Ultimate Checklist for Building a Great Employer Brand
Work at Visor has been super busy lately. We just grew our team from three to seven (received a signed offer letter for our last open role last night!), and in the process, worked really hard to build a visible employer brand for our small but growing company. Building out Visor’s employer brand was no small task, but it proved to be crucial in attracting top talent. It’s taken me a while to get this post published, but since we are officially wrapping up the recruitment process, I thought now is a good time to share my checklist for building a great employer brand.
1. Do your research. Talk to your current Employees.
If your company does not yet have any formal employer branding in place, don’t worry. You don’t have to start from scratch. Before you begin, it can be helpful to take a quick audit of your current employees’ thoughts and attitudes on what it means to be a member of your organization. Try to talk to people of all levels of the company. The leadership team can explain their vision for how employees should be treated, which will be important in developing your Employee Value Proposition (more on that below).
The rest of your colleagues can give you an overall sense of what they value about the current company culture, where it can be improved, and what attracted them to your company in the first place.
From there, you can compare the leadership’s vision to current employee’s experiences and have a pretty good idea of what to highlight in your Employee Value Proposition.
2. Develop an Employee Value Proposition.
The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is probably the most important element of an employer brand strategy. It is a straightforward and immediate way to communicate how current and future employees can expect to be treated by your company, and it sets the tone for all future employer branding. It is also one of the places where candidates might expect to find your company’s commitment to inclusion and diversity.
In order to write a strong EVP, you’ll want to make sure the statement includes these key elements:
Inspiration: It encourages people to see themselves and their career goals as a part of your company.
Distinction: It describes what makes your company different from the rest.
Strategic alignment: It supports the overall vision for the company as outlined by the leadership team.
Focus: It highlights specific qualities you hope to find in your target employee persona.
A strategic and focused EVP is also critical in measuring the success of your employer branding efforts. If done correctly the EVP can be used to measure your progress towards your larger employer branding goals through annual or semi-annual employee surveys. (More on this below.)
3. Create an employer brand presence on your website and job boards.
After you develop your EVP, you’ll want to make sure it’s easily accessible to candidates and current employees. The EVP is not meant to be an internal tool -- if you have one (and you should), everyone should know about it! The best place to showcase your EVP will be your company’s “Careers” page. Instead of having this page simply direct to a list of open roles in your organization, take the time to create an employer brand landing page. Oftentimes, the “Careers” page is the first, and most reliable place candidates will look to get a better idea of the benefits your company offers. Don’t miss out on the opportunity.
In addition to your EVP, this landing page could feature additional information on your company’s unique benefits, like health insurance, time off policy, and workplace perks. Have pictures of your office or group shots of the team? Great! This is your opportunity to share whatever it is that makes your company a unique and fun place to work.
There are also a few other areas where you’ll want to create a brand presence. Sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor are also popular places for candidates to learn about your company culture. Don’t overlook them. Take time to fill out and maintain active profiles on these websites and others, like The Muse or BuiltIn.
4. Ensure your Employee Value Proposition is apparent to candidates through creative, career-related content.
More often than not when candidates do company research, the second place they look (after your company’s “Careers” page and more formal career-related sites) is the company’s website and social media channels. Make sure these channels are active. You don’t necessarily need to post new content to each channel every day, but establishing a regular cadence of activity can lend your brand a lot of credibility while giving candidates an idea of the type of team environment you will offer them as an employer.
If you are unsure of what to post on these channels, employee profiles are a great place to start. Think back to the people you spoke with in the research stage, and target 3-4 people who would feel comfortable speaking about their experience at your company. Be sure to direct them to speak specifically on how they experience the EVP and what they enjoy most about working at your company.
Video content can also be extremely useful in quickly educating viewers on your EVP. In addition to featuring these employees in blog posts, consider recording these employee interviews and create a short video featuring the many faces of your company.
5. Offer candidates an Excellent Candidate Experience.
You might think your job as an employer branding strategist is done once candidates start applying to your jobs. And while a lot of employer branding work must be done before the applications start rolling in, the work doesn’t end there. Pay close attention to the candidate interview experience. Even if candidates do not eventually become employees, the interview process will leave an impression, and it’s your responsibility as the employer brand strategist to make sure it’s a good one.
Two easy ways to ensure a positive candidate experience include answering emails and scheduling interviews in a timely fashion and setting expectations for the interview process early on to put candidates at ease. Think proactively about your candidates’ needs throughout the interview process to help them succeed. For example, when scheduling an in-person interview, provide an itinerary of who they will be meeting and detailed arrival instructions. Meet them and introduce yourself when they arrive. If you have time, walk them to their first interview. Little acts of kindness like this can make a huge difference in a candidate’s overall impression of your brand.
6. Measure the results of your hard work.
Finally, it’s important to measure the results of your employer branding efforts. Here are some ways to tell if you are headed in the right direction:
Reduced time to hire: can indicate a good return on your employer branding efforts. Reduced time to hire can indicate that candidates are excited and eager to work at your company.
Increased retention, decreased turnover: shows that employees are happy working at your company, and can indicate the company is following through on the EVP.
Increased employee referrals: if your employees aren’t happy at your company, they won’t refer members of their network. An increased number of employee referrals can indicate employee satisfaction.
7. Apply for Awards!
Eventually, once your employer branding efforts have really started to take off, you might consider applying for some awards. Companies that are able to post these awards on their websites and highlight them on social media will always benefit from the positive recognition. They can be a great way to extend the reach of your employer brand and get new people interested and curious about your company.
The requirements for each award vary, so think about which one might be best for your company. Do you want to be recognized within your industry or location, or do you want global recognition? Do you have an excellent parental leave policy? Perhaps try applying for an award that is specific to that policy. Reflect upon some of the most celebrated aspects of your employer brand and do some research to see which awards may be a good fit for you.
What do you think? Did I miss any important elements of a beginner’s employer branding strategy? I’d love to hear what has worked for you. Leave a comment below to get in touch!