Develop your employer brand to recruit and retain
As the workforce gets older and older, businesses are struggling to recruit young talent who are more demanding than their elders. Building a strong and attractive employer brand is therefore becoming essential. At the heart of HR marketing strategies, the employer brand is the key to a company that knows how to meet the increasingly specific demands of young recruits. In this article, discover how to develop your employer brand to recruit and retain talent.
The interest of developing your employer brand
Before looking at how to develop an employer brand, let's look at the benefits of developing one.
The importance of developing your employer brand
Today, the numbers indicate that building an employer brand is necessary. According to a Stepstone study, 95% of people looking for a job search the net to gather information about various employers. According to Glassdoor, 72% of candidates talk about their hiring experience on social media. From these figures, we can guess that your reputation can benefit from a powerful employer brand or, on the contrary, suffer if it is weak.
Building an employer brand is therefore becoming an obvious way to recruit and retain talent. Especially since your current employees can confirm or deny what is happening in your company. According to LinkedIn, candidates investigate and trust your current employees to get information about the life of your company. Your values must therefore be fully embodied.
The advantages of developing your employer brand
Gain visibility
Developing your employer brand allows you to gain visibility on the web. According to LinkHumans, 83% of job searches start with a search on the internet. We are far from the time when a passive presence on social networks and on the web was sufficient. Now, businesses need to be where the eyes of candidates are on: on social networks and the various professional platforms. Being present on LinkedIn, Facebook or Glassdoor and taking care of your e-reputation are becoming essential to gain attractiveness.
Decrease the cost of recruitment
According to LinkHumans, a well-developed employer brand would reduce the cost of recruitment by 43%. The reason is logical: if an employer brand is known and recognized as reliable, there is no longer a need to use recruitment agencies. Attractiveness then works wonders and talents apply en masse to your offers.
Have a choice
Building and developing your employer brand brings its share of benefits. The most valuable of these is that you are spoilt for choice among the best profiles who apply for your offers. While the market is experiencing a war for talent, creating a strong employer brand allows you to attract them instead of fighting to convince them to join you. When you know that poor recruitment costs between €30,000 and €150,000 according to Collock, attracting the best talent through a powerful employer brand seems obvious to avoid additional expenses.
Reducing turnover
Working on your employer brand allows you to have satisfied employees. Still too few companies take into account the mental health and psychological state of employees. In order to avoid an epidemic of burn-out or bore-out, businesses can listen to their members.
In summary, the interest in developing your employer brand is multiple. A good employer brand can be used to attract, recruit, and retain top talent.
Now let's see how to develop your employer brand to recruit and retain them.
How to develop your employer brand externally to recruit?
Investing in content
A strong employer brand is the consequence of a long work done beforehand. Of course, this work includes content creation. To do this, check that your site respects a graphic and editorial charter. Also, take care of the accessibility of your site and its ergonomics. Your site and the content on it reflect the quality and your level of communication. The articles, videos and navigation on your site make up the first impression that will be significant for candidates. So make sure that the content is rich and reflects your values, elements that are dear to candidates today. Also, be careful that your articles respect the basic rules of SEO in order to be referenced on relevant keywords. This will make you gain authority and you will thus appear to be a thought leader.
Invest in social networks
In addition to a well-designed website, make sure you are present on the appropriate social networks for your sector of activity. It is an effective way to consolidate your e-reputation and generate links with your community. In addition to job offers, you can share announcements about your team-building events and employee stories on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Make your candidate experience simple
A key point in your employer brand is built around the recruitment experience. If it is too complex, it may give a bad image of your company. 80% of candidates, according to IFOP, consider that the candidate experience illustrates how profiles are treated once hired. So opt for a clear and smooth process. Work on the job descriptions so that they are easy to read, concise, and transparent. In this way, mention the number of days you work from home, the salary and the flexibility in terms of schedules.
How to develop your employer brand internally to build loyalty?
Ensure the well-being of your teams
To develop your employer brand to retain your talents, take care of your management. Avoid micro-management and instead opt for a framework that promotes trust between employees.
Also remember to welcome your teams in pleasant premises with numerous services. Silicon Valley's leading employer brands like Google even go so far as to offer relaxation and play areas so that employees can take a break. All this reinforces the attractiveness of these businesses.
Federate your teams
Strengthening the link between the various employees makes it possible to strengthen your employer brand internally. This can involve the organization of events. If employees feel they are members of an active club or group, they are more likely to speak highly of you, as if they were ambassadors. Likewise, sharing good news about your company creates a sense of belonging. This will foster the idea, in the minds of the members of your company, that the work they do has meaning.
Train and coach your employees
Also offer hard skills and soft skills training so that your teams experience the feeling of evolving within your company. This will help them feel like they are an integral part of your society. Likewise, consider training your managers so that they are exemplary leaders and appreciated by various employees.
Developing your employer brand is essential to recruit and retain
As we can see, developing your employer brand to recruit and retain them requires work. But it's hard work that pays off. Indeed, being able to benefit from a good reputation makes it possible to avoid heavy turnover and to attract the best talent. This is an essential point in current HR marketing strategies to stand out from the crowd and hire more easily.
