Job seekers have access to more information about companies and open roles than ever before, increasing the pressure on organizations to ramp up their employer branding efforts to attract high-quality candidates. But a company can be better at building an employer brand than it is at describing the real-life employee experience.
Building a strong employer brand isn't highlighting all of the good things about a company and glossing over anything that might put off a prospective employee. Put plainly, your employer brand is your employee experience or what your employees say about working for you. If your purported employer brand doesn't match your employee's actual day-to-day experience, you have some work to do.
[Gut check: What is your employer brand?]
In fact, our employer branding survey finds that only 37% of women and 45% of men say their employers deliver on most promises. While showcasing your positives can be good for recruiting - if the employee experience doesn't match what the candidate was promised, it could negatively affect employee morale after hiring.
Employer brand in recruitment
More than a third of our survey respondents said they would like employers to have greater transparency. An authentic, honest employer brand can help you attract the best candidates for your open roles.
Transparency means:
- Authenticity
- Following through on the promises made during recruitment
- Being open and honest about successes, failures, setbacks, possibilities, and pivots
- Proactively sharing the decisions that affect employees' careers and livelihood
- Admitting to mistakes and working together toward a resolution
Showcasing your employer brand strategy
Your employer brand allows job seekers to inform and qualify themselves before the interview process even begins. That way, when you invite a candidate in for an interview they already have a fairly good idea that they want to work for your company - they just need more details about the role.
Consider these aspects while displaying your employer brand for potential candidates and existing employees:
- A detailed Glassdoor employer profile with reviews from current employees and participation in responding to reviews by members of the executive team
- An overview of the organization's history, mission, and values
- Pictures and videos of team members - give voice and depth to your brand, show your diversity
- An office tour or video interviews with current employees who discuss the employee experience
- Showcase employees who have had excellent career development experiences to demonstrate that your company values career growth
A strong employer brand also relies on regularly soliciting input from existing employees, including listening to and taking action on that feedback. If you solicit feedback but don't take action, the gap between employer brand and employee experience begins to widen.
[Keep reading: Amplifying employee stories to your Glassdoor company profile]
When it comes to your employer brand, play the long game
If you're hyperfocused on recruiting and hiring metrics, you might overlook the disconnect between your employer brand and your employee experience. But this is a numbers game you can't win without paying attention to what matters. Without closing the gap between employer brand and employee experience, you're going to lose talent as fast as you acquire them.
Organizations that drive retention view employer branding over the long term. They're taking careful note of what makes their employee experience exceptional and different and are sharing that information online and throughout every stage of the interview and hiring funnel. They're regularly connecting leadership to employees to make sure the brand presented to the world is authentic and focused on continuous improvement.
Get started on improving and managing your employer brand by unlocking your free Glassdoor Employer Profile today.
