If you’re unsure if it’s time for an Employer Brand Refresh, you’re not alone. Sometimes the signs are obvious and sometimes they aren’t. But what’s obvious, is if you’re going to attract and compete for the right talent, you need a strong Employer Brand. But you already know that. So, here’s what you might not know.
Employer Branding is not static. You can’t set it and forget it. You need to develop it, build on it, evolve it and from the inside out. If you’re not delivering a good employee experience, there’s a chance your Brand is falling short and is hurting your business.
What are the signs for an Employer Brand Refresh
Here are 6 signs you may be seeing in your workplace that says you need an Employer Brand refresh, or at last a tweak.
Sign # 1: You aren’t attracting the caliber of talent you need
You notice a decrease in applications. The quality of talent applying to your jobs have declined. Your time to fill is increasing. Your hiring managers are refusing to interview candidates.
Sign #2: Your employees roll their eyes when you talk about your Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
If you’re seeing the rolling of eyes, there’s a probable reason. It’s likely what you’re promoting to the market is not the same experience your employee’s have. There’s a disconnect. Your employee and candidate experience are not aligned.
Sign #3: You’re having difficulty recruiting for high demand talent
Your business objectives are set. You’ve translated these objectives to the hires your team needs to source. You know who, how many and when. You realize these are high in demand candidates you’ve struggled attracting in the past.
Sign #4: Your culture has an ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ mentality
Do you walk through the office and here comments like, they’re from the other company or we’re not part of that company? This mentality often comes with mergers and acquisitions that haven’t been well integrated.
Sign #5: Your loosing talent to competitors
You’re seeing an usual amount of turnover in the company. You’re concerned about the number of resignations in a specific department. You realize your team is spending more time replacing people, then hiring for the new roles.
Sign #6: Your biggest talent competitor has re-branded themselves
Your talent competitor has changed their employer brand personality, purpose and promise. So, you check out their career site. You’re impressed. They’re placing more importance on employee experience and are investing in their Employer Brand.
Now that you see the signs of an Employer Brand Refresh – what’s next?
Before you start on an Employer Brand Refresh, conduct an Brand Health Check. You’ll want to determine your brands current strengths to build on and where your brand is falling short with employees and ideal candidates. Take a holistic approach by evaluating three distinct areas:
Employment Experience
The strength of your brand starts with the inside of your organization. If you’re not creating a good employment experience, you’ll loose good employees and you’ll have difficulty attracting good talent. Find out how satisfied your employees are with your company. What do they see as positive? What do they see as negative? What differentiates you? You can do this research through conducting engagement survey’s or facilitating focus groups.
Market Perception
With review sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, RateMyEmployer.ca and many others popping out of the wood work, it’s impossible to hide behind your brand. Your goal is to find out what your company’s employer reputation is in the market. Most importantly, you’ll want to know what your target candidates think about you and if you meet their needs, wants and desires as an Employer? You can learn a lot about your brand reputation by visiting review sites and reading comments. You can also learn a lot about your brand perception by administering candidate and on-boarding surveys.
Talent Competitors
Gone are the days that industry competes with industry for attracting talent. Today, every company can be your talent competitor. You’ll want to find out how your company compares to other organizations who are hiring for your most important roles. What is their value proposition? How does your offering stack up? What is talent saying about them? You can gain this insight by also including appropriate questions in your survey’s or by doing research on the internet. You can get great insight by following the path of a job seeker. Start with finding one of your talent competitors job postings and assess how they’re attracting candidates. Look at what and how they’re communicating with candidates on their career site. Are they active on social? What social networks are they investing in, what type of content are they posting and how many followers do they have? See how they rate on review sites and what employees and candidates are saying about them.
If you’re seeing any of these signs and you know it’s time for an Employer Brand Refresh, we can help.
We have a comprehensive Employer Brand Health Check product that’s unique and cost effective. You’ll learn what you’re doing well, what you need to do differently, what you need to stop doing and how you compare to your top talent competitors. Contact us if you’d like to ADVANCE your Brand.