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Building an employer brand is becoming increasingly important in a competitive marketplace. As the pool of qualified candidates shrinks, more companies are vying for their attention. Likewise, candidates are becoming more savvy in their job search. Candidates and their skills sets are becoming more transferable, and the stronger candidates are realizing that this makes more opportunities available to them during their job search. Many companies are finding themselves in a difficult position attracting the hot talent, and are realizing that they need to differentiate themselves not only from their industry competitors, but their competitors in the employment marketplace, which can be national in scope.
Employment factors that attract the "right people" are not necessarily as formulaic as it once was, and selling points to some candidate groups can easily be detractors for others. Employee benefits are becoming somewhat ubiquitous, and most companies cannot afford to compensate their employees outside of traditional market levels. The argument that becoming part of a large organization means more advancement opportunities clashes with the attractive and diverse career challenges and the notion of "bigger fish, smaller pond" that smaller companies can offer. Job security is no longer equated with large companies, and we have all seen the inherent risks associated with smaller organizations as well.
Building a strong employer brand then becomes not only a tool for recruiting, but for employee retention as well. To be effective, these strategies must get strong support from the top of the organization, be well defined, and enforced consistently in every external touch - online, offline and in person. It needs to have a background presence in all processes, from sourcing and interviewing to onboarding and performance management. Effective strategies can include factors such as:
Building an effective and promotable employer brand can be challenging. But of course the rewards are far-reaching, from employee retention to lower recruiting costs to larger and higher quality candidate pools.
On Wall Street Journal, "Employer Branding"
On ere.net, "6 Steps To An Employer Brand Strategy"
Website - Employer Branding Today
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