As a job seeker, one of the most important factors that will be considered when applying for a vacancy is the employer brand of the company you are interested in. Employer branding refers to the reputation of a company as an employer and the values and culture it promotes. It plays a crucial role in attracting top talent, and it's becoming increasingly important for companies to establish a strong employer brand to remain competitive in the job market.

There are several key aspects of employer branding that are important to consider when evaluating a potential employer:

Company values and culture:

A strong employer brand is built on a clear set of values and a positive company culture. As a potential employee, you want to work for a company that aligns with your personal values and has a culture that will enable you to thrive. Job seekers will look for companies that have a clear mission statement and promote a positive work-life balance, employee development, and diversity and inclusion.

Reputation and recognition:

A company's reputation in the market is an important factor to consider when evaluating its employer brand. Look for companies that have a strong track record of success and are recognised as leaders in their industry.

Career development opportunities:

A company's commitment to employee development is an important indicator of its employer brand. Seek out companies that offer training, mentorship, and growth opportunities to help you advance in your career.

Benefits and perks:

A competitive salary and benefits package can be a major draw for candidates, but don't overlook other perks that can contribute to a positive work experience. Look for companies that offer flexible scheduling, remote work options, wellness programs, and other benefits that support work-life balance.

Employee engagement and retention:

Finally, consider the company's employee engagement and retention rates. A high turnover rate can be a red flag that the company is not living up to its employer brand promises. Look for companies that have a strong track record of employee retention and engagement, and that invest in their employees' well-being and professional development.

In summary, as a job seeker, you want to work for a company that has a strong employer brand and aligns with your personal values and career goals. By considering the factors listed above and doing your research, you can find an employer that will provide you with a fulfilling and rewarding work experience.

For more information about how Evolve can help your business with Talent Attraction and Employer Branding strategy, please contact Sarah Le Brocq on 0113 457 0777 www.evolveselection.com/employer-branding

As many companies know, getting the best talent is hugely important these days. Evolve understands that and it’s why we want to work with companies to help them figure out their Employer Branding and Talent Attraction strategies. Attracting and keeping top talent is crucial to the success of any business. If you can bring in the right people, it can lead to increased innovation, better productivity, and a more positive company culture.

In a recent poll by Evolve, we asked the question of how companies set themselves apart. Almost 70% of votes was for “people culture and values”, as opposed to other factors such as package and benefits or progression opportunities. This highlights just how important the Employer branding of an organisation is for candidates in today’s job market.

In this article, we're going to talk about what talent attraction and employer branding are, why they're so important, and how you can improve them.

Talent attraction is all about finding and attracting the right people to fill open positions in your company. This means figuring out what skills and qualities you need, creating job descriptions that appeal to those qualities, and using different recruitment strategies to attract qualified candidates.

Employer branding is all about how your company is perceived by potential employees. It includes your company's mission, values, culture, and reputation. If you have a strong employer brand, it can help attract top talent, increase employee engagement / retention, and improve your company's reputation. You can build your employer brand in various ways, such as showcasing your company culture on social media, offering competitive compensation and benefits packages, and promoting your company's mission and values.

You might be wondering why talent attraction and employer branding matter so much. In today's job market, it's tougher than ever to attract top talent. Having a strong employer brand can give you a competitive advantage by making your company stand out from the rest. This, in turn, can help you attract the best candidates and improve employee retention rates. Plus, if you're able to attract the right people and create a positive workplace culture, you can save yourself time and money in the long run by reducing employee turnover and its associated costs.

So, how can you improve your talent attraction and employer branding efforts? Here are some tips:

• Define your company culture and values: Knowing what sets your company apart and what you stand for is crucial to building a strong employer brand.
• Use social media to showcase your culture: Social media is a great way to give potential candidates a glimpse into your workplace and show off your company culture.
• Offer competitive compensation and benefits: Offering a competitive compensation and benefits package can make all the difference in attracting and retaining top talent.
• Promote your mission and values: Make sure your company's mission and values are front and centre.
• Provide a positive candidate experience: The candidate recruitment experience is crucial to your employer brand.

So there you have it! alent attraction and employer branding are super important, and by taking these steps, you can improve your chances of attracting and retaining top talent.

For more information about how Evolve can help your business with Talent Attraction and Employer Branding strategy, please contact the Sarah Le Brocq on 0113 457 0777.

Turning the microscope on your employer branding strategies can be difficult, especially when you know your core messaging works at attracting staff to your organisation - if it ain't broke don’t fix it, right?

But when the recruitment market is as aggressive and hard to navigate as it is, doing a brief yet effective employer branding review could be the difference between a strategy that falters and a strategy that attracts who you want, when you want.

To be able to react to staffing issues at speed, on an agile basis - is where effective employer branding strategy really makes itself felt.

Employer Branding 101.

Employer branding provides the cultural signposts that indicate why you do what you do, and what you expect of your people.

The most important aspect of employer branding is that it's always active.

Unlike your career opportunities being posted on to jobs boards, or social media job promotions reaching into your SM ecosystem, your employer brand is a perennial feature of your company's presence: it’s your employee’s front door, and for prospective staff, your employer brand elements will be one of, if not the first thing they connect with.

Your EB is an incredibly visible facet of your public standing and professional reputation, so don’t you want to make sure that asset is perfectly balanced, and that it tells the right story?

Brand Improvement through agility.

Any business leader who says their employer branding strategy is perfect and requires no tweaking is living in a fairy tale.

Employer branding needs to be flexible to meet the demands of fast-changing industries and the rise of macro-trends across recruitment, such as the ongoing effects of the great resignation, and the shift to digital transformation to shore up business in a post-COVID world.

But above all else you want your employer brand to inspire your candidate base, and to take them on a journey whereby they see themselves reflected in your culture, your business outreach, your reputation and your future.

But candidates change. Different demographics want different things. As the rise of near and offshoring in the technical field rises, it’s become apparent that different countries and cultures demand different forms of staff management and expectation setting than others.

In short, you cannot assume your employer branding strategy is a fixed asset and that it’ll work all the time.

Our Quick guide to conducting an employer brand review.

Faced with tough hiring headwinds, the Evolve team have put together what we feel is an agile 5-step employer brand checklist any employer can utilise to do a quick employer brand review. We’ll be sharing this over the next few days, so stay tuned...

It may be obvious to say that employer branding plays an important role in any recruitment strategy, but it’s fast becoming the most critical asset in an employer's retention strategy too.

In the age of the great resignation, and with niche employers across highly specialist fields struggling to shore up staff numbers against difficult hiring headwinds, it’s risky business to offer a staff attrition silver bullet cure - but employer brand strategies do work effectively to mitigate turnover.

Most employers have, rightly so, found there is no one-size-fits-all approach to holding onto employees. Leaving a job, for any reason, is still a highly personal decision. But employer branding is personal. It's what I like to call a mast - it’s a tangible asset your team ties their personal “flag” to.

That’s because employer branding is more than savvy employer marketing or a well-remunerated referral scheme (however those things do help!). A well-crafted, well-communicated employer brand anchors and binds your company's purpose and your people together, providing guidance and leadership amid one of the toughest recruitment environments in a generation.

It also provides your staff with both career and behavioural direction. It helps focus employees’ time and effort into meaningful graft and gives them context to their work.

In essence, an employer brand provides meaning to your existing teams’ hard work. That is worth investing in. I think it’s absolutely essential that modern employers invest in employer branding curation on a continually evolving basis.

Here is why.

The employer brand promise.

I never tire of asking clients how they feel their employer branding strategy is working out, because good employers know employer brand messaging has to be constantly added to, augmented and allowed to evolve as workforces change, and as the working environment changes.

New marketing innovations and the dominance of social media, for example, have expanded the ways employers can get their brand seen - these platforms are providing a rich vein of creative outlet for many employers and I’m proud to be a part of it.

But let's pull it back a moment and focus on retention as a key strategic focus. How does the basic definition of employer branding affect retention of people? Well, as the CIPD puts it:

● Employer branding is “a set of attributes and qualities, often intangible, that makes an organisation distinctive, promises a particular kind of employment experience, and appeals to those people who will thrive and perform best in its culture”.

My abiding piece of advice for any employer building a retention strategy is never to forget the basics of employer branding.

Never forget the mast - the employment experience you offer - that your teams tie their flags to.

Does that experience end the second your staff sign a contract? Clearly not. Employer branding is something your staff need to feel part of, and need to witness, to feel an attachment to.

For any doubtful employers reading this who forget this cardinal rule of good employment practice, consider the costs of poor employer branding.

The cost of poor employer branding. Even though most employers in this day and age understand the value of a well-crafted employer brand, it’s still worthwhile highlighting the cost of a poorly defined one:

● “Employers who fail to invest in their reputation could be paying up to an additional $4,723 per employee hired” - LinkedIn

● “86% of job seekers say they would not consider working for a company with bad social standing” - Forbes.

● “Companies with a bad reputation or simply who are not attractive are expected to spend at least 10% more per hire” - Subsign.co.

When employees exiting a company complain about a culture clash, toxic work environments, or poor management go back again to the CIPD definition of employer branding. Consider the “employment experience” your current team work within.

• Does it meet their expectations?
• Are they happy?
• Are they fulfilled?
• Are they growing?
• Are they appreciated?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions on a staff member-by-staff member basis, you don’t have the data to improve not only their lot at work but your entire cultural direction and internal employee management strategy.

The secret power of employer branding within referral networks.

● “Potential applicants trust employees three times more than the company itself to provide candid insights into what it’s truly like to work there” - Reputation.com.

This quote perfectly encapsulates why I think well-curated employer branding is so important to current staff management and retention strategy building.

I could list off a thousand ways to improve the nuts and bolts of employer brand building (and in another blog, I’ll discuss this at length!), but beyond the technical management, brand storytelling, and marketing panache needed, the success of your employer brand hinges on the ability of your staff to advocate for it in your referral networks!

Your employees are your first, and most trusted vector of employer brand communication - they need to embody your employer brand in word and deed and after all, people want to work for companies who share their goals, their passions, their purpose and their mission. This cultural connection between staff and potential new staff is hiring magnetism. It’s also staff retention fuel.

Evolve is a talent lifecycle specialist consultancy within the MedTech, Pharmaceutical, Life Sciences and Healthcare industries.

To read more about our employer branding service, and how it can help your company develop a market-leading employer value proposition to attract, hire and retain the best talent for your business, visit our employer branding page.