Did you know that 75% of job seekers are more likely to apply for jobs with companies that actively manage their employer brand? On the other hand, 86% of American women and 67% of American men wouldn’t join a company with a bad reputation. If you’re not taking the proper steps to create a positive brand, you’re missing out on a significant portion of the job market. So what can be done to make sure you’re not missing the mark? Keep reading to learn how to leverage recruitment strategies that showcase your brand’s sterling reputation.
What Is an Employer Brand?
An employer brand is the total experience that jobseekers, candidates and employees experience when engaged with an organization. It encompasses a lot, such as an organization’s mission, values, culture, community, passions, ways of working, total rewards, and personality.
A positive employer brand communicates to job prospects and current staff that your organization is a good employer and a great place to work. Your employer brand affects all aspects of employment, from recruitment and onboarding to employee retention and engagement.
Benefits of Cultivating a Positive Employer Brand
There are several substantial benefits of cultivating a positive employer brand, including:
- Attract top talent: When you position your organization as a happy, fulfilling place to work, you’ll attract the best candidates. A recent study found that 84% of job seekers are willing to forego higher pay if you offer ample non-monetary benefits like great culture, growth opportunities, flexibility, etc.
- Decrease time and cost per hire: A robust employer brand can lead to a substantial backlog of potential candidates in your talent pipeline. Not only is this great news for the hiring manager, but also for the company’s bottom line. With an influx of talent, you can screen candidates early, even before publicly posting a job opening. When a position opens up, you’ll have a surplus of highly qualified candidates to consider instead of starting the recruitment process from scratch — and you can likely forgo a lot of the costs associated with that.
- Boost retention: When your company culture is positive and your employer brand is strong, your employees will want to stick around as long as possible. Considering that it costs between 30%-150% of an employee’s salary to replace them, you can see why doing all you can to keep employees happy and boost retention is so critical.
- Build a positive reputation: A strong positive reputation influences more than potential and current employees; it stretches beyond them to your customers, the greater community, and your stakeholders. That can help you experience fast and sustainable growth.
Strategies for Cultivating a Positive Employer Brand
Consider the following recruitment strategies to help your organization cultivate a positive employer brand:
- Leverage social media: Social media is the perfect place to start cultivating a positive employer brand. You can post fun and engaging content that lets potential employees know what you’re all about and testimonials from current employees about how great working for you is. Also, encourage employees to share things they’re proud of on social media.
- Enhancing the employer brand experience: There are a number of ways you can enhance the employer brand experience, starting with improving the candidate experience by making sure you have a transparent and engaging recruitment process, focusing on employee engagement and encouraging feedback, and creating a work environment that fosters collaboration, creativity, and innovation.
- Creating an internal culture of appreciation: Everyone wants to feel appreciated. It becomes even more important when trying to foster a positive work environment. Employees who have been recognized are 63% more likely to stay at their current jobs. Create an internal culture of appreciation by encouraging open and honest communication, listening to employee concerns and taking action, creating opportunities for collaboration, and recognizing employees for their hard work regularly, whether it’s with “employee of the __” awards, lunch with the boss, an afternoon off, or any other ways you want to incentivize your workforce.
- Showcasing employee achievements: Social media, recognition events, awards ceremonies, a company newsletter, and sharing employee stories are all great places to start showcasing employee achievements. Public recognition will motivate all of your employees to be more productive and do their best so they can get recognized too.
- Branding employee referral programs: Employee referral programs encourage current employees to refer people they know for jobs within your organization. This is a great way to expand your hiring pool and reach more qualified candidates. To encourage participation in the referral program, recognize and reward employees who participate through cash prizes, gift cards, and other incentives that align with the company’s culture and values.
Measuring the Impact
It’s important to keep track of your efforts to cultivate a positive employer brand so you can make any adjustments if you’re not meeting your goals. Do so by:
- Identifying key performance indicators: To effectively measure the impact of a positive employer brand, you must identify key permanence indicators, or KPIs, that align with your goals. Things you can measure include employee engagement, retention rates, time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, and candidate satisfaction.
- Analyzing results: Once you’ve identified your KPIs, analyze the results to ensure your recruitment strategies are on track to accomplish what you intend. You can do so via employee surveys, recruitment metrics, and social media analytics. Then, use the data you collect to identify areas for improvement and adjust your employer brand strategies accordingly.
Final Thoughts
When you focus your recruitment strategies on cultivating and highlighting a positive employer brand, you’ll attract top candidates, decrease the time and cost per hire, and boost retention. But the benefits don’t end there. A strong employer brand can also help your company build a positive reputation within your industry and community, enhancing your overall brand image. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and greater trust from stakeholders, which can further supercharge your growth and success.
Work With Bayard
If you’re looking for help developing recruitment strategies that highlight a strong employer brand, Bayard can help. With our expert team and innovative solutions, we can help you achieve your recruiting goals and grow your business. Bayard is the industry leader in recruitment, with a history of success that spans 100 years. Learn more today.
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