The Alberta Job Centre posts about how employer branding can benefit the recruiting process. When the competition for talent in tight, what can an employer do to set themselves apart from everyone else looking to hire?
Here are five benefits of developing a strong employer brand:
- A strong employer brand can help your organization stand out. With the shift to fragmented workforces of small and mid-sized businesses, it can be challenging to recruit and retain employees, if you don’t have a consistent employer brand.
- Positioning your employer brand helps you attract and retain people who “fit”. With four generations in the workplace and a wide variance in employee motivations, a compelling employer brand can help you identify, attract and retain the right people.
- A great employer brand can help you stand out, even when you don’t have the resources to offer traditional benefits or salaries. Many people prefer to work for employers aligned with their values. A great employer brand can help you become an employer of choice.
- A distinct employer brand can streamline recruitment. By being clear about your organization’s values, goals and culture, you can avoid interviewing people who are out of sync with your organization. And you can increase applications from people who “fit”.
- Great people seek out great brands. The best potential employees may not be the ones applying to random job postings. Great people seek out great employers who represent opportunities to fulfill their goals, achieve their dreams and live their values. By building a great employer brand, you can compel great hires to seek you out – rather than waiting for a job opening to come up.
3 responses so far ↓
Rita Ashley // Oct 26, 2008 at 4:47 pm
One often overlooked aspect of employer branding is how they locate excellent candidates. If you want to be perceived as a top employer, using random and common techniques for recruiting cancel your efforts. Hiring respected recruiters, using your own HR resources and expanding your corporate network via social networks (linkedin.com for example) all trump using the job boards. Quality candidates eschew job boards in favor of networking as do quality companies.
The Job Coach
http://www.jobsearchdebugged.com
Janice Pence // Mar 23, 2009 at 6:42 pm
What does a bad new hire cost?
After years in HR, I’ve always heard – ‘What does a bad hire cost?’ If you make a lapse in judgment, what does it mean to the bottom line? Commonly I’ve been told – two years’ salary. For instance hiring someone at 50K means you lose the 100K in pay, benefits, time and training. These are things easily measured. I’ve found the true risk is much deeper.
We all forget that this person represents our company. It is their face on our message, our values and our mission. We, like most, have worked for decades to build a brand that is well respected and admired within our community. Salesmen at our company typically hold on to their positions for years, so the public face of our company is very stable.
We hired someone who looked very promising on paper. They had all the experience, credentials and interviewed very well. After 10 months of employment we found that this one decision cost us millions in sales and the loss of a handful of our core clients. Looking back all of the signs were all there. We decided to bend the rules and forgo some of our standard testing since this candidate ‘looked so good on paper.’ A simple Myers-Briggs report would have revealed just how strict the guy was. His personality was very extreme and it offended more than it helped.
The public saw us as the company was easy to get along with. We saw a candidate that would offer structure. This snap decision created conflict with our public persona and allowed a competitor to steal our best customers. Take it from me, don’t hold back with anyone and understand each new hire represents your company to the world.
Janice Pence // Mar 23, 2009 at 6:43 pm
What does a bad new hire cost?
After years in HR, I’ve always heard – ‘What does a bad hire cost?’ If you make a lapse in judgment, what does it mean to the bottom line? Commonly I’ve been told – two years’ salary. For instance hiring someone at 50K means you lose the 100K in pay, benefits, time and training. These are things easily measured. I’ve found the true risk is much deeper.
We all forget that this person represents our company. It is their face on our message, our values and our mission. We, like most, have worked for decades to build a brand that is well respected and admired within our community. Salesmen at our company typically hold on to their positions for years, so the public face of our company is very stable.
We hired someone who looked very promising on paper. They had all the experience, credentials and interviewed very well. After 10 months of employment we found that this one decision cost us millions in sales and the loss of a handful of our core clients. Looking back all of the signs were all there. We decided to bend the rules and forgo some of our standard testing since this candidate ‘looked so good on paper.’ A simple
Myers-Briggs report would have revealed just how strict the guy was. His personality was very extreme and it offended more than it helped.
The public saw us as the company was easy to get along with. We saw a candidate that would offer structure. This snap decision created conflict with our public persona and allowed a competitor to steal our best customers. Take it from me, don’t hold back with anyone and understand each new hire represents your company to the world.
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