Employer branding: what is it and recruitment strategies

Employer branding seeks to create a good reputation for the company to make it an employer with the capacity to attract talented profiles or even to attract the attention of strategic investors. 

Efforts to achieve this are deployed at all levels of the organization, from recruitment processes to creating work environments conducive to retaining and developing talent.  

HR – as an element that enhances competitiveness. Many companies are integrating this approach into their Human Resources (HR) strategies as an element of empowerment. Therefore, we will explain exactly what it is and what strategies you can implement. 

What is employer branding? 

Employer branding is the process of building and managing the employer brand; that is, it is a brand management strategy applied to the company that aims to positively influence the perception that employees and external agents have of it. 

With this dynamic, the company seeks to differentiate itself from the competition and gain an advantage in the talent attraction market thanks to an attractive corporate representation for its present and future employees. 

Why is employer branding important?

As we’ve glimpsed thanks to the employer branding definition, this strategy is full of benefits for your company. That’s why it is so important. The benefits of employer branding are numerous because, among other things: 

• It is a proactive solution that feeds a constant talent pool. 
• It generates greater efficiency and productivity by focusing on employee happiness. 
• It offers a competitive advantage in attracting talent. 

Employer branding is often confused with employee experience, although there is a significant difference: the former focuses more on attracting talent and the latter on retaining it.  

To a certain extent, employer branding uses employee branding by relying on the transmission of the corporate culture by its employees. 

Strategic pillars of employer branding in human resources

Employer branding in Human Resources is based on the use of tools and procedures for the transmission of values and advantages of the company to its current or potential employees. 

It should be noted that the creation of the employer brand is a strategy that builds its identity from the inside to the outside on four pillars: 

1. Transparency and accuracy of internal and external communication.
2. The well-being, commitment, and motivation of its employees. 
3. Active listening to both employees and potential candidates. 
4. Dissemination of the brand universe.

Employer branding tools in Human Resources

Let’s look at three tools at the service of HR with which you can develop your employer branding.

Effective transmission of values

The transmission of values generates the link between objectives and purposes with the means to achieve them. These factors are interdependent in the construction of the brand. 

Thus, you must understand this transmission as the sum of the values, systems, and behaviors the company shows in each communication channel, both when achieving its corporate objectives and expressing its mission and philosophy.

Differentiation with attractive value propositions.

It is about providing quality to the value proposition for your employees -known as an employee value proposition– through both material and emotional incentives. 

Material benefits can be advantageous economic conditions, but they can also be access to continuous training or social benefits that help them to reconcile their family life with their professional life.  

Psychological or emotional benefits are those that make the employee feel that they belong to a competitive company that, as an added value, cultivates a positive work environment. 

Learn how to communicate effectively and clearly all these benefits and your company’s policies, procedures, and actions.  

Employer branding for companies: the feeling of belonging and engagement

Improving the sense of belonging to the company cannot be understood without careful, respectful, and efficient internal communication. 

Make your employees feel like important members of a winning team:

• Focus your efforts on creating a good working climate. 
• Treat your employees politely and use a language of appreciation and respect. 
• Be a source of inspiration for your teams. Encourage them to understand the objectives and how they can achieve them.  
• Encourage the relationship between collaborators with activities and contexts in which they can strengthen their bonds. 
• Practice active listening both as a group and individually. 

As far as this communicative feedback is concerned, it is essential that you draw up an action plan from which you can then extract data on the results obtained. 

All these actions can be integrated into your digital employer branding strategy. 

The importance of digital employer branding 

An excellent digital employer branding strategy will help you to be highly competitive if you manage to convey emotion and humanity while adapting to the new times in terms of digital transformation. 

It can all start with a logo that captures a person’s attention and sends a clear message. Remember that transparency and truthfulness are sine qua non components for the development of your employer branding. 

From there, take note of the following recommendations: 

• Promote your employees to be your best prescribers through social networks. Create a universe of exchange on the way of working in your company, encourage the assessment of your employees or even encourage them to record testimonial videos. 
• Take care of your corporate digital profiles, make them attractive, make them conducive to communication, be present and participate in topics that are important for your industry and also for your employees. 
• Surprise your candidates with a website that challenges them and turn your job page into a talent attraction center. It must be simple, accessible, intuitive, and optimized for search engines. 
• Offer easy registration to candidates so they can access it from different media and be fully informed throughout the process.
• Rely on professionals such as talent recruitment agencies or headhunters who will convey your brand image effectively. 
• Offer professional and secure environments for your remote recruitment processes. Smowltech has a lot to say on this point since we have proctoring products that improve the candidate’s experience and that of the companies that hire them.

Request a free demo, and we will share innovative solutions to help you attract the most talented profiles in the market.