Current State of Employer Branding
February 12, 2025
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Organizations, today, are working towards talent optimization. They have come to realize that creating a standout employer brand is essential to have ‘people advantage’. Talent and marketing are the new sides of a branding coin. It has become essential for organizations to position themselves in an attractive way and communicate the company identity and work culture in a compelling manner.
Why employer branding is one of the most talked about subjects in the business world is because of the apparent shortage of labor. Despite increasing population of graduates, it’s difficult to find people who have the right skills to enter the world of work. Moreover, a massive percentage of baby boomers is about to retire, which is posing a challenge of finding the fit for hard-to-fill positions. Not that Gen Y and millennials are less capable of doing things than baby boomers but they have a different style of working. The three generations don’t necessarily share the same values. Therefore, employers are feeling a dramatic shift in their hiring approach.
The rise of millennials in the workforce also means that the companies will need to invest more than ever in retaining the talent. This is because employees today expect much more than a stable income and promotion once-in-few-years. They must provide an open and free work culture alongside all possible amenities and facilities, competitive compensation and benefits while taking care of their overall well being.
Employer branding is no longer about expanding business and being present worldwide. Rather it’s about delivering compelling experiences to employees and talent alike, on a daily basis.
Every professional wants to associate with an organization of repute. And same is true for organizations when it comes to hiring talent. They want to recruit winning teams. However, before organizations begin undertaking the task of building an employer brand, there are several important questions to consider. As each organization is different, the challenges faced are different; the target audience is different. And above all, required skills are different. It’s also true for the same organization in different talent markets.
First of all, you have to identify the problem. That’s how it begins. What is the main challenge that you face? Do you:
Asking these questions is like searching your organization’s soul. Once you understand the challenge, you move on with immense clarity.
You know what challenges you are facing. Considering it the base, identify your target audience. Find answers to these questions:
The answers of these questions will vary depending upon the age, experience and lifestyle of your target audience. Gen X professionals will have different expectations than Gen Y and millennials.
What are the most compelling characteristics of your organization? Be objective. It’s about exploring and counting reasons why people would want to join your organization. Compare yourself with others in the industry and analyze your strong and weak points. Remember, the process is about finding what you currently offer and not about what you aspire to be when you have the right candidate on board. Think about:
If you think, these are not up to the mark, address these problems before you begin with your employer branding campaign takes off the ground.
Critically analyze the hiring process at your organization. Sometimes, application process is so casual that potential candidates don’t even apply for an opening. Or the job description looks really boring. Look at your hiring process from a candidate’s point of view. What would compel you to apply for a job?
And if they are applying, do they ever receive a confirmation email from you? Take these factors into account and identify the loopholes in the process.
What your previous and existing employees have to say about you? Are they spreading good things about you? Do they love working for the company? No, if the employee turnover rate is high.
The number of resumes and type of candidates applying for jobs at your organizations must give you sufficient hints about how you’re perceived in the job market. You should try and understand how this is affecting your ability to attract the right people. Find out the reasons and work towards eliminating them.
Once you find answers to all these questions, you can build a strategy defining how to go about employer brand creation. However, it’s important to remember that employer branding is:
Organizations are compelled to take a strategic approach to employer branding. This is because workplace is now a psychological battlefield, containing millennials as a bigger chunk. And they have an upper hand because they can multitask; they are tech-savvy; they want to try out everything; they have least hesitations; they know how to walk the talk; their priorities are simple and straight; and they want to do only what they love to do.
This generation is more interested in self employment, entrepreneurship and in jobs that offer them freedom and convenience to work on their own. So, devising a strategy to attract quality talent makes sense in today’s business scenario. Following are important steps to building a working employer brand strategy:
Convey the messages at regular intervals. Just don’t be abrupt. You can afford to neither bombard your audience nor indulge in sudden communication with them.
What’s important after launching your employer branding campaign is making your organization look and feel authentic and credible. Here is a 6-point checklist to ensure this:
Mistakes are unavoidable. However, they shouldn’t discourage you to continue with your employer branding campaign. But if you know about the most probable mistakes and pitfalls, chances are that you’re able to avoid them. Here we’ve compiled a list of mistakes that most organizations make while undertaking the task of employer brand building:
Delivering an excellent employer brand experience is the key to keep talent interested in you and create a wider pool of candidates with the right skill-sets. You must dedicate yourself to examine your current status, identify your needs and draft clear communication and treat your employees as your biggest assets to become a preferred employer.
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