By Paul Croteau

“Nearly half of all American workers (49 per cent) indicate their company’s employer brand or image played a key role in their decision to apply at their respective workplace” … 2001 Maritz Poll.

The so-called talent war has been ongoing for some time now but companies are continuing to struggle with their recruitment initiatives. Many apply poorly thought out, short term and desperate strategies such as boulevard billboards, radio spots and blizzards of advertising in their attempt to source out hidden talent. Unfortunately, short-term, “oneoff” strategies don’t work.

What does appear to be effective is a longer term strategy referred to as “employment branding”, a strategy borrowed from the marketing profession. An employment brand is a deliberate focus on the development of a lasting image in the minds of potential employees. Typically, the brand portrays images of product or service quality, a family oriented work environment, plenty of career opportunities or a great place to work. These messages target individual interests from a functional, economic and psychological point of view.

As with any brand awareness campaign, all marketing endeavours are made consistent with each other and strategically connected so that a uniform message is released into the marketplace. The whole purpose of the campaign is to create and reinforce a positive public image of your work environment / culture and your workplace practices including leader and management styles and professional growth opportunities.

Why does employment branding work? The main reason employment branding works is because it directly appeals to the hearts, minds and dreams of potential employees. It gets potential employees thinking – Maybe I could be happier somewhere else? Whereas most high performing employees are content where they currently work, advertisements need to catch the interest of these individuals. These individuals need to have a clear and powerful reason to consider employment at your workplace.

Employees aren’t simply looking for a job, they want a career and they want to be in charge of their career. While people are fully aware that job security with one firm no longer exists, these workers often adopt the attitude that their skills are simply being “rented” in a fair exchange of shared values. As a result, the priorities of employees have changed over the years.

Employees today seek ultimate job satisfaction. They value the opportunity to engage in challenging initiatives and to learn new skills that will optimize their future career. At the same time, they want more flexibility, more life work balance, and more control in their life. Some of the initiatives your firm can take to implement employment branding include the following:

Discover all of the elements of a great place to work that already exist in your organization;

Conduct an employee satisfaction survey to identify satisfiers you may not even have thought about. While these elements might include salary and compensation, you’ll be surprised to uncover what people perceive as personal perks and motivators such as working close to home or free employee parking;

Identify the candidate target markets for your employment branding and circulate your message widely;

People like to be recognized so use this to your advantage; highlight your own staff as examples of happy, engaged workers; use their photos in recruitment advertisements, on your website; in your company newsletter, on billboards, and in association events or industry magazines;

Determine and publicize the key skills needed to be successful in your organization, describe and brag about employee accomplishments, and;

Focus your employment branding strategy on all aspects of the employment cycle and not just recruitment and new hires.

While it’s important to develop an external employment brand, the strategy won’t be effective unless the image you portray truly represents the current situation. In other words, the brand must connect with and resonate with all of your current employees because every day, they go home to their families and to their sports or faith communities with a personal message about your company. And, when the message is unflattering and inconsistent with the company public relations efforts, a huge “disconnect” occurs and your message is lost or discounted.

The end goal of any employment branding initiative is to attract, engage and retain quality talent. This means building and reinforcing an organizational culture that creates trust between leaders and employees and mobilizes those workers behind the mission and vision. It means focusing on the creation of a positive experience during the entire life cycle of an employee so that when external opportunities come their way, they’ll choose to stay in your firm.

Employment branding as a long term strategy has quickly proven its value. The Corporate Leadership Council, a US based research think tank, for instance, reports that branding employment and communicating the value of employment can result in an estimated 29 per cent increase in access to passive job candidates.

We at Legacy Executive Search also know from experience that employment branding brings results. Being able to appeal to the emotions and psyche of a potential candidate and being able to effectively link these individuals to organizations that demonstrate vision and leadership, offer quality products or services and have a renowned work environment, makes our job a pleasure.

Source: ERC Press Release Wednesday, June 25, 2008, Building an employment Brand, Article #73, Dr. John Sullivan, San Francisco State University.

With reporting by 6P Marketing.

About the Legacy Bowes Group

Local expertise, global reach and a comprehensive, full range of HR and Business Advisory services - these are among the reasons the Legacy Bowes Group has gained its first-class reputation among employers ranging from small owner-operated enterprises to major corporations, in Winnipeg and throughout Manitoba. At Legacy Bowes Group, there is one focus - creating Solutions. We help you identify the issues and resolve them with customized training, coaching and mentoring. Our services are delivered with the assurance that your company will achieve optimal, sustainable results. Legacy Bowes Group operates under the ethical guidelines of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants (CMC), Certified Management Accountants (CMA) and the Canadian Council of Human Resource Management Associations (CCHRMA).

Paul Croteau, B. Comm., CMA, FCMA
Paul Croteau is Managing Partner of Legacy Executive Search and Executive Vice-President of Legacy Bowes Group. He can be reached at paul@legacybowes.com.