
Do not sit around.
I did an experiment two months ago. I created a fake LinkedIn profile. As a full stack developer based in Paris, I received up to 15 demands a day.
As inbound marketers, we know for a fact that you cannot just sit around for clients and wait. You have to go to them with solutions for their business issues.
Attracting talent is identical. You absolutely need to look for them and have a recruitment strategy.
Here is a list of great websites to do just that.
Fairly compensate your employees
After all, aren’t they the ones earning the company money?
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do the employees consider that their compensation matches the work and skills they bring to the company?
- Are they satisfied with their bonuses and pay rises?
- What about benefits like profit-sharing, participation bonuses, reduction of working hours, works council, telework, etc.?
You would be a fool to think that because people love working at your company, they won’t care much about being paid two-thirds of what they could win at your competitor’s company.
Why invest in employer branding?
Reports from Gallup, LinkedIn, Glassdoor and more are unanimous. Let’s sum up the key returns:
- Attract better quality candidates: CEB states that companies that invested in employer branding for influence reported a 54% increase in the quality of the candidate pool.
- Attraction of more talent: according to Glassdoor, employers that prioritize employer brand are 250% more likely to rate their overall talent acquisition efforts as highly effective.
- Outstanding levels of employee engagement: those who invest are 130% more likely to see increases in employee engagement.
- Lower cost per recruitment: strong employer brand see a 43% decrease in cost per hire.
- Outstanding employer brand discourages early departures: New employees are 40% less likely to leave after the first six months.
… and many more !
