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When you think about your dealership employment brand, what story is your career site telling potential candidates about joining your team? If you don’t have a strong story, chances are you’re missing out on star candidates, who instead choose to work for competitors with more compelling stories to tell.
A strong dealership employment brand story can help your dealership stand out from the competition and attract top candidates in today’s competitive job market. And attracting and hiring top candidates will ultimately lead to increased efficiency, productivity and revenue at your dealership.
Whether you don’t have an established employment brand story or are looking to improve the one you have, here are some best practices to get started.
Establish Core Values
Your career site and job descriptions offer you the opportunity to tell a story about what it’s like to work for your team. And a key way to help potential applicants better understand what it’s like to work for your company is to define – and adhere to – core values, or fundamental beliefs of your dealership. Establish core values that the talent you’re seeking can identify with – and that can help you attract candidates who will best serve your customers.
Once you have core values established, integrate them into day-to-day work and embrace the core values to build your best team, and help measure individual and organizational success. For example, ask candidates questions related to your core values during the interview process to ensure they’re good fits for your team. Or, if an employee is underperforming, think about whether he or she is embodying your core values. If not, this presents an opportunity to train the employee on how to live up to your dealership’s core values and improve performance.
Highlight a Defined Career Path
Today’s job seekers demand a clearly defined career path and if your dealership career site doesn’t provide candidates with an understanding of career progression, they will likely find a competitor that does. On your career site, show potential paths for employees on the sales, technician and operations sides of the business.
Show visuals of the paths on your career site, and even highlight examples of employees who have risen through the ranks. For example, a top Group Vice President at Toyota Motor Sales started his automotive career at a Toyota Service Department in Cleveland, Ohio. His experience in the service department positioned him for a career at a Toyota regional office to lead the service and parts efforts, and he eventually rose through the ranks to Group Vice President. If you have similar success stories at your dealership, don’t hesitate to share them – doing so will get potential applicants excited about the possibility of long-term career growth with your dealership.
Continuously Share Engaging Content
To further expand your dealership employment brand story, beyond highlighting traditional benefits, your career site should highlight company photos and videos to excite top job seekers. This can include anything from pictures of your team to company outings to a glance into day-to-day life at your dealership. If you have the resources to do so, also consider interviewing employees on video so you can share testimonials about how great it is to work at your dealership.
When posting photos, make sure to only upload the high resolution images and avoid including media with children or customers unless you have permission to share.
Support a Positive Candidate Experience
Your dealership should place as much emphasis on creating a top candidate experience as you do on creating a great customer experience. With a poor candidate experience experience, you risk losing out on quality candidates to the competition – and without quality employees, it’s nearly impossible to offer great customer service.
Not only can a poor candidate experience cause you to lose candidates who are already going through your hiring process, but it can cause your overall dealership employment brand story to take a hit. Job candidates often leave reviews about the candidate experience on Glassdoor, Facebook and other channels – and a negative review can drive future candidates away. Key ways to support a positive candidate experience include: reviewing new applicants quickly, following all steps in the hiring process, scheduling interviews in a timely manner, efficiently communicating with candidates, and following up with all candidates whether or not they receive an offer.
Your dealership employment brand story is critical to attracting quality candidates and building your best team. For more information on how to hire top employees at your dealership, download our eBook, “Planning for People in Retail Automotive.”
