Written by Chris West

What is employer branding?

Organisations need to understand what their employees, stakeholders and customers think of them. Companies have developed techniques to help attract customers, communicate with them effectively and maintain their loyalty to a consumer brand. Employer branding involves applying a similar approach to people management and describes how an organisation markets what it has to offer to potential and existing employees.

Employer branding in recruitment

This is the process of promoting a company as an ‘employer of choice’ to those people it wants to attract, recruit and retain. Having strong employee ambassadors can be extremely helpful when trying to recruit but this can only be done when your company has a genuinely positive brand.

Job seekers don’t want to work for companies with negative associations, such as those that pay low wages, have bad reviews, poor ethics, handle PR disasters badly or sell products and services that people complain about. They don’t want to work for brands they don’t respect or like.

 

Why is it important?

Having a strong positive employer brand is crucial for an effective recruitment process. It’s also vital for business survival. Positive employer branding helps to attract and retain top talent. These are the people that all companies want because they help businesses grow and prosper.

 

The benefits of a good employer brand include:

• 84% of job seekers say the reputation of a company as an employer is important in their decision-making process.
• 50% of candidates say they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation – even for a pay increase.
• A great employer brand can reduce turnover by 28%, cost per hire by 50%, companies can attract 50% more qualified applicants and the time it takes to hire is 1-2 times faster.

As you can see it is vital that companies take the time to build a positive branding as this is a key factor for candidates looking to join the company.