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One of the best ways to increase sales is through clearly communicating what sets your product apart from others in the marketplace. This same concept can be applied to your organization’s recruiting efforts. Your company must promote itself in order to attract top-quality talent. One of the best ways to do so is to create a distinctive employment brand.
The key to employer branding is clearly and consistently advertising your organization’s strengths and unique attributes. The fact that your organization is a great place to work will do you no good if potential applicants don’t know about your attractive benefits program, work-life balance, comfortable company culture, or other advantages.
Increasing awareness of your brand
Your organization’s individual branding strategy will depend on the type of image you are attempting to portray, the organization’s culture, and the type of applicants you are trying to attract. Formulating a distinct brand image may necessitate gaining input from the organization’s marketing department and executive team. It may also require a review of your organization’s strategic plan.
When focusing on branding efforts, consider how likely it is that potential candidates know of the company. This can be crucial when it comes to small and mid-sized employers’ attempts to fill high-priority positions. While potential applicants close to the organization’s headquarters and branch offices might be aware of the company, what about qualified applicants located elsewhere? The answer to this question may help your organization further direct its efforts.
Sponsoring trade and industry organizations, engaging in philanthropic and community projects, and maintaining a social media presence are all methods to grow your organization’s brand recognition among potential job candidates. The methods your organization chooses to use should match your company culture and the image you are trying to send.
Once your organization selects a specific branding plan, it will be important to consistently publicize the chosen image. Repeated exposure to a well-defined brand creates positive recognition. This means your branding efforts will need to be largely uniform in their style, tone, logo use — even fonts.
Considerations in employer branding
The message you send through your branding efforts must be rooted in reality. It does your organization no good to advertise your office as a relaxed, informal workplace if employees are expected to be highly professional and dressed in business formal attire. If your branding efforts are anything less than truthful they will backfire and employees may leave your organization soon after being hired. Trust in your organization will decline, as will the number of quality job applicants.
Maintaining this brand is also important. Don’t treat only new hires and potential applicants with “employer customer service.” Make sure all employees feel like they matter and fit in with the organization’s culture. After all, there are few things more powerful in attracting potential applicants than a glowing recommendation from a satisfied current or former employee.
The better your branding efforts, the more likely your organization is to become an employer of choice in your industry and locality. By focusing on what qualities set your organization apart from the pack, you will send a message to potential job applicants that your organization understands its mission and knows the type of quality human capital it needs to succeed.