Employer branding

How will you make sure that job seekers in the disability and community care sector look to you first? In a cluttered employment space where candidates are bombarded by very similar messages, how do you make your name stand out?

You can be perceived as an employer of choice by telling your story in such a way that your ideal candidate knows all about the benefits you offer and your organisational culture. One very effective way of conveying yourself as an employer of choice is to develop your employer brand.

How employer branding can help you to attract candidates

Employer branding is the ‘promise of an experience’. Looking at the entirety of your business allows key ‘employer value’ points to be identified, and from these a strategy is created. This results in a set of key messages, a look and feel and a ‘personality’ which makes up your employer brand.

What this means is that whenever a candidate comes into contact with your business, be that through advertising, career fairs or editorial, they get a very clear idea of what it’s like to work for you.

Remember, though, that one of the most powerful brand building tools is word-of-mouth, so when your own people promote you as an employer, your Employment Value Proposition (EVP) is amplified.

The measurable strength of an employer brand isn’t just captured in the ‘promise’ but in the delivery of that ‘promise’ throughout the ‘actual’ employment experience. 

The benefits of a good employer brand

In a sector where reputation is so important and competition for staff is so strong, the value of having a good employer brand cannot be underestimated.

One of the common misconceptions of employer branding is that it is focused on the potential candidate, when in fact it does a very important job in making current staff feel valued, which has a flow on affect in the reduction of turnover and recruitment costs.

Where to apply your employer brand

When you consider the ‘lifecycle’ of an employee - initial attraction right through to recommending an organisation as a place to work - you begin to understand the importance of the employer brand. Your employer brand should be clearly identifiable at every stage of an employee’s experience with your organisation to help attract, recruit and retain the right people.

Attraction

• Recruitment advertising
• Recommend-a-friend schemes
• Job Fairs and open days
• Recruitment consultants (consultants can actively seek candidates on your behalf)
• News articles and blogs
• Careers website (focused on delivering recruitment-specific information)

Conversion

• Careers website
• Information pack/company profile
• Application process
• Interview process
• Offer of employment
• Welcome pack

Retention

• The induction process
• The working environment
• Training and development
• Annual General Meetings
• Intranet – your organisation’s own internally focused website
• Internal marketing (e.g. posters and newsletters)

For additional information read our case study on employer branding or contact our Talent Advisors.