HOW BUILDING A FASCINATING BUSINESS BRAND ADD VALUE TO YOUR BUSINESS

To have the ability to be able to attract and retain the best talents in the recruitment market is key for any organisation, but never more so than in very highly competitive sectors. We are highly focused and dedicated to finding the right talents.

Our employer guide to branding observes how businesses can strengthen their connection with current and prospective employees and external stakeholders, through effectual statement of the brand's values, character and ethnicity and producing a strong employer brand.

Definition of an employer brand?

A brand is a company trademark that refers to the discernment key investors, and more precisely up-to-date and prospective employees, have of your organization. It is how the company is viewed; from how you interact in the market, to what they think it is like working for your organization. An efficient established brand presents your business as a noble employer and a great place to build a career, and based on that, it helps with recruitment, retention and generally have an effect on market perception of your company.

Branding the employer is therefore mainly on effectively communicating your establishment's values, character and culture to produce the desired perceptions. Branding the employer affects every aspect of the organization and the employee, beginning with recruitment and the on-boarding process. It extends to every part of their employment which will include the training and development aspect; support networks; development of career paths and settlements and motivations; right through to their departure from the business and beyond.

What are the benefits of a strong employer brand?

Having a clear and distinct company brand will offer a major advantage to your business. This will improve significantly the application rates and put your business in a desirable position of having a huge pool of talent to choose from. In tight recruitment markets, the competition for the best talent is fierce, a strong branding will help keep the organization top of mind, making your business stand out in a congested market and deliver convincing reasons to join your company rather than going elsewhere.

In businesses where principles, personality and desired behaviors’ have been deeply entrenched across the organization, companies are likely to benefit a lot from increased engagement from employees. Greater worker engagement and inspiration has shown to have a result in greater efficiency and higher retention rates - all of

which adds to maintaining skills and experience and ultimately bettering your image. An Improved interaction with the brand will mainly help build employee reliability limiting the risk of losing your best workers to competitors, therefore evading the financial consequences of recruiting and on-boarding their replacements.

Through such important benefits connected to building a persuasive employer brand it is of no surprise that even against the recent economic downturn, investment in strong employer branding consistently to increase - even though recruitment finances may have reduced.

Building your employer brand

When building your employer brand, it is necessary that you consider a number of questions from the beginning:

• What are the most attractive and fascinating attributes of the business to the current and potential employees?
• What parts within the business is the most critical to your achievement and what will you need to do to attract and preserve the finest talent in these areas?
• What are the standard characteristics and qualities of the current employees and what are their future desires?
• What are the current observations of working within the business? How are they affecting your present ability to recruit top talent?

Having a clear understanding of these areas you will then be able to define an outline of the position you are now, what you would like the employer brand to be and what are the steps necessary to get there, all of which shape the foundation for your employer brand approach.

Usually, claiming your employer brands regularly falls to HR, Internal Communications and the Marketing departments the reality is everyone in the company is accountable for your employer brand - predominantly your senior management team. Employer brands cannot be forced onto employees; the employees have to be true and precise as well as reflect how your company treats its employees. This means that true employee engagement mainly happens if the brand is embedded within the culture of the institute, which should be lived and breathed by everyone and emphasized by the leadership teams show how to lead by example. If the management team don't believe in the brand values, the very best internal communication promotions would not be able to instil a modification in culture throughout the company.

How to Associate your employer and external brand.

Your employer and the external brand should be closely aligned to present your organization reliably and efficiently. If there is a strong differentiation among how you present yourself to the external world and how your employees view the company and what it is really like to work there, your brand message will be confusing and it will fail to involve the external and internal investors. Your employees are your organization’s greatest brand ambassadors or your biggest reviewers. This is why it is important that all employees 'live' the brand, showing the brands desired behaviors beliefs and culture. The main point to remember is that this level of employee interaction does not happen overnight it take a while to get this set in. to gain a very strong employer brand, you will need to put all your focus on you current employees; there will be no use promoting a culture of innovation, ambition, and promising career development and training to potential employees if the reality isn’t what is portrayed. The most successful employer brand accentuates the positive aspects of the organization and creates a realistic picture people can relate to

Creating a employer brand throughout the employee lifecycle

Your employer brand will be focused on engagement with the potential and existing employees, you have to remember that the relationship and brand image between employees is already being built before you commence the recruitment process and that a relationship with the organization will develop and will change overtime. A well-rounded, employer brand is going to consider the entire stages of the employee lifecycle.

How attracting new talents is best for your business

Attracting new talent on the go is the initial goal of any recruitment process and whilst it is mainly accepted that to attract new applicants organisations must be able to promote the strongest qualities of the company, what many organisations fail to realise is that they may be in a fight for a losing battle if the already existing awareness which is held by employees aren't addressed.

Look at every engagement any job seeker have had with your organisation - these previous experiences will have already made an impression of your brand and that may potentially decide whether they are welling to even apply for a role or not. It is very likely an applicant will research your company, be it looking at the careers section of your websites or researching into the involvements of others on social media sites, therefore it's critical the information you give, or the experiences of others at your organization, support your core messages.

To attract the right set of people you are looking to attract, you need to understand the existing perceptions and create a compelling case for you as the employer. An example is, considering why a role would be attractive, instead of focusing on more than just technical requirements, also focusing on what your organisation can offer in terms of benefits, work life, balance, culture ETC… also another part to focus on is what makes you stand out from your competitors, your opportunities goes a long way in developing a strong employer brand. You should check that your career section on your website reflects your brand to its full potential.

Ways you can strengthen your employer proposition

• Encourage culture and rewards
• Portray the image of a successful organization
• Acquaint current employees
• Reward and accreditation people with awards such as 'Top 100 employers' or 'Investors in People'
• Portray a commitment to CSR
• Market your dedication to career development and training
• Treat all your applicants with full respect and courtesy. Regardless if they are right for the role or not, remember that the applicants have invested some time and interest in your brand and they are your potential brand advocates, their opinions should never be ignored.

Interviews and on-boarding processes

Remember that during the interview is an opportunity to reinforce you brand to ensure that your interviewers live and breathe your brand values. To ensure that your interviewee accept your offer, you will require an interviewer who is positive, professional and well prepared. Ensure that the interviewer is at his/her best to not give out a negative image to the brand because this impacts your attractiveness to other potential employees.

Once you have the right candidates, all your effort should now be put into the on-boarding process. If you don’t pay enough attention to this process you might find yourself back in square one of the recruitment process very quickly. You must deliver a well-planned induction process to ensure that the reality of the brand portrayed matches what they bought into and also you should reinforce your employer brand prior to the new employee’s

Keeping the best talent

Having a strong employer brand isn’t only to magnet new talents; it will also give them more reason to stay with your organisation. Your currents are an invaluable asset with extensive knowledge and developed skill sets, and it is important to invest some time in building a stronger relationship with this key set of stakeholders.

Your employees need to be reminded of the qualities which first attract them to your organisation; your employer brand should be reinforced regularly. Most of all you must deliver on the brand promises you have made to those employees, be it through rewards and recognition, training and development or a clearly defined career path. The brand reputation is created on the perceptions that are matched by the exact experience of engaging with the brand.

Separation on a good note

There is always a level of chum within your organisation just because you are saying bye to a current employee does not mean your relationship is over. Leavers can remain some of your best brand ambassadors, with a strong connection to your brand – if their separation is dealt with properly. It isn’t rare that employees often go on to be stakeholders for your organisation, be it as a customer, competitor or an industry peer. They already have a great deal of insight into your employer brand which makes them sometimes key influences. Keeping this in main it is crucial that the leavers feel supported until the end.

In order to demonstrate to leavers that their views of the brand are valued, it is important that you have an exit interview; this produces further insight into your employer brand and perceptions within the organisation. Many employers have established alumni schemes which strengthen the bonds between past employees; they recognise the importance to the development of their employer brand by retaining communication with this growing network.

Monitoring your employer brand

Over time employer brand will keep growing and will require ongoing attention. Based on changing needs best employers recognise this and they adapts accordingly to workforce and perceptions shifts. Invaluable insights are provided with exit interviews, employee satisfaction surveys and employee workshops.

Over the long-term any organisation that fail to recognize the importance of their employer brand and monitor it will find themselves at a disadvantage over the long-term. Whilst an increased spend on recruitment campaigns may aid short-term attraction of new talent, some employers may well find themselves losing out on the best talents to firm with stronger employer brands. Regardless if you are able to attract a high level of talent the actual image the employer brand is reflected across the company will ultimately determine the strength of the organisation to retain its talent.