Whether it’s a cafeteria stocked with free food or the opportunity to send humans to Mars, it’s easy to conjure up reasons candidates seek out careers with popular, newsworthy companies. It’s also easy to list off any number of companies that offer generous employee perks or purpose-driven missions that are well known to the public at large.
These companies aren’t being humble when it comes to attracting talent: they want to work with the best of the best, and they want you to know it. That’s the result of effective employer branding, broadcasting each organization’s values to the public at large to make their products, services and work environments as desirable as possible.
There’s no reason your business can’t use the same kind of employer branding strategies to recruit and retain A-list employees. If you’re ready to start showing your company off, here’s how recruitment marketing can boost your employer brand and attract top-notch talent:
Determine your employee value proposition
Before you can walk, you must crawl. And before you can start marketing your employer brand, your organization must be able to communicate exactly what your employer brand is through your employee value proposition.
In The War for Talent, authors Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones and Beth Axelrod define the employee value proposition as a compelling answer to the question, ‘Why would a highly talented person choose to work here?’
This fundamental question gets to the heart of how you’re able to communicate the benefits of joining your organization. Whether your business has a highly attractive location, carries out rewarding and fulfilling work, offers great perks or any combination thereof, you must be able to clearly communicate an answer to the question — and use the answer to develop the foundation for your recruitment marketing strategy.
Build a modern hiring experience
Having a great employer value proposition and an arsenal of compelling content might be exactly what it takes to bring top talent into the fold, but if it’s hidden behind an archaic hiring experience, there’s a good chance candidates will never take the time to see it.
As soon as you’re ready to engage talent, be prepared to use modern recruitment marketing tools to reach candidates who overwhelmingly prefer to communicate online. Build mobile-friendly job applications that are easy to complete on a smartphone. Embrace social recruiting and text recruiting to reach candidates through the communications they’re most likely to respond to.
By creating a positive candidate experience, you won’t only be setting up your recruitment marketing efforts for success: you’ll also boost the chances of leaving a good impression of your company with candidates. Considering research that identifies the candidate experience as one of the most important determining factors when deciding to accept a job offer, your recruitment marketing strategies have a direct effect on having a star candidate say yes.
Show, don’t tell
Showcasing the perks of your workplace shouldn’t be relegated to a tacked-on list at the end of a job posting. To grab a candidate’s attention, the unique and compelling aspects of your employer brand need to stand apart from the standard list of dental and 401k benefits. That means thinking beyond a simple job posting or careers page and embracing digital media to highlight your culture and workforce through engaging content.
You can start by drawing attention to the people and processes that make your workplace truly unique. Shoot videos getting to know team members, putting a human face on your staff and offering an honest glimpse into your organization’s work culture. Record a podcast featuring your C-suite to share their insights with the greater community at large. Let an industrious team share their own work and methodologies on a public-facing blog.
As content marketer Todd Whetland points out on The Employer Branding Podcast, this doesn’t mean creating too much content: it’s creating content with intent and understanding.
No matter the form your employer brand takes, as long as it paints an authentic picture of what it’s like to work for your company, it can help your business go the extra mile in attracting star candidates. And considering everyone carries a smartphone that can shoot, edit and record photos, audio and video, there’s also no excuse to start creating content right away.
