I’m going to be honest – investing in an employer brand is the hardest area to quickly see tangible and direct results. But it could have the biggest impact.
What do I mean?
Defining an employer brand is tough, but we need to start there. A common misconception – your company’s employer brand is what you are saying. I couldn’t disagree more.
Your company’s employer brand is what they are hearing.
Managing Online Reputations
When we are mad, we vent. To our family. To our friends. To the world through online reviews. Think about how often you tell someone that you had a positive experience vs. how many times you tell someone you had a negative experience.
That’s a common challenge with managing online reputations.
So, what can you do? Proactively ask for testimonials!
Ask people when you place them on assignment to leave a review. Follow up at the end of an assignment to ask for feedback. Send out emails or text messages with links to the online review pages.
The best tactic to battling 1-star testimonials is to push them down with dozens of 4 and 5-star testimonials. Why? Think about if you were checking out a business with 100 reviews. If there were 90 reviews of 4 and 5 stars but 10 reviews of 2 stars or less, what would you believe?
Become a Best Place to Work
At the beginning of the blog, I may have been a little dramatic in that I couldn’t disagree more than an employer brand isn’t what you are saying, but it’s what they are hearing.
Why? Because you can influence what they are hearing by creating and executing a plan to become a Best Place to Work in your community.
If you don’t think people pay attention, let me share the example.
In the Western New York area, Wegmans is a very popular grocery store. On top of that, it’s also recognized as a Best Place to Work in the community. How do I know that?
Wegmans does a fantastic job each year to share that it’s named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune Magazine. It’s been in the top 100 for the past 23 years. They have a public relations campaign locally on TV. They post signs throughout the store. They send emails. It’s impossible not to see.
While I have never personally worked at Wegmans, my lasting impression of their employer brand is that it’s been a fantastic place to work for an extended period of time.
How can your staffing agency earn that distinction locally?
- Literally, become a Best Place to Work – look into local awards and earn that badge.
- Provide a fantastic experience to your employees – they will talk (good or bad.) You want that to be good.
- On social media – promote testimonials, both written and video. Make it appear that everyone who works for you is having an awesome work experience.
- On your website – control the messaging. What is your EVP (employee value proposition)? What does someone get out of working for your staffing agency compared to your competitor?
Again – it’s not what you are saying, it’s what they are hearing. But you can have a huge influence on what they are hearing by becoming a Best Place to Work in your local community.
So Why Is It Hard to Quickly See Results
The employer branding aspect of recruitment marketing takes time. It’s a long play.
Think about job advertising. If you put X amount of dollars toward job advertisements on Indeed, you’re going to see results very quickly in the form of applications.
But what do we so often hear about the quality of applications from recruiters? The quality isn’t good enough!
That’s where the long play of employer branding comes into play.
If your company goes from 2.8 stars to 4.2 stars, that’s going to increase the candidate quality. If people talk about your staffing agency in a positive light with their friends and family, that should help candidate quality. But it’s not going to help tomorrow. It’s going to help in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months down the line.
It’s hard to invest in those areas when ROI doesn’t come right away. But it will. Companies with higher star ratings have better conversion rates on their job ads, which means more applications, better applications, and cheaper applications!
Employer Branding – What Are Candidates Hearing About Your Company?
Employer branding is one of the four pillars of recruitment marketing at Haley Marketing, along with career sites, job advertising, and social recruiting. It’s vital to be seen as a Best Place to Work and strengthen your online reputation.
Contact the Recruitment Marketing team at Haley Marketing to learn how we can help you build your brand and control your reputation.
