When you meet someone in person, the first seven seconds are the most important. That’s how fast your mind sums another person up.
For dealerships looking to hire, the new first impression you give candidates isn’t how sharply you dress or how nice the shoes you wear are — it’s your online presence.
In our 2023 State of Automotive Hiring Report, most (31%) of respondents said they start with a potential employer’s website when deciding whether or not they thought the culture fit their needs.
Do you know what your dealership’s online presence says about you?
3 ways employment branding impacts hiring at your dealership
Your employment branding can heavily influence a candidate’s decision to apply to your open role or not. Read on to learn three key ways employment branding plays a hand in hiring at your dealership.
Workplace culture has particular weight
When a potential employee looks at your website, they’re trying to determine your work culture — and figure out if they could see themselves working for a dealership like yours. You want (and need) to demonstrate that your dealership is an inclusive and diverse workplace if you want to hire the newest generation of workers.
Showcasing employees’ birthdays, work anniversaries, life events, and even personal accomplishments has a great impact on the culture your dealership exudes. If you do this right, you could see an uptick of up to a third of what you’re used to seeing. In that same study from earlier, we found that 36% of automotive job seekers would take a lower paying position with a better work culture.
Show job seekers what they’re getting into
Going beyond workplace culture, your employment branding is an opportunity for job seekers to take a peek at what they’d be getting into with a job at your dealership. If you do this right, you’ll highlight benefits that candidates highly value, like career growth, enjoyable work, and schedule flexibility.
When you put effort into clearly showing applicants the potential positions that a career at your dealership can lead them to, that leaves a positive first impression. Along with that, taking measures to make demanding work more enjoyable and the workday a little more bearable can do wonders for your hiring velocity. This could look like installing heaters in colder climates or fans in the summer (depending on your location) in the service bays and proudly showing this off on your website and social media. Put yourself in an applicant’s shoes: would you apply to a dealership that has the same features as everyone else, or one where they go the extra mile to cater to their employees?
Demonstrate dealership growth
If your dealership doesn’t look like it’s growing, it’s a waving red flag for the automotive talent you want to hire. You want to accurately display what you’re hiring for, but don’t want to seem like you need to start over from scratch for staff.
It’s a good idea to keep one role perpetually open because this shows that your dealership is growing — and as we all know, that’s a rarity these days. The automotive hiring crisis is just beginning, but your website doesn’t need to show that. Job seekers will be looking closely at the job descriptions you use, so it’d be a smart move to use ones that align with the roles you really need filled.
Takeaways
The impact of your dealership’s employment branding has a direct role on your bottom line. If you can make a good impression on candidates online, then you’ll increase your hiring velocity and, ultimately, your staffing level. Start by taking stock of your current online presence with this downloadable employment branding checklist.
