8 Essential Elements to Elevating Your Employment Brand

As a small business, it’s important to polish your employment brand. Whether you know it or not, you have one. It’s the image that your business projects. It’s what others are saying about working at your business and what reputation you hold in your industry, profession, or business community.

If you’re businesses with strong employment branding, you are able to attract good candidates with little effort, and in return, the ability to select the best qualified candidates enhances your employment brand.   You receive unsolicited resumes without posting job advertisements, have high retention rates, reduced recruitment costs, and employees are proud to tell others they love their workplace.  All of this elevates your employment brand and helps to make you an employer of choice.

Businesses who have not developed an employment brand may find it difficult to attract good candidates, and get little to no response rate no matter what recruitment method is used.   Perhaps they are new to the market and have to build their recognition, or maybe they have a poor reputation and are considered a “bottom of the bucket” employer.  All of this negatively affects an employment brand.

In order to assess your employment brand, your senior management and human resource teams should determine the advantages of working for your business (you can begin by using the 8 essential elements listed below).  This can then be used to decide on the best marketing strategy to deliberately elevate your employment brand.

Here are 8 essential elements to elevating your employment brand:

Attend Trade Shows

Research trade shows that are relevant to your industry that will promote your name and showcase your businesses products and services.  Trade shows are a great opportunity to network and meet potential clients.  These events have a way of challenging a business’s creativity when it comes to strengthening not only marketing but an employment brand.

Advertise in Trade Publications

Identify which trade publications your ideal candidates read.  Use informative advertising methods such as a business card ad versus a recruitment ad to expose your businesses name and make them interested in searching your business on your social media or website.  This will indirectly lead candidates to your businesses career sections where your current recruitment opportunities are posted.

Write articles for Publications

Find publications which may be interested in publishing articles about your business services, products, or expertise to reach potential candidates.  This could include small publications like flyers, bulletins, or magazines that advertise in your local business community or within your professional association.

Create a continuous recruitment campaign

Use your business website and social media platforms to tell potential candidates about career opportunities even if you do not have a current opening.  Creating a database of resumes can be golden when you get the news that you’ve got a job and need people to start stat!  This database can also be used to cultivate relationships with potential candidates and approach them when the time is right.

Develop relationships with post-secondary educational institutions

Align yourself with colleges and universities that offer studies in fields related to your business.  Investigate how your business can participate in campus recruitment events, speak to a class about your business, post job opportunities, or create goodwill for brand your business by offering funding towards a scholarship.

Issue press releases of major investments, expansions, or business achievements

Toot your own horn because if you don’t, people won’t know it happened.  Press releases about your business happenings also keep rumours at bay.

Be a good corporate citizen

Tell your story to your community, about what you do to support it.  This could be through volunteering, giving charitable donations, sponsoring special events, or participating as a corporate team in a public event.

Communicate the employment happenings

When a potential candidate sees activity at a business, they know that it is alive and it sends a message to them to be curious and want to know more.  Post all current job opportunities, stories from employees about working for the business, employee appointments, and recognize employee achievements reinforcing why this is a great place to work.

Here’s How I Can Help

If reading the list you are feeling a bit overwhelmed about where to start, please contact me, as my first 30 minute consult is free.