Marketing 101 taught us that a brand is a promise; a faithful and timeless representation of an organization’s values and commitment to its stakeholders. Many consider that such a promise is applicable only to the customer base, but in truth, it extends to business partners, shareholders, communities, candidates and employees.
Recruitment and brand integrity: it’s not often that these words are thought of together, but recruitment and the integrity of your brand are intrinsically linked. Indeed, a job candidate’s decision to accept an offer can be influenced by the integrity of your brand. Conversely, your business and brand can be affected by the experience candidates have during the recruitment process.
What is an Employer Brand?
The employer brand is the identity of a company as an employer of choice. For effective employer brand promotion, however, the company can only attract current and future employees if it has an identity that is true, credible, relevant, distinctive and aspirational.
What is Employer Branding?
If the brand is the identity or promise, then employer branding is the process of promoting a company, or an organization, as the employer of choice to a desired target group, one which a company needs and wants to recruit and retain. The process facilitates the company’s ability in attracting, recruiting and retaining ideal employees – referred to as “top talent” in recruitment – and helps secure the achievement of the company’s business plan.
What is Your Employer Value Proposition (EVP)?
In essence, the EVP is the set of unique employer offerings which are considered valuable to “top talent”. EVP means different things to different people, but some core commonalities do exist:
- Career Growth Opportunities
- Fair Compensation
- Company Culture and Values
- Work-Life Balance
- Medical and Retirement Benefits
Interesting Employer Brand stats from a recent Glassdoor survey:
- 69% would NOT accept a job with an employer that had a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed!
- 84% would consider leaving their current jobs if offered another role with a company that had an excellent corporate reputation
- 76% of qualified candidates want to know what makes the company an attractive place to work
- 94% are more likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages their employer brand by responding to reviews, updating social profiles, sharing updates on the culture and work environment, etc.
Brand Communications While Recruiting
One of the simplest and easily avoidable issues that erodes a brand is the branded communication, or, in the case of recruitment, simply the lack of any communication. Simply acknowledging an application and providing feedback on the success of an application are two forms of communication many organizations often fail to undertake. Worse still, someone attends an interview and they receive no further follow up at all.
Marketers spend significant resources in building and maintaining brand integrity, which can be quickly eroded by both internal and external recruiters who represent your brand inappropriately or in a misleading way. Negligence in communication is one thing, but negligence in what is communicated is another. Job descriptions, company performance and strategy may be overstated and misrepresented in both an exaggerated or negative way. For example, a recruiter may misunderstand the strategic direction of the company, thereby providing a false impression. Career and hiring decisions built on these types of foundations lead ultimately to dissatisfaction and an erosion of the integrity of the brand.
Recruiters as Brand Advocates
It is difficult to ensure brand integrity, particularly with respect to the often overlooked recruitment team, whether it’s the internal team or an external recruitment agency. Here are a few tips for when you’re working with a recruitment agency to ensure that your brand promise is maintained during the recruitment process:
- Investigate and invest in your external recruiters. Initial vetting and a subsequent commitment by your organization to truly partner with your recruiting agency will ensure that they properly represent your brand.
- Spend time with your recruiter. This may be simply a face-to-face brief or something more in depth. Take the time to explain the role and why you need to hire; do so in context of your employer brand. ‘Just get me someone like last time’ simply won’t cut it.
- Set the tone by providing relevant corporate material. This could be online content, digital collateral, or links to third-party review sites, all of which prospective employees can leverage to assist in their research and exploration of fit. The simplest of these is a job description that communicates the consistent branding and the brand’s values.
- If you are ‘going to market’ with recruiting advertising, ensure that advertising templates are consistent with your brand.
- Ensure that you respond to ALL applications. Don’t take the easy path of stating that only successful applicants will be contacted. Think long-term pipeline building.
Your brand is not something to be considered only by marketing professionals – brand integrity is a very important part of the recruitment process. How and who do you want representing your employer brand in the market?
There’s a great deal that comes into play when attempting to attract and convert top talent. When you’re ready to review your employer brand and discuss recruitment marketing best practices in support of your talent acquisition needs, we’re ready to make it happen for you. Until then, all the best!
