10 Tips for Improving Your Brand as an Employer

laptop with brand and logo stickers on it

What attracts applicants to your company in the first place? Why do they apply for your jobs and give the impression that they really, really want to work for your company? Sure, it could be that they just need a job, any job.

But if your brand as an employer is truly excellent not only will you be attracting candidates, but you’ll be attracting the BEST candidates.

And having an awesome employer brand not only makes your vacancies look more enticing to top talent but it has a positive impact upon your employee retention rates too. And both of these things parlay into a more successful, and profitable, business.

So the obvious question is…how do you go about building, or improving, your employer brand?

Read more: Why You Need to Start Taking Company Reviews Seriously

Here we’re going to take a look at some totally actionable things you can do to make your brand really stand out - in a great way!

10 Tips for improving your brand as an employer

Tip 1: You need to make sure your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is first rate.

Your EVP is everything you offer to your people, and whilst that does include salary, other compensation and employee benefits, it also takes into account a great company culture, an inspiring working environment, room for growth, and in-house opportunities.

Tip 2: Ensure your social media accounts are up-to-date, well maintained and that you post content that candidates and employees in your industry care about.

Posting for the sake of it isn’t going to engage with many, if any, followers so you need to make sure your socials are providing something of value.

Tip 3: And talking of social media posts with value, don’t forget to share what makes your company such a great place to work. Photos and videos are especially good for engaging with potential hires by showing off your latest team lunch, office table tennis tournament, or your stylish surroundings.

Customer testimonials and employee stories - how they joined the company, what their day involves etc. are also positive reinforcements of why someone should want to work for you.

Tip 4: Ask your current employees how they think you could improve your employer brand. After all, there’s no one in a better position to offer their feedback.

The other plus of this is that everyone likes to give their opinion, it shows that you care about what they think, and it makes them more invested in your success when they’ve had a part to play in something.

Read more: 5 Ways to Collect Feedback & Increase Employee Retention

Tip 5: List your job vacancies on Google for Jobs. If anyone knows how to build a good employer brand it’s Google, so it makes sense to align your company with theirs - even if it is only via their recruitment platform. As a case study by Google revealed:

After ZipRecruiter integrated with Google’s job search experience, organic conversion rate from Google grew 4.5x.

Tip 6: Showing candidates that you appreciate them choosing to apply to your company is another way to reinforce your positive brand vibes. How do you do this? By asking for their feedback on your application process.

That way, even if they don’t get the job, you should have still left them with a decent impression of your organization. Going the extra mile and encouraging unsuccessful applicants to apply to future vacancies is also a nice, positive touch. (Of course, you may only want to do this for candidates who you shortlisted!)

Tip 7: Make sure your job adverts are engaging and represent your company in a great light. You need to ensure that your job descriptions are clear and concise, yet also make applicants want to apply by speaking to their desires when looking for a new role.

If you want to attract the best people in your industry, you’re going to need to do a little more than type out a lengthy list of requirements and dull-sounding duties.

Tip 8: Now this is an important one for any company looking to consistently hire great people. You must make sure your application process is user-friendly and intuitive. If candidates have to jump through hoops to apply, chances are they’ll take their job search elsewhere.

But how do you know what it’s like on the other side of the fence? Mock apply for one of your vacancies and see exactly what the applicant’s journey is like. This also ties in with Tip 6 - ask candidates what they thought of the process and see if you can improve on anything.

Tip 9: Once you have decided to hire a new person, you need to make sure they stay the distance and don’t disappear (i.e. ghost you) before they’ve joined the company officially. A surprising number of people who accept a job offer, for reasons best known to them, change their mind before they’ve even made it through the door.

One way to help combat this annoying (and costly) phenomena is to send them a welcome email. This works to build engagement and make them feel part of the team even before they’ve physically started working for you - thus making them less likely to vanish on you.

Read more: How to Tell if Your New Hire Engagement Strategy is Working

Tip 10: Anyone working in Human Resources knows that the first few weeks and even months are critical when it comes to retaining new hires. The last thing you want is an employee who has only just signed their contract upping and quitting.

First impressions count and your brand as an employer is at stake here. Therefore make sure that you adhere to your new hire onboarding checklist so that you can check all the boxes when it comes to making your newbie feel welcomed and engaged from day one.

10 Tips for improving your brand as an employer: conclusion

You want to attract top talent. In order to do that you need to appeal to that talent. You won’t be doing that if the general impression of your company is that it’s fine to work for at best and mediocre or dull at worst.

In this day and age, branding applies to more than just products and services. It’s applicable to your attractiveness as a potential employer too.

After all, you know your organization is a fantastic place to work - but do applicants? If you want to up your game and start motivating great people to apply your job ads, it might be time to put your marketing hat on and see if you can implement any of the ideas above.

Eve Church

Eve Church

I'm a UK-based content writer here at Hezum. I've an interest in all things HR and company culture.

United Kingdom