On July 20th, Rohan Dickinson (Adway’s Head of Partnerships) was joined by Mark Beavan, Head of Agency at TLA; Nicola Boston, Employer Branding Specialist at Holiday Extras; and Emma Fulton, Head of Marketing Planning at the British Army.
Together, in this super insightful session they bust myths around employer branding and deep dive into the impact of Covid-19 on employer brands. The panel discusses how to get internal engagement and share their key employer branding tools.
Want to know the key findings of this session? Watch the recording below and/or keep reading!
Background Check
TLA is a boutique employer branding and marketing agency helping their clients establish how their brand technology and the internet can help attract; engage and retain the very best people.
Holiday Extras uses innovative technology and the smartest, fastest and most personal service in travel to take the hassle out of organising a holiday.
The British Army protects the United Kingdom’s interests at home and abroad providing a safe and secure environment in which all British citizens can live and prosper.
Employer branding is not just a project
Employer branding is continuously evolving driven by candidate and employee experiences. The purpose isn’t about attracting and retaining talent, it is about building positive emotional connections with existing and potential colleagues. If this is done correctly, then the output of employer branding is that great people will come… and stay.
There’s no such thing as…
… a single employer proposition. Because it depends on who you talk to in the business.
Your employer proposition is the answer to the question: why would somebody work here as opposed to somewhere else? And this answer will be different depending on who you ask within the business.
However, there is a set of universal truths/pillars experienced by everyone in the company. The goal should be to identify these and to understand which pillars matter most to the key employment groups.
Proposition pillars should be about motives and feelings instead of benefits and rewards. The most important thing is how these messages sit with the different target audiences within a business. These can then be used in the marketing messages rather than a single employer proposition which can be too broad.
… a finished website. It should continuously evolve with the needs and expectations of the job seekers.
At the very beginning, the careers website focussed on creating a great process from advertising vacancies to handling the applications. Then the need for compelling content arose, not just around the roles but also why job seekers should join the company.
And nowadays the job seeker also looks for an emotional connection. Candidate research has shown that 85% of job seekers want to be able to see themselves working at an organisation. When visiting a careers website, they want to see themselves represented as individuals or professionals.
… a passive candidate. Instead look at candidates the way they see themselves.
For example an active candidate would say: I won’t be here in 6 months time. Whilst passive candidates feel very connected to the business and see themselves there for a long time.
How can any candidates (whether active or passive) be influenced to move and how can good employees be influenced to stay? Engage with active candidates by using job boards and careers websites whilst more passive candidates will require a more direct approach such as using social media. Using this insight helps shape the right messaging for the different candidate audiences by focussing on what you want people to feel and think rather than just telling them what the job is about.
Holiday Extras Case Study
As a family run business the broad Employee Value Proposition (EVP) was centered around trust including flexible and remote working, team connection, working environment and well-being.
Before Covid-19 recruiting software engineers for the office location was one of the main challenges. To connect with this specific audience, Nicola and her team focussed on creating content specifically targeting this audience. They did not only create the content around remote working but also focussed on the tech stack used and the impact being made by the engineering team.
By using authentic messages on social media with a candidate-first focus Holiday Extras were able to engage with the right audiences. Using storytelling and listening surveys they explored areas such as learning and career journeys. Visual job ads were also a key tool in attracting more candidates, achieving a wide reach.
During Covid-19 employer branding went offline due to organisational restructuring. As part of the new strategy Holiday Extras are now hiring again. This involves having to rebuild the employer brand with ever evolving EVPs which are more candidate centric.
Employer branding content has been created with the intent to attract candidates and retain employees through creating emotional connections. Holiday Extras believe it is key to always cultivate their employer brand and not just see it as just an initiative. Nicola’s takeaways: be close to your employee value propositions and culture, create a cause to get people onboard internally, but also know what is happening externally to be competitive.
Panel Discussion Key Takeaways
It is key to regularly research different candidate audiences to ensure targeted messaging. This is key as perceptions change for example the switch to remote working due to Covid-19.
Using data is key to get engagement internally for employer branding. Employer branding is everyone’s responsibility although assigning responsibility is important to drive the employer branding efforts. This involves working towards common and clear goals for different teams.
Simplicity helps align the understanding of employer branding. Using clear language and outlining the benefits of having a strong employer brand needs to be communicated.
Analysis of the candidate’s journey is key in understanding the strong and weak points in your process and can help drive focus and messaging when evolving your employer branding.
Involving colleagues in creating and sharing content is a key tool to evolving your employer branding. A content management system can help in pushing out this content too.
Don’t be a stranger
That’s a wrap for this webinar. Please keep your eyes peeled for more. If you are unsure how to start capitalising your employer branding, career sites and usage of social media to attract and retain top talent please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!
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