Building Your Employer Brand – The Key Milestones

Before we start, what is an employer brand?

Your employer brand is how your business is viewed by others; whether that be employees, the public, potential applicants or other businesses. Your employer brand affects more than you probably realise; like how your business is viewed in the market, how it’s perceived you look after your team, how you conduct yourself in the business community and the general perception of your brand.

Building your employer brand can feel like a big job, thankfully we’ve distilled the key milestones for you, breaking up this big project into bite-sized chunks for you to tackle. You can leverage great results from identifying your Employer Value Proposition (what makes you stand out), so if you don’t have a plan…read on!

1. Your Strategy

We always recommend you start at your strategy and your wider business goals, consider the type of talent you really need in your business and think about the objectives you’re working towards, what talent gaps do you have? Also consider:

• What skills and capabilities do people need to have?
• Who is it your looking to attract?
• What type of role/s?

Consider how you attract these “type of people” in the market, what do they value and where do they look for roles?

2. The Mirror

Next, take a look in the mirror, what do you look like currently? (not you…the business) What type of talent do you currently attract? Does this help or hinder your growth and you achieving your goals?

Think about the things you do well, and if you already have a plan in place, consider how well it’s communicated. A recent Inversum study found that “most (61%) companies have an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) but it doesn’t seem to be well circulated within their organisations” Consider how you engage your teams in your brand journey.

3. Glassdoor

Glassdoor??..I’m not just talking about the website, although that is a consideration. Imagine yourself as an active job hunter looking for your next key career move, what do you see when looking at your business?

Think about how you’re currently perceived, what do people see when they look in? Do you have a social presence? Is your story told on your website? Do you have a careers page? Have you got Glassdoor set up with reviews from your team? Consider how your organisation’s story is told through your social channels?

Once you have an idea of what you look like, measure it up against your competitors, who stands out?

4. The Plan

With the insight you’ve gleaned, think about your key focuses, what 3 or 4 areas will you push on to get the best results? From here you can start to build a plan of action.

Remember to base your employer brand on the attraction of people you’re looking for, consider how to attract the skills and capabilities you need.

What’s unique about your business? Why should people join your team and not the one down the road/a competitor.

Think about how to improve your employee experience, what’s it really like to work in your business? This should be a key part of your plan!

As part of your plan it’s a great idea to run targeted campaigns, but you also need a consistent approach. Your employer brand will evolve, along with your business, don’t just do this once and leave it.

5. Engagement

Communicating your plan and driving engagement is just as important as having a plan in the first place.

Consider the social channels you’re utilising, drive engagement, not only internally but externally as well. Think about the communications you push out (internally in your business and externally to the world). Ensure you tell your employees stories and get them onboard, they’re your engagement army! Give everyone a role and hold them accountable.

6. The Yardstick

It’s key to check you’re making progress, there are lots of metrics you could use, but some basic analytics could include average employee retention rate, new hire quality and employee engagement levels. From this you’ll be able to recognise what is/isn’t working and demonstrate return on your investment.

Don’t forget, when your review your strategic direction, repeat the above and you’ll be on the way to achieving bigger wins and easing your people pain.

Want some help distilling your employer brand or attracting top talent? Click here

Let’s talk! – 01773 828326 – [email protected]

Last Updated on 5 years by Gary Parsons

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