A candidate’s job search has likely taken them to countless career pages, so how can you make yours stand out? In order to engrave your career site into viewers’ memories, you should aim to create a stand out employer brand that will make the very best candidates compete to work at your company. You can do this in a variety of ways from engaging candidates through website visuals through to offering tailored benefits and turning your existing employees into brand ambassadors.
Millennials are huge consumers of digital media and would prefer to investigate the credibility of your company culture through various sources rather than just take it at face value. You can boost your validity and reputation by optimising your careers website design, your choice of branding via social media and through employee testimonies. Continue reading to learn the secrets of maximising your employer brand.
Cater to your audience
To convince candidates they’ll enjoy working at your company, you should first conduct the appropriate research into your target group and what they seek in a job. For instance, a poll revealed that 87% of millennials want their jobs to be development opportunities — a factor that not only helps attract millennials but also retain them. This is also a common trend among other generations to a large extent. Therefore, advertising the potential to progress within your company is essential to attracting job seekers and marketing yourself as a valuable employer. Those who gain the appropriate insights will be in a better position to hire and retain talented candidates. Prioritising the needs of your candidates is also a good way of breaking down the barrier between corporations and employees.
Humanise your brand
To build trust within your brand, you should seek to have a relationship with potential candidates. Express your brand in a way that is more humanised rather than with the distance that comes with promoting a corporation. You can do this by demonstrating a consistent and affable personality through social media, showcasing your employees on a personalised ‘meet the team’ page and through posting images and videos from company outings and special days at the office. These are all things that can allow a candidate to feel more connected to the company, and in turn, more likely to want to work with them if they can already visualise a day on the job with future co-workers. Communication doesn’t have to be one-way either, you can reply to comments you receive and aim to engage in conversation with potential candidates, either online or in-person through networking and careers events.
Have a purpose
If you want your message to get across to your candidates, you must first be able to identify and define a clear purpose. What is your business aiming to do, and most importantly, how is this significant in the world or in people’s lives? Reports have revealed that 74% of candidates, including millennials and Gen Z, seek purpose in their work. Keep your message consistent instead of changing it to adapt to whichever ethical movement is trending — this will inspire trust within your candidates and motivate them to also make a difference by joining your company.
Be transparent
Business transparency matters, especially concerning the hiring process. You should aim to keep your candidates engaged during the hiring process by making them aware of the steps involved and expected interviewing and waiting times. Similarly, you should be transparent when writing the job listing. While you should aim to entice candidates, do so by being as honest as possible about the job and its day-to-day functions. Failing to do so can lead to a high turnover rate or candidates declining offers.
Such honesty can differentiate you from competitors and lead to a higher number of applications.
Empower your employees
You can get your team involved in the recruitment and branding processes — this is not only something that marketers and hiring managers can do. Empowering your employees to become brand ambassadors can see significant rewards in terms of application rates, but also employee productivity and job satisfaction. Allow your employees to chat to candidates, offer advice or network at careers events — this will show that you value your employees and their expertise.
Candidates are more likely to trust actual employees’ testimonies than the word of the employer. Promoting your enjoyable workplace culture can go a long way in attracting new employees, and if this comes directly from your employees, this can rapidly build up company credibility.
Build the right team
Recruit the right marketing and sales team members to allow you to develop your brand identity and effectively sell your product or service. Recruit with us today — register a vacancy with us or contact us to learn about how we can provide you with a killer, high-performing team.