Employer branding has probably seen as much, if not more, focus in the last couple of years than any other aspect of the recruitment world. When it comes to recruiting the right team for your business, everyone understands that key people are the lifeblood of success. However, many industries are dealing with a skills shortage, and overall there is very low unemployment. These, and of course the expected requirement for the right person, mean that attracting the passive candidate is often a part of the recruitment process. The problem with this is that by their nature a passive candidate is either unlikely to be aware of the opportunity you have, or not looking to move at all.
Why do people move jobs?
If you look at any survey of why people move jobs, you will see that money is very low down the list. Sometimes this surprises people, but it stands to reason that a specific job will have a specific market price. So, unless the candidate is looking to move up the ranks, they will not have the expectation of a huge wage rise. More to the point market price for anything, including work roles, is usually pretty much set across an industry. In short, most companies simply cannot afford to offer a huge hike in salary. It isn’t difficult to see why a few pounds a month is not going compensate for the upheaval of change.
Clearly then if we are to attract the passive candidate, we need to offer something that only the specific employer can offer. We need to offer the employer themselves as incentive. We need to show the candidate who the employer is, what they believe, how they operate and the reasons why this is the right opportunity.
Employer branding
Employer branding is all about looking at the business as an entity and deciding how it reaches out to the world. Good employees are loyal, and that loyalty is about a lot more than an alignment of skills to a job role. For the most part, what motivates a passive candidate to consider a new role is a series of motivators such as:
- Increased opportunity for advancement such as training or on the job development
- Long term career development potential
- Trust in the new management
- Recognition of potential value to the organisation
- Perks and benefits including a market value salary
- Belief that the potential new employer can offer them a working environment in which they will have increased job satisfaction
When we visit our clients’ businesses, we see happy teams working hard for their employers. Indeed, many of the passive candidates you seek to attract will be in the position of being relatively happy themselves. What we need to do to attract them is to tap into the business brand and put it on display. In effect, a good business brand will isolate all the things that make the company outstanding and lay it out in a way that makes the passive candidate consider the position on offer as a life change, not just a job change.
Of course, there are all the other things you would expect to go along with the recruitment process that a good recruiting partner will do, such as, finding, filtering and introducing the clients and so on, but in the end, the final decision for that vital member of staff to move to you is likely to be about an alignment of key values and the expectation that you are the employer they are looking for. A good employer brand is the best way to demonstrate this to them.
If you would like to discuss the potential for emphasising your employer brand or any aspect of your recruitment process, we are more than happy to help so why not get in touch, and we can chat through your needs.