EB success.

The requirement for qualified candidates is increasing across Europe, signifying a tough time for employers in the labour market. All types of organisations must now ask themselves; what makes us stand out and what makes the candidates choose us as employer? An important answer to that question is and will always be the brand – especially your employer brand.

Great employer branding is an important element that makes you stand out from your competitors and helps secure the best talent. Jobseekers are increasingly showing interest in their employers’ values, and employer branding plays a central part in highlighting these values. According to Deloitte (Millennial Survey, 2015), the importance of employer’s values is rapidly increasing. With competition for qualified jobseekers increasing, organisations need to make their values visible in a durable way, to attract future talent.

 

From employer brand to employer branding

An employer brand is something that all employers have and need to create. The employees most likely talk about their work with family, friends and colleagues. Bearing this in mind, your employer brand already exists. Why not make use of this and actively strengthen the values you want your organisation to be associated with? Employer branding is in fact something you actively need to work on, to influence what’s associated with your organisation. Employer branding has its own niche, and requires tangible efforts to strengthen it, just like any other company´s communication and PR.

You can strengthen your employer brand by building a special career page on your website, create an Instagram account where you share the internal culture or make the internal culture more visible on other Social Media channels. It´s about keeping the planning of valuable employer branding activities active.

 

Sync the employer branding with your marketing

If your employer branding isn’t compatible with what you communicate in your marketing, you risk creating a confusing image of your organisation and culture. An inexplicit image can create confusion amongst employees and possibly scare away potential employees from applying. Due to the lack of clarity, they can’t create a clear impression of your organisation. Ensure that you communicate a uniform image of your organisation and that your employer branding is comprehensible on all platforms. Do you transmit the same message on all platforms? Are your values clearly transmitted? These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself and look at the organisation from an outside perspective.

 

Communicate the truth

Employees are a central part of any employer brand. Therefore, it´s of great importance that your employees accept the image of your organisation that’s being communicated in your employer branding. To communicate an employer image of your organisation that employees do not respect can create the opposite effect and dissatisfaction. If the truth is not communicated, you risk disappointing new employees and they might not stay in the organisation very long. Therefore, it´s of great importance to work with the internal organisational culture to ensure that the employees agree on what´s communicated externally in your employer branding. This can create a discourse about your company and which values needed to be associated with the organisation.

Improving your employer brand, both internally and in external communications, is a simple way of creating competitive advantages. It can make you both look and be more unique as an employer, which in the long run can ensure you recruit the best available talent. Take advantage of the employer brand you already possess and continually build something meaningful and beneficial from it!