Becoming an Attractive Employer with Employer Branding

Employer branding is a measure for recruiting and retaining employees. Companies will present themselves as an attractive employer to court potential talent and to keep well-established staff. Learn what contributes to a leading business and how to polish your employer brand.

What Makes You an Attractive Employer?

Companies are developing more efficient recruiting strategies due to a shortage of skilled workers in the job market. For you to develop or expand your employer brand, you need to highlight your strengths and ask questions such as:

• Why should a potential employee be interested in our company specifically?
• What can we offer our professionals, so that they remain with us long-term?
• How do we distinguish ourselves from our competitors?
• On what platforms can we reach out to potential candidates?

A recent “Top Job” study from the Institute for Leadership and Human Resource Management at the University of St. Gallen answers those questions and addresses what in fact makes employers attractive to workers. For men, a healthy work-life balance and a culture of mutual trust are important whereas women commonly want result-oriented, inspiring leadership.

The study shows that the expectations of each are similar to those of Generation X (men) and Generation Y (women). It can be concluded from the rest of the findings of this study that the preferred employer among prospects is the one with self-determined work and a functional team.

Communicate Your Originality

If a company can entice with personal benefits, those must be communicated to applicants. With the “ROI of Employer Brand Study” the career platform, LinkedIn tells you in what way this works best. 60 percent of study participants research industry experts, 46 percent follow the recommendations of friends and 42 percent form their opinion about a company through media reports.

Although less than ten percent are based on corporate appearance on social media, Chris Brown, head of the study, recommends using these findings to strengthen the employer brand. If it is possible to show unique corporate culture and have a look behind the scenes of the operation, channels like Twitter and Facebook can give potential employees a genuine impression.

Employer Branding Worth

Don’t underestimate the impact the location has on the appeal of a business. The image and location of a city can be a decisive criterion – a young college student is likely to prefer a location different from that of a 50-year-old father. However, companies with locational disadvantages can quickly make up for it with Employer Branding. If a business has a good reputation and can communicate its unique advantages to the outside, it will be able to persuade job seekers to apply anywhere, even in the deepest black forest.

Furthermore, the “Top-Job” study displays the economic incentive of employer branding: with an attractive business, the employee turnover rate drops while company revenue increases by 16 percent and customer enthusiasm by 12 percent. It turns out, building and maintaining a shining image can pay in the long run for corporations.