A complete guide to recruitment branding

The most successful recruiters today are adopting proactive strategies that once used to be the exclusive domain of marketing teams. This has resulted in a blurring of the lines between recruitment and marketing, making it easier for smaller companies to compete on an equal footing with top brands when it comes to attracting the best talent.

This leveling of the playing field is an accomplishment of recruitment branding – the positioning of your company as a desirable place to work at. Research shows that prospective employees are twice as likely to consider job opportunities with a strong employer brand than with a leading name brand.

As job markets continue to reel under the workforce shortages caused by the Covid pandemic, recruiting teams in top firms across the world are realizing that conventional hiring practices are not enough to win in the pitched battle for talent. A strong name brand might help foster generally positive impressions about a company, but it is not enough to translate to actual job considerations. This is especially true if you’re looking to hire for junior-level posts from a younger demographic.

Let’s take a closer look at recruitment branding to get a better sense of the dynamics behind it.

What is recruitment branding?

Recruitment branding, also known as employer branding, is the process of marketing your company as an employer of choice among job seekers, employees, and stakeholders. It involves creating, communicating, and sustaining positive impressions about your company as an engaging employer. Successful recruitment branding molds perceptions and establishes a company’s reputation among present and prospective employees.

At its core, recruitment branding is about creating the foundations for a motivated workforce in an environment that allows each worker to reach their full potential while delivering optimal productivity. Smart companies understand that a healthy workplace atmosphere can contribute to a healthy bottom line. Let’s take a specific example to understand this philosophy in action.

Some companies secretly frown at the idea of employees building a family because it increases their health insurance costs. Not Intuit!

This Mountain View, CA, headquartered financial software company has probably gone further than any other company when it comes to supporting employee families. For Intuit workers starting a family, parental leave is just for starters. The company offers an entire roster of benefits that includes adoption reimbursement, backup daycare centers, life guidance classes, and more. Coupled with attractive compensation packages and other competitive benefits, the company has built itself up as a successful business by prioritizing the care of its employees. No surprises, therefore, that 93% of Intuit employees consider it a great place to work, compared to the 57% average for US companies.

Why is recruitment branding important?

Here are a few statistics to argue the point in favor of having a proactive recruitment branding strategy. Studies have shown that 62% of professionals research a company’s employer brand on social media before applying or while considering a job offer. Another 72% of job seekers would not work at a leading name brand with a reputation for bad workplace culture.

The following are some of the reasons why recruitment branding is vital if you want to build a thriving workforce at your company:

• Higher retention: A strong employer brand helps companies reduce turnover rates and retain their best workers. Employees who perceive their company as caring and invested in their growth and welfare are more likely to stick with it for longer. A happy workplace, in turn, can translate to higher productivity and business growth.

• Reduced cost per hire: Recruitment branding is a smart investment for businesses of any size and in any industry. Companies with strong employer brands have to spend roughly half on each new hire than those without. Further, organizations with bad workplace reputations end up having to pay higher wages to attract employees.

• Compete for the best talent: The top professionals want to work for the best employer brands and not necessarily for the best name brands. Building a solid reputation as a favored workplace will let you compete with the best brands and secure outstanding talent.

How to perfect your recruitment branding?

There are several challenges that management and HR professionals face in their efforts to stand out in the job market. Attracting the best talent calls for effective employer branding, nurturing positive work culture, developing employee-focused processes, and more. Let’s look at a few ways that can help you boost your recruitment branding:

1. Fine-tune your hiring process: Candidates who had a satisfying experience applying for a job are 80% more likely to reapply in the future. On the flip side, 60% of prospective employees abandon job application forms that are too long or complex. This makes the case for designing a streamlined hiring process.
2. Use onboarding to make a positive impact: Your onboarding process gives new hires their first impressions about the company and what to expect from it. A great onboarding process can help boost employee retention by 82%.
3. Invest in efficient recruitment software: On average, top professionals remain on the job market for just 10 days. Recruitment software can help companies quickly identify the best talent in a group, making the hiring process faster and more efficient.
4. Offer a competitive mix of compensation and benefits: Many employers think offering more money is what attracts the right professionals when in reality, that’s a deciding factor for only 12% of employees. Talented professionals are not persuaded by their paychecks alone but by the sum of all benefits – financial and non-financial – that a company has to offer.
5. Create an inspiring work culture: Increased productivity, lower churn, and higher profitability are just a few of the benefits associated with a strong work culture and environment. 88% of job seekers believe having a healthy culture at the workplace is directly linked to professional and business success.

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