February 10, 2022
Conventional wisdom is a generally accepted belief, opinion, judgment or prediction about a particular matter. What people sometimes accept as fact is based on conventional wisdom or anecdotes that do not ring true in the long run. For example, it was widely believed that the world was flat and the center of the universe. Over time however, Science proved otherwise. More modern examples of conventional wisdom not holding up to scrutiny can be seen in Employer Branding. For instance, these are all accepted as conventional wisdom.
- Employer branding is too hard to measure
- Employer branding is only for big companies with big budgets
- Employer brands have to be built
- Employer branding is owned by "HR"
However, these assertions are all false and hopefully will fade into obscurity this year. I will explain why.
Getting enough candidates and the right candidates can be much harder for smaller companies that have less brand awareness. This means it's even more critical that the employer brand is defined, authentic, and shared. And even with a limited budget, there are steps you can take to build on your employer brand (because remember, it already exists regardless.) Things such as: employer brand training for employees, crowdsourcing content, soliciting employee reviews for various sites, and employee referral programs are great, low-cost places to start.
Your employer brand exists, whether you manage it or not. It shows up in company reviews, interview processes, social media posts, job descriptions, and anywhere that potential candidates interact with your company to determine if they want to work for you. Actively defining and managing your employer brand can help ensure consistency, increase reach, and show gaps that should be addressed internally to help attract top talent.
There are a variety of KPIs that companies can track and measure to determine the impact of their employer branding efforts. Things such as: career site traffic, applications, social media engagement, offer acceptance rates, turnover (especially first year), cost per hire, and LinkedIn InMail acceptance rates are some examples. The crucial part is to measure where you are, set goals, and then report out on progress so you can see the impact your employer branding strategy is making.
Simply stated, nobody owns a company's employer brand. It's a company's reputation as a workplace and every department and every employee can make an impact. To be successful, your company's employer brand should be known and shared by everyone within the organization.
There are more myths to be revealed. Curious to learn them? Let's have a conversation about them and how we could assist in attracting, hiring and retaining talent for your company.
