Employment branding is essential to attracting candidates, engaging employees and leaving former employees with the best taste possible of your company. The amount of effort you put into advertising strategies to attract and retain customers should also be applied to your employees and candidates as well. If your employees and candidates are happy, so are your customers.
A good employment brand is all-encompassing, meaning it doesn’t stop at just recruitment and covers all steps of the employee’s journey. But your strategy and execution must be well-thought out or you risk damaging your company’s reputation. Here are some common employment branding mistakes that employers make:
1) Your content is superficial
Take a look at your photos. Are they taken from a stock collection that just look like people that work for you? If you have photos of your actual employees, are they taken while they are actually working or do your employees look like they are forcing smiles and trying too hard to pose? If so, candidates are likely to interpret your company as ingenuine and superficial and be turned off. Also pay attention to the tone you use in content on your company website, social media pages and job postings. Do you have too many exclamation points or repeat the same flashy words? This type of content is also likely to turn off job seekers.
2) Failing to get employee and candidate feedback
Another one of the common employment branding mistakes is failing to take surveys and conduct interviews with employees, former employees and candidates on what they think about your company and employment branding. Go as deep as possible in getting feedback, asking what their thoughts are on your website, products, pay and benefits, application process, interview process, etc. Then you will know where you need to do the most work.
3) No one can find your employment branding content
Most candidates will do thorough research about your company, and if there isn’t enough information that comes up they will move on. One of the biggest employment branding mistakes is not using enough avenues to display your employment brand, and lacking the specific information candidates (and employees) want. Make sure your website is complete and detailed enough with information about your mission, recent news and awards, employee profiles and testimonials, what products you offer and what causes you are passionate about. In your job listings include salary details and benefits details, but don’t go on and on to a point where company perks seem to be the main focus. Good candidates are more concerned with company culture and opportunity for growth.
Work on developing a company culture that will attract people and make that the main focus. Also, take advantage of all the social media channels you can. Think of your ideal candidate and where they are most likely to be found: specific events, online forums, niche job boards, etc. And another one of the common employment branding mistakes is forgetting passive candidates. Create a passive pool of talent and keep them engaged with social media, e-mail, phone calls, etc.
4) Not having patience
Employment branding is an ongoing process, and unless you have a specific department that focuses on it, you really need to get multiple departments involved (public relations, marketing, HR, etc.) Make sure you are continuing clear communication between departments on what needs to be changed or improved to create a stronger employment brand. Keep honing the profile of your ideal candidate and ideal employee. And stick with candidates through every step: job application, phone interview, interview, job offer, employment, exiting your company.
Author: Jessica Cody
Jessica Cody, a native of Fairfield County, Connecticut, has a background in online marketing and public relations. Currently, she works at VHMNetwork LLC in the role of Marketing Analyst. She is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, where she studied Journalism and Political Science. She is also an avid runner with a passion for the outdoors.
