Top 4 Employer Branding Trends You Need to Know

Employer brand describes an employer’s reputation as a place to work and their employee value proposition (EVP). It’s the information prospective employees are looking for to find out if they want to work for you – Does the company value what they value? Does the company culture fit their idea of a compatible work environment?

While most of our clients recognise the benefits of building a strong employer brand to attract and retain the best people, they often struggle to keep up with the constantly evolving employer branding landscape.

Here’s what we’ve seen as the top trends for 2020 and are expecting to carry into 2021:

• Yes, you need to have a social media presence.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that social media is still leading the way in amplifying your employer brand message in the marketplace. Even more so now with the unprecedented amount of employees working away from their physically-branded work sites.   

But many organisations are still not in the game. Whether it’s resistance from the corporate overseers or a lack of the resources required to properly action (and maintain) a robust social media presence, the outcome is the same – your business is missing out on critical ways to influence your organisation’s reputation as an employer of choice.

Like it or not, people spend most of their time on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Tik Tok. As we move into 2021, we will see social media becoming even more important as an employer branding channel than traditional career sites.

• Focus on communicating EVP internally.

It’s easier to retain great employees than it is to recruit new ones but many of our clients still find that while they have a stated EVP, it doesn’t seem to be well known within the organisation, sometimes even within their own HR team!

Those on the recruitment front line might know the EVP inside out, likely helped develop it and could probably recite it in their sleep. But for those who don’t operate in this space (including senior leaders), the concept can often seem too unclear for them to pass on effectively. Which means your business is missing out on a whole army of brand ambassadors!

• Application experience

The application process is often the first official interaction candidates have with prospective employers, so it makes sense to make it as enjoyable as possible. This can be particularly challenging in a candidate market where the sheer volume of applicants can seem overwhelming. As time-poor recruiters, it’s tempting to try and cover every possible angle for selection criteria, pre-requisites, eligibility criteria, ‘knock-out questions’, pre-interview questions…But remember, a candidate market means you don’t pick talent, talent picks you, so improving candidate experience is essential if you want to win the war for talent.

• Increased cooperation and accountability.

And last but not least, it’s important to remember that Employer branding is the responsibility of all brand stakeholders, not just HR. That means HR/Recruitment, marketing and business leaders need to increase cooperation and take accountability for employer branding efforts.

Our Strategic HR team can bring you up to speed on the ever-evolving employer branding landscape, conduct a gap analysis of your current efforts and help you develop new strategies for internal and external brand marketing, and market positioning and vacancy advertising strategies.