Employer Branding in Recruitment

As the job market grows increasingly competitive, employer branding is becoming a more important factor in recruitment than ever. In this article, we’re diving into employer branding in recruitment and how to get it right.

We’ll cover:

• What is employer branding in recruitment?
• The importance of employer branding in recruitment
• 7 best practices for employer branding in recruitment

Let’s get into it.

What is employer branding in recruitment?

Your employer brand is your company’s reputation. It’s how the general public — including current and potential employees — perceives your company as an employer. That also means that you have an employer brand, whether you’ve invested time and energy into it or not.

When it comes to recruitment, employer branding is how you show that your company is a great place to work.

Beyond pay, what do you have to offer that creates a positive, rewarding employee experience? Why should candidates choose your company as a place to fulfill their career goals? The answers to these questions are the selling points you need to get across to both your current and your potential employees.

Good employer branding will boost your recruitment efforts. The right employer branding initiatives can create buzz around your company in your community and industry. Your happiest employees may even help you achieve this by sharing their positive experiences to their networks. This can help you attract top talent — and that’s exactly what you want.

The importance of employer branding in recruitment

There are many reasons why you should include employer branding in your recruitment efforts. We mentioned above that you have an employer brand whether or not you’ve invested time and energy into building it. This makes it even more important to consider the impact your employer brand has on your recruitment efforts.

Just take a look at what can happen to companies who don’t do what it takes to ensure that they’re attractive to both current and potential employees:

• 55% of job seekers who have read a negative review have decided against applying for a position at that company.
• 86% of workers would not consider applying to (or continuing to work for) a company that has a bad reputation as an employer.
• 69% of job seekers would reject a job offer from a company with a poor reputation.

In contrast, according to LinkedIn research, a strong employer brand is twice as likely to be linked to job consideration as a strong company brand. Companies with a strong employer brand also receive applications from 50% more qualified candidates.

There’s ample evidence that a strong employer brand makes it easier to recruit. In fact, one study found that companies with a positive employer brand can hire employees twice as fast, as well as cut their recruitment costs in half. The importance of employer branding in recruitment is, we think, undeniable.

7 best practices for employer branding in recruitment

1. Know your company

To successfully incorporate employer branding in recruitment, you need to know your company — your vision, mission, culture, and values, as well as your company goals. Knowing your company is crucial to understanding what about it, beyond just pay, will be attractive to employees.

Here are some examples of elements that are highly relevant to employer branding in recruitment. Focus on a few that you know you can consistently offer, and commit to delivering them to all employees:

• Opportunities. What opportunities do you offer for e.g. career advancement, formal and on-the-job training, and personal development?
• People. What’s your company culture like? Do you have a culture of trust, collaboration, and good working relationships? Do you focus on team-building activities and events?
• Work. Do you offer challenging, fulfilling responsibilities and a good work-life balance? Do employees play an integral role in fulfilling the company vision?
• Rewards. Does your company offer bonuses, health and retirement benefits, and paid time off? Do you support remote or hybrid work options?
• Organization. What about your mission, vision, and values sets your company apart from the competition?

2. Make sure your employees are happy

It probably goes without saying that it’s important to treat your employees fairly — for employer branding, recruitment, and common sense alike. Your people are your most valuable asset. Without them, your organization wouldn’t be where it is today, and your employees deserve to feel that.

It’s also important to note that a conflict between your organization and an employee can tarnish your employer brand. Whether through word of mouth or on social media, negative experiences with your company can spread like wildfire, and that’s the last thing you want.

The best way to avoid a scenario like that is to invest time and energy into creating a positive work environment where everyone is treated with respect. You should also make sure to maintain good relationships with past employees — their voices are just as influential as your current employees’.

3. Provide a great candidate experience

The candidate experience is an integral part of employer branding in recruitment. Just like your current employees, potential candidates can help your employer brand by sharing their positive experiences with your organization. This only increases the importance of providing a positive, high-quality candidate experience.

Some ways to do this include:

• Clear job descriptions
• An easy application process
• Personalized, clear, and consistent communication
• Providing and requesting feedback
• A transparent hiring process

Finally, it can be easy to forget what the recruitment process feels like from the candidates’ perspective. Remember to practice empathy and ensure that you genuinely connect with candidates during the recruitment process.

Tip: An applicant tracking system (ATS) can help you ensure that you provide a positive candidate experience. You can read more about ATS here.

4. Embrace storytelling

Storytelling is an important part of employer branding in recruitment. Sharing meaningful stories about your company and work culture allows both existing and potential employees to connect with your brand.

One of the most effective ways to embrace storytelling is through employee stories. Sharing employees’ success stories on your career page, blog, or social media shows that you celebrate your people. Not only does that show potential candidates that your company is a great place to work — it also makes your current employees feel even more appreciated.

5. Have an active presence on social media

We mentioned above that sharing employee success stories on social media is a great way to do employer branding in recruitment. For it to pay off, however, you need to have an active social media presence in general.

In most cases, LinkedIn is the best platform for reaching potential candidates. Particularly your LinkedIn Career Page is a great place to share your employee-generated content and testimonials to drive interest in your company.

LinkedIn also allows you to follow and connect with like-minded companies who share similar values to yours. Keeping up with them can be a great source of inspiration for how to do employer branding in recruitment.

Tip: Looking for inspiration for how to do employer branding right? Check out these 13 examples of great employer branding.

6. Host and attend public events

Hosting and attending public industry events is an excellent candidate sourcing strategy, and it’s also a great way to do employer branding in recruitment. It allows you and your current employees to personally show candidates who you are and what you stand for. Candidates will be far more likely to remember you after meeting you in person — and that lasting impression will come in handy when you’re recruiting.

Tip: You don’t have to wait for the opportunity to host a meetup to show candidates who you are. With The Org, candidates can put faces to the names of your team long before they meet them. Set up your company page and let The Org help you source the best candidates.

7. Share the responsibility with your employees

We mentioned earlier that employee-generated content and testimonials are great for employer branding in recruitment. You can take these elements a step further by encouraging your employees to be active on social media themselves. This is also a great opportunity to offer social media training to ensure that everyone knows how to properly use relevant platforms.

Providing social media training will ensure that your employees always follow your brand guidelines when sharing content with their networks. This helps you build a strong, consistent employer brand while simultaneously promoting transparency and honesty through letting your employees show what it’s like to work at your company.

Key takeaways

Employer branding is an essential part of recruitment. Not only does it help to attract potential candidates and show them who you really are — it can also help keep your current employees feeling engaged, connected, and proud of being part of your company.

Doing employer branding in recruitment well takes time and resources. The benefits, however, are well worth the investment.