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Explore SolutionsSometimes, it’s important to take a step back as a recruitment marketer and try to see the experience through the eyes of a candidate. It’s easy to have a list of requirements that candidates must meet in order to fit the corporate culture, but what if the message that your company is sending on your online profiles is inaccurate? How can you expect to attract and hire top talent if your employer branding is unclear on company profiles like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Facebook, or other places where candidates will encounter information about the company?
Imagine what a new hire must feel like when he or she thinks one way about the employer brand (based on a positive company review, for example), but then once getting accustomed to things, realizes that the culture is not exactly like it was advertised during the recruitment process. Not only can this give a new hire a negative experience from the get-go, but it can quickly spiral out of control leaving the new hire ready to find another job. It’s really no wonder that one in three new hires quit during the first six months into a new job.
How Does Employer Branding Impact the Organization?
Strong employer brand awareness can do a lot of good for an organization. This is especially true when the brand is genuine and consistent across all social media pages, online profiles, and business directories. Candidates are doing a lot of research on companies before taking the time to submit an application therefore, what they find online matters.
There are millions of reasons why a positive and accurate employer brand is good for recruitment efforts. Perhaps the most important is talent attraction — specifically attracting the right people to your company. It makes sense to hire talent that is diligent enough to do their own research and to determine if they can see themselves building a career at your company. It’s all about culture fit these days.
Candidates encounter your organization’s employer brand in a multitude of ways. For example, a company representative could be speaking at an industry conference and this message resonates with a top-level candidate. Afterward, the candidate checks out LinkedIn and finds an inactive account with no connections to any of his peers, and decides not to waste time applying.
Another example is a candidate who has heard great things about the company’s opportunities and plans to apply, until she finds a series of negative reviews left by former and current employees on Glassdoor. It’s not just about the way jobs are advertised or how hard recruiters work to find talent. It’s how the employer brand is demonstrated on a variety of platforms.
In a positive candidate experience, a candidate would find a number of social media pages and online profiles that demonstrate the employer brand well. All accounts would contain consistent messaging and information, they would be managed and kept up-to-date, and new connections would be added regularly. There would also be detailed information about the careers and opportunities offered. Employees would share freely and authentically, and there would likely be a mix of good and bad reviews, with good outweighing the bad (hopefully!). The candidate might even discover that she knows a few people who work for the company currently and could potentially ask for an employee referral.
Company Profiles to Focus On for Employer Branding
Take some time to review a handful of the top company profiles that can be impacting your employer brand awareness below. Some recommendations to consider are LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, and Facebook as a few important online profiles for your employer brand, among others.
With an estimated 600 million users, LinkedIn is the ultimate source for companies to present their employer brands to the world. Make sure your LinkedIn Company Profile is optimized with fresh content, open job listings, reviews, and a clear employer brand message. Consider upgrading to an enhanced LinkedIn Company Profile for additional branding and customization capabilities, as well.
Glassdoor
As one of the world’s largest employer review sites, Glassdoor gives current and former employees a chance to share their experiences (anonymously), among other functionality. This is also a great platform for building a positive employer brand profile with effective branding, information about the recruitment process, open job listings, and encouraging candidates and employees to share their honest feedback. Like LinkedIn, you may want to consider upgrading to an enhanced Glassdoor Profile for added branding and customization capabilities. Not to mention, Glassdoor is also a good source for sponsored jobs through programmatic job advertising.
Indeed
As the “#1 Job Site in the World,” Indeed has grown to some 250 million unique visitors every month and hosts 100 million company reviews. An Indeed Company Profile allows recruitment marketers to share what the company does, list open jobs and invite employees to provide feedback on their work experience, the culture, salary, and CEO approval. And as mentioned above for Glassdoor, Indeed is among the top sources for sponsoring your jobs through programmatic job advertising in order to attract top talent cost-effectively.
This is the largest and most prolific social media network in the world, with 2.74 billion monthly active users (as of latest stats Quarter 3 of 2020). Facebook is a great place to build a strong employer brand presence and to interact directly with candidates and employees. Add appealing brand messaging and imagery, share career content and open jobs, and most importantly, give a sneak peek into the corporate daily culture of the organization. These are a few great ways to easily incorporate additional employer brand and job information into your Facebook Page.
Comparably
Take the time to manage your employer brand on Comparably, a unique twist on the company review site because it includes an employer brand protection policy requiring employees to verify their employment. The idea is to make sure disgruntled ex-employees and competitors can’t post anything damaging about your brand.
Kununu
Focused on work culture transparency, Kununu uses data to give job seekers a more authentic look at your company. It also gives talent acquisition and HR professionals a chance to better understand the company’s performance across multiple work-life factors. Make sure to add pictures and content to boost your employer brand.
Elements of Positive Employer Branding on Profiles
In terms of attracting and hiring the best talent, employer branding is a foundational element to success. This requires being in touch with the reality of your organization and understanding the vision and values — then getting the correct message out there. Include the following employer brand elements in any company profiles you participate in:
- Company logo and images: Share a logo and imagery that represents your employer brand authentically and in the best possible way.
- Link to branded career website: Include a link (ideally, with tracking for analytics!) to your careers website and make sure the culture is displayed there, as well.
- Company description: Use a company description that highlights the culture and values of the company.
- Review responses: Always respond promptly and professionally to reviews left by former and current employees.
- Contact information for the business: Post your company email and/or mailing address, as well as a phone number for contact.
Having a strong employer brand can support your recruitment and talent acquisition goals when it is authentic and engaging to candidates. Use social media and online company profiles to maximize awareness about your employer brand so you can get in front of the right talent at the right time.
