What do people really think about your company?
In today's competitive marketplace, your reputation matters when it comes to earning the trust and loyalty of your customers, but it can also be essential to helping you attract the right talent too. If people don't perceive your business in the right way, then that might be just one of the reasons why your candidates aren't accepting your job offers.
Organisations regularly overlook "employer branding", but your image may be the answer to the question: "Why should someone work with you?" If you can develop an environment that nourishes and supports your hires, you can enjoy better retention, recruitment, and engagement.
What Makes Employer Branding So Important?
Many companies assume that they don't need to worry about their image because applicants will have their own opportunity to discover what the organisation is all about when they attend an interview or read a listing posted by a specialist recruitment agency.
However, in today's digital world, it's not uncommon for candidates to research a potential company long before they ever speak to a hiring manager.
So, how can you create the image that engages your ideal employee?
1. Celebrate Your Company Culture
Today's professionals begin the search for the ideal position online and through their preferred recruitment partner. When a finance professional wants to move companies, they look on social media, check specialist job listings, and gather information from corporate websites.
Though an engaging role description is a great way to inspire top-performing talent, showcasing your company culture doesn't have to stop there. Demonstrate what new employees can expect when they come to you by publishing blog posts, recording videos to share on social media, and generating case studies about your recent projects.
The more information you make available to your candidates, the more confident they'll feel applying for your position.
2. Ask for Feedback and Adapt
If you want to know how you can convince a new fees administrator or purchasing coordinator to join your team, why not directly ask for guidance from an existing professional on your staff? If you can uncover what compels your most valuable hires to stick with your brand, then you can draw more attention to those features the next time you advertise a role, or conduct an interview.
Importantly, asking for feedback doesn't necessarily mean listening to all the good things your employees have to say about your business and ignoring the rest. Consider sending out surveys to find out more about what's working well for your company, and what you might need to change.
Even if someone doesn't decide to join your staff, that doesn't necessarily mean that he or she can't help you to improve your employer brand. There are plenty of reasons why a professional might reject your offer, beyond a problem with company culture. However, anyone who interacts with your organisation can share information about you online that contributes to your overall image.
In our highly-connected social world, it's important to make sure that the conversations you inspire are as positive as possible. This means that everything from your job specs, to your onboarding process and hiring interviews must support your brand impression and image.
Remember, once you've brought someone new into your professional group, you'll need to continue building on that initial relationship to improve the chances that each hire will become an advocate for your business.
4. Monitor Your Reputation
The most important thing you can understand about your employer brand is that it will continue to change and grow with time - regardless of whether you're refining it or not. There are always going to be people out there talking about your company, and being aware of the conversation ensures that you can start to steer it in the right direction.
Remember to monitor mentions of your name on social media, and if possible, give your existing employees the resources they need to contribute to the impression you're trying to create. For instance, if you encourage your staff to take pride in your business when they're online, they can help to market your organisation for you.