Yes. Yes, it does.
Don’t just take my word for it though: according to LinkedIn, 75% of potential candidates will review your employer brand before considering a role with you.
Not to mention that a strong employer brand can:
improve your employee retention by 28%
help you attract more qualified candidates
and help you hire those candidates up to two times faster
All statistics you’ll find in the same LinkedIn doc linked above.
Why employer branding matters
Just as your business’s brand defines how you’re perceived by potential customers and distinguishes you from competitors, your employer brand communicates all of the important things about you as an employer to potential employees.
In its simplest form, it’s the answer to the question “why would someone want to work for you?”.
The times they have-a-changed
Everything you could want to know is at your fingertips. From trivial things like ratings of the film you’re settling on the sofa to watch to the more important stuff, like what’s going on with your pension.
It makes sense then that the majority of people would take the time to research prospective employers. It’s up to you to decide whether they’ll find what they’re looking for.
Developing your employer brand
Developing an employer brand from scratch can feel daunting, particularly if you’re using businesses with established examples as a baseline. When it comes to developing your employer brand, remember everyone has to start somewhere and that, most of the time, something is better than nothing.
1. Start with what you know
Some of the core bits that you take for granted could be helpful insights for jobseekers. Think along the lines of who you are, what you do, how long you’ve done it for, and why you do it at all. Try to cover your vision, values, and culture too.
2. Find out what you don’t
You’re unlikely to know everything, especially when it comes to what current or past employees think of your business as an employer. Start by searching on Google/social media sites and consider an anonymous survey to get information internally. On the back of that you’ll be able to get a better handle on what’s working, identify areas for improvement, and if you’re lucky you might even get a couple of testimonials to use as part of your employer branding.
3. Make it available online
Take all of the stuff you’ve just pulled together and bake it into one resource that’s available to candidates, whether that’s through your website in the form of a page or blog post, on your LinkedIn company page, somewhere else like a Glassdoor profile, or on all three! That way, anyone trying to get an idea of what it’s like to work for you will get plenty of search results.
Build on the foundations
Once you’ve got the basics in place, you can spend time honing your employer brand, developing better resources, sharing relevant content, and working it into your recruitment and onboarding processes, all while the existing information helps attract, inform, and engage candidates.
Employer branding matters, maybe more than ever. Now’s the time to start investing in yours if you haven’t already.
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