In this hiring market, you need to stand out amongst the competition to attract top talent. If you don’t have a compelling employment brand in place, you’ll likely encounter more obstacles than necessary securing qualified applicants in the current post-pandemic hiring crisis. In fact, surveys show that 69% of job seekers would reject a job offer from a company with a bad employer brand.
With the right employment brand in place, you can easily convert applicants to new hires. Hireology has compiled this list of elements to pay careful attention to if you want to improve your employment brand.
Compelling career site
The most engaged candidates apply to jobs directly through the company’s career sites – Hireology data shows that 80% of career site applicants are quality, the highest percentage across all recruitment marketing channels. Embrace your career site as an opportunity to keep top candidates engaged by telling a story about your culture, people and core values.
Make sure to link to your career site from your company home page and in any job descriptions you post through outside sources. Also include an option to apply via mobile, as many of today’s job seekers search for and apply to open roles via mobile devices. And continuously share engaging content to get top talent excited about applying – including team photos and videos, employee testimonials, your latest benefits, and more.
Effective job descriptions
In your job descriptions, focus on what you have to offer more so than requirements, as the job description is your chance to sell applicants on the role and your company. Your job descriptions should begin with a detailed company overview that touches on such things as location, company history, culture, awards, community involvement and career growth. You should also highlight benefits, responsibilities and key requirements of the role, so job seekers can gauge whether or not they’re truly a fit for the role and your team before applying.
Comprehensive list of benefits
Today’s top talent is motivated by much more than pay alone. On your career site and in your job descriptions, highlight all the benefits your company has to offer employees, including your healthcare benefits, paid time off, training opportunities and professional development budget, to name a few.
Defined career paths
Today’s job seekers demand clearly defined career paths and if your employment brand strategy doesn’t include career progression, top talent will likely accept roles elsewhere. Show visuals of the paths on your career site and describe career paths in job descriptions, and highlight examples of employees who have risen through the ranks.
Enterprise Rent-a-Car is one employer that is well known for its commitment to defined employee career paths. Through its management training program, employees are set up for long-term growth and success. On the company career site, the management trainee career path is outlined all the way from entry-level to vice president and general manager. Enterprise also has a page on the career site dedicated to employee profiles, which includes several diverse testimonials and success stories. By doing the same on your team, you can motivate qualified job seekers to apply to your open roles.
Social media presence
If your brand only exists on your career page, you’re missing out on the opportunity to reach a much wider audience. Job seekers are performing research on the positions — and companies — they apply for now more than ever before, thanks to the large number of available positions.
Social media is the perfect chance for your business to not only establish credibility in your industry, but also to showcase your work culture to potential applicants. As mentioned before, candidates have more pathways available to them and do their homework when it comes to committing to a job. By having various social media pages, like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, and maintaining their respective profiles according to your employment brand standards, you can help stand apart from the hiring crowd.
Employees as an extension of your brand
Employees represent your company more than just when they’re scheduled on a shift. If you have a long term employee, it’s likely because they enjoy the work or the benefits — both of which you can capitalize on by including employee testimonials on your social media and career site. When your company is endorsed by current employees who rave about how great their career with you has been, you’re even more likely to catch a candidate’s eye.
You can take your employees as an extension of your brand a step further by implementing an employee referral program to source applicants. Referrals are hired up to four times more often than non-referred candidates, plus they’re already vetted by people who already know the job — your employees.
Your employment brand can ultimately make or break your hiring success. And you need qualified and engaged employees to ensure you offer top-notch customer service and your business remains profitable. To learn more about building a great employment brand – and assess the current brand you have in place – download our resource, “The Hireology Employment Brand Playbook.”
