Reputation management has always been crucially important to businesses. It’s also one of the pillars supporting your successful recruitment efforts. As the calendar turns to 2022, be ready with a proactive strategy to build or maintain your positive reputation.
The Importance of Employee Testimonials
Your reputation as an employer directly affects the type of candidates who apply for your jobs – and spread the word to their own contacts about their impression of your company. A whopping majority of job seekers look at companies’ reviews and ratings before deciding where to apply. Here’s where employee testimonials come into play. They’re a great way to leverage the trust applicants have in your regular employees, whose credibility outshines that of any message your C-suite could deliver.
A great place to start is with testimonial videos. Among their advantages is their high degree of shareability. With inspiring videos, you can create highly trustworthy content and leverage your social platforms to widen its reach.
A powerful video testimonial needs a simple structure, specific details woven into a relatable story, and last but not least, authenticity. A video may be shaped as:
- A recap of an employee’s experience: This keeps the viewer engaged and focused while allowing your team member to provide meaningful company details from an insider’s perspective.
- A journey: Journey testimonials show how an employee successfully moved up from Point A to Point B within your organization. They’re also a great way to illustrate your company’s values, vision and mission. Use employees in diverse positions so you can better showcase your culture of growth and development.
- Q and As: Use short, snappy clips that address particular topics through a question-and-answer format. Ask people what they like best about their job, what’s so dynamic about specific work processes, or to delve into your most attractive benefits.
Negative Reviews: How to Make Lemonade Out of Online Lemons
Regardless of your best efforts to minimize them, occasional negative online reviews are inevitable, so have a plan in place to manage them without letting defensiveness take over.
Research has shown that a third of candidates have turned down job offers because they read a bad company review online. So be ready to respond in a timely fashion, and turn a potential train wreck into an opportunity to highlight your strengths.
- Respond in the positive. Don’t make excuses. It will sound like an attempt to pass blame on to others. Instead, say something like, “this is uncharacteristic of us, as we emphasize flexibility and the needs of each of our associates to maintain the balance they need between their lives inside and outside of work.” Follow up with an employee testimonial that underlines your specific point.
- Reply to every comment. Positive, negative or neutral. This helps bolster your ongoing relationship with candidates. It can even open a door to an ongoing, productive conversation.
Whether it’s optimizing your social sourcing and employer branding, fine tuning your career site, revamping your job advertising tactics, or any other aspects of recruitment marketing in the new year and beyond, consider partnering with the Haley team for the bests possible results and deliverables. Reach out to us today to set up a free introductory call.
