Boost Your Employer Brand Using Inbound Recruiting

With the unemployment rate at the lowest in ten years, recruiting talent is more important than ever for ongoing growth. In some industries, like manufacturing, close to 30% of all of the employees in the industry are expected to retire within the next ten years. In other industries, the talent pool is very tight and finding, nurturing, and retaining the right talent is more challenging than ever before.

What is an Employer Brand?

Employer branding is your reputation as an employer and the value that you offer to your employees. It is all encompassing, including how you present your company to the external world. A positive employer brand helps to attract and retain quality employees, who are crucial to the success of the business. However, employer branding can easily be neglected or even forgotten particularly in times when the company is focused on other aspects of the business and is not actively recruiting.

First Impressions Matter

Your website is likely the first thing potential employees see when they begin to research your company and it has a huge impact on your brand and company image. Today, a website serves as a window into the way a company operates. If it is modern and streamlined, you look like a well-run company. If it is outdated and has a forgettable or older look and feel, then chances are the potential employee will move on to another company.

It is amazing that the credibility of your company is so powerfully linked to the aesthetic quality of your website. People want to work for innovators.

Consider these statistics (Source):

• It takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they like your site or not, whether they’ll stay or leave.
• 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout are unattractive.
• 75% of consumers admit to making a quick judgement on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design
• First impressions are 94% design-related

Your careers page needs to reflect your company brand. Potential employees want more than just a listing of your open positions; they want to understand your culture.

What is Inbound Recruiting?

Inbound Recruiting is a method of creating targeted, branded content for your recruiting center specifically for the purpose of increasing your Employer Brand recognition and candidate engagement with future hires. Inbound recruiting creates a remarkable candidate experience through employer brand content and marketing strategies that help companies build relationships with top talent. By taking an inbound marketing approach to recruiting, companies can connect with passive and active job seekers, engage with their network, and delight candidates throughout the application process.

Here are eight tactics to help you get started.

1. Evaluate if you are Ready for a Rebrand or Brand Refresh - Throughout a company’s lifespan a discussion of a rebrand will inevitably come up in either a sales, marketing, or management discussion. Do you need a brand refresh (website or logo change) or a full corporate rebrand? 
2. Be Proactive about Fixing Negative Reviews on Career Sites - Proactively monitor career sites for new reviews. If negative reviews contain nonfactual information, then correct it. For example, if an employee or ex-employee claims that you do not have a work-at-home policy – and you don’t – then there is not much you can you or say about it. If you do have a work-at-home policy then make sure you reply that you do have a policy and point to an online resource that talks about it.  If you do not have it at the time but you later institute one, then go back to the negative reviews that mention it and reply that the company recognized the issue and developed a work-at-home policy. This way you demonstrate that you listen and evolve to the needs of your employees.
3. Develop Content for Potential Employees – Job seekers will typically download/look at 8 content assets prior to accepting a job position. This could take the form of a company overview, your website, videos of your current employees, benefits information, product information, CEO Q&A, etc. Potential employees want to hear from current employees. A series of blog posts of videos featuring current employees on what they like your companies is a great way to give job seekers an idea of your culture.
4. Be Active and Engaging on Social Media – Social media platforms such as LinkedIn are the first place most job candidates look at when researching new opportunities. Simultaneously, recruiters are searching to find the best candidates on the same platform. Make sure your brand is active by proactively and programmatically, sharing information on company events, charity initiatives, interesting employees, awards, and training workshops so that your brand looks fresh and inviting.
5. Get Employees Involved in Social Sharing – Your employees could be your best assets for recruiting. Develop an Employee Advocacy program to make it easy for employees to share company news and content on their own networks. Depending on budgets and program parameters, your employees could earn “perks” for becoming an active advocate.
6. Raise Your Brand Visibility in the Press – Employees want to be associated with companies that people know about and talk about.  Use PR to raise your visibility in the press with trend stories, new business wins, and profiles about interesting people in your company.
7. Win Awards – Everyone wants to be associated with a winner. Apply for awards such as "The Best Place to Work" to raise your profile.
8. Email Marketing – Engage with candidates and keep them informed through automated email marketing.

Talent recruiting has changed and the way people find, research, and apply for jobs has changed. Companies used to be in control of the recruiting process, but now, over 75% of job seekers start their search on Google (CareerBuilder, 2015). It’s easier and faster than ever to discover what a workplace is like, which positions are available, and find salary information. As a result, the employer brand is just as important as the customer-facing brand. Recruiters need to think more like marketers and create an engaging, helpful candidate experience.