Make Them Want You

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As they say, change begets change, happiness begets happiness, results beget… you get the picture.  In recruitment, this translates to talented employees attracting talented candidates, company benefits and rewards inspiring loyalty and a strong culture producing results.

For our specialists at Employment Office, success in recruitment is when our clients are able to recruit less often and more easily when needed as a sign that the workforce selected is well-aligned, the company is performing as a result and turnover rates are low.

The means of reducing your turnover rate, and attracting top talent when a vacancy arises, starts from the inside out.  As our employer branding experts can attest, companies with a strong employer brand are the ones to understand what is important to their people and work towards fulfilling that (with another upshot being a high performing culture and better results!).

To truly be known as an employer of choice, we recommend you tackle the top five tactics below before taking a strategic approach to your employer branding.

Pay Fairly – It can’t be ignored that people work to earn a living.  No matter their personal motivation, joy of the job or strong alignment to the corporate culture, people are motivated – even in part – by their salary.  Resentment builds when people feel undervalued and a key element in this equation is their pay.  Good employees know their worth and will seek opportunities to earn their market value, while those who remain may disengage resulting in poor productivity.  To keep them around and high performing, be sure to remunerate them appropriately with a transparent policy that ensures ongoing earning opportunities are available.

Provide Value Adds – Delivering company benefits that are valued by your ideal employees are known to engender loyalty and differentiate you from the competition.  Employees find a real sense of appreciation from a well-run benefits scheme, so it pays to express your care and support for employees tangibly.  Simple benefits like healthy snacks and Friday drinks can make a real difference, but many employers of choice provide added value benefits like financial services, workplace gyms and childcare services.  Be sure to showcase these to potential employees so they know the value associated with working for you.

Adopt a No-Door Policy – Transparency is a rare and highly prized commodity for employees.  All too often, closed-door practices – like salary reviews or restructures – send a message of exclusion to employees which can make them feel undervalued and disconnected from the direction the company is heading.  In all likelihood, there are good reasons to keep certain aspect out of reach from employees, but where possible, make the process clear by articulating what the decisions are and why, providing a timeline and allowing for (and respecting) questions.  Companies that promote inclusiveness, which starts at the top and is supported by open communication, benefit from a workforce that focuses on the work, rather than scrutinising the rationale behind it.

Put an Emphasis on Culture – There is no greater force for engagement, productivity and job satisfaction than a company culture that is authentic and speaks to the motivations of your employees.  You can’t force it, but you can, and should, actively influence it.  For a company culture to be embraced, it must be authentic and a sudden shift may seem disingenuous and be rejected.  Start by understanding what your unique company culture is and take steps to embed and strengthen it supported by strong internal communication.  Consider capturing your company culture on film as a way to bring it to life through your assets as a powerful employer branding exercise.

Celebrate Success and Create Something to Strive for – This goes beyond simple reward and recognition.  High performing companies owe their success to the efforts of the great people within the organisation.  But it doesn’t happen by accident, or without encouragement, that individuals perform at their best.  To inspire a high performing culture, it is important to recognise individuals and celebrate the wins.  For big achievements, and if your company has the means, an end of financial year trip on which employees can earn a place can be hugely motivational, deliver the results you are after and inspire company loyalty.   On a smaller level, some tactic you can adopt include providing praise, hosting casual rewards events, offering time-off if targets are hit or shouting lunch can keep the results and good behaviour ticking along.

Recruitment Resolutions to Reboot Results in 2017

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As the last of the Christmas ham leaves the fridge, roads return to gridlock and the working year begins in earnest, now is a great time to set your intentions for the year – with recruitment results firmly in your sights.

In our world, first-class recruitment practices are in our blood, but for some, each new vacancy is a costly cause for concern.  Make 2017 the year you reboot with these recruitment resolutions.

  1. Candidate Care

If your recruitment efforts thus far have been frustrating, time-consuming budget busters, it’s time to introduce an effective candidate care system.

At every stage of the application process, your candidates are forming an opinion of your business, determining their desire to work with you and, if the process drags and candidates are left to dangle, could see you miss out on top talent.

It’s important to put your best foot forward, but in the busy day-to-day of running a business or HR department, it can be hard to carve out time to take candidate calls (and they will call often), respond to emails, answer multiple questions and concerns and provide speedy updates at every stage.

Protect your employer brand and make your life easier this year by investigating an automated candidate care system or engaging the support of a partner (our Shortlisting and Selection Specialists act as a dedicated point of call for candidates, at once eliminating the burden on our clients while promoting a positive employer brand experience for candidates).

After all, the stakes are high to get this right.  Recruitment is unfortunately geared to disappoint more people than it delights, and if 99% of your applicants develop a negative opinion it can leave lasting damage to your employer brand.

We encourage you to put a focus on candidate care this year and establish a process that:

  • Responds to all candidates quickly
  • Doesn’t keep them waiting
  • Manages expectations so candidates understand the process and timeframes
  • Returns phone calls and is available when candidates need them – which is often
  • Takes them through the decision process with constructive, valuable feedback in a timely manner
  • Understands the challenges and heartache involved in the job hunt
  • Supports candidates with advice, encouragement, respect and acknowledgment
  1. Talent Pooling

Adopting strategic talent pooling practices in 2017 will complement your candidate care efforts, this time keeping strong but unsuccessful candidates warm for future opportunities.  These are active job seekers who want to work for you after all, so it pays to maintain a positive relationship with them for access in the future.

Talent pooling is a proactive recruitment initiative that will help your organisation make quality hires more quickly.  With talent pooling, you can build on the positive relationship developed with your candidates, engage this talent with your employer brand and identify the most suitable person for the job from a pre-screened pool, instead of scrambling to find appropriate and willing candidates with each vacancy.

  1. Employer Branding

We encourage you to tackle employer branding in 2017.  Chances are, it’s already on your radar (the urgency surrounding the topic reached fever pitch last year), and while it can be a daunting undertaking, it is now a critical must-have.

After supporting clients as strategic partner in their employer branding efforts, we find the biggest, but most enlightening, challenge to overcome is understanding the (potential) disconnect between what you want your employer brand to be and how it is actually perceived.

Your employer brand is owned in the minds of your current and prospective employees, and your chance to positively influence that perception is through employer branding.

It starts with understanding the value proposition you offer employees and how well that has been marketed.  We often come across companies who, despite having amazing benefits and happy employees, struggle to fill vacancies quickly and with quality candidates.  This is often because their employer branding has missed the mark, they aren’t known to be an employer of choice (or even known at all) and quality people aren’t aware of the advantages.

Build employer of choice status through strategic, effective employer branding tactics like storytelling, social media advocacy, employee engagement activities and referral programs that connect your ideal candidates with your offer and employer brand.

Start with research.  Critically assess what your people are saying about you (on Glassdoor, social media, engagement surveys), determine what makes your organisation unique, the value you offer employees and identify opportunities to bring that to life.

A simple first step would be to cast an eye over your job ads and careers section of your website.  Are you doing enough to attract your ideal candidates?  Would they know from these portals what your mission is, why you do it, your values and the strengths of your people?  If not, set about amending to accurately reflect what you want people to know about you to encourage applications and positive impressions of your employer brand.

If all else fails, our experts are on standby to reboot and revolutionise your employer branding and recruitment practice this year.

Get the inside track with our predictions for the top trends in recruitment for 2017.

The Importance of Employer Branding

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Employer branding has never been more critical.  And every organisation has an employer brand, whether they acknowledge it or not.

If you don’t know what yours is, or how it impacts your ability to recruit and keep great talent, simply listen to what your employees are saying about workplace conditions, read the reviews you are bound to have on Glassdoor, take stock of the mounting costs associated with unnecessary recruitment and issues with high staff turnover.

Attracting top talent has never been harder than it is today and if turnover at your business is high and recruitment a chore, it’s time to think about your employer brand.  Whether good or bad, your employer brand significantly influences your ability to attract and retain the right people for your business.

Your workforce is your customer

The balance of power associated with job seeker and employee behaviour has shifted and employers are now under scrutiny.  Today’s candidates are acting like customers and should be treated as such by employers.

Think about the time, energy, expertise and investment businesses put into attracting, nurturing and retaining customers.  To stay relevant in a job seekers’ market, employers need to adopt a marketing mindset and apply the same customer-centric principles to job seekers and employees.

It’s a consumer world

We live in a ‘broadcast culture’ world, where consumers see it as their duty to share and review their experience with brands.  Under these conditions, job seekers are influenced by what others have to say about your organisation.  You don’t need to have witnessed the rise of sites like Tripadvisor and Glassdoor, or the volume of complaints lobbied on organisations’ Facebook pages to know that people love to rate things, and are especially compelled to do so when it’s bad.  

People trust what other people say, which makes this advocate behaviour particularly powerful for employers.  Organisations that are able to harness the power of an engaged workforce of positive advocates will be the ones to succeed in recruitment long term.  But this hinges on an employer’s ability to identify, articulate, communicate and nurture their employer brand.

Getting ahead of the curve and proactively taking the reins of your employer brand is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but now a critical must-have.  Without doing so, you will be at the mercy of what employees and job seekers perceive your employer brand to be.  And we can guarantee your competitors are taking their employer brand seriously, and they’ll have the edge over you.  

Great talent values a strong employer brand

  • 56% of professionals rank employer brand as the deciding factor when choosing a job (LinkedIn)
  • 52% of candidates use employer review site Glassdoor during their job search (Software Advice)
  • Companies with high engagement have four times the earnings per share (Gallup US Employee Engagement Survey)

To attract high-calibre candidates and retain them, it is critical for organisations to position themselves as an employer of choice by effectively executing and communicating their Employee Value Proposition (EVP) which forms the backbone of their employer brand.  

Build a great employer brand by

  • Understanding your target audience
  • Auditing your current employer brand assets (ie, careers page, Glassdoor reviews, employee engagement survey results) to benchmark your current position
  • Being honest about your company culture and benefits are to know what you are (and more importantly, what you aren’t) so the foundation of your EVPs and employer brand is authentic and lived by the organisation.  Employees will resist an employer brand they don’t experience themselves, and job seekers will sense the falsity
  • Engaging employees in your EVP to encourage advocate behaviour
  • Show – don’t just tell – the world what your EVPs are and what your employer brand is through storytelling, advocates and social media
  • Adopt a marketing mindset to establish and communicate your employer brand

Don’t leave it any longer.  Now is the time to nail your employer brand.  

 

Employment Office helps organisations to consistently attract and retain top talent through powerful employer branding.

Our experts have developed a proven model to bring your employer brand to life and position you as an employer of choice.

Talk to us today about how we can transform your recruitment results and elevate your employer brand.

Speak Employment Office’s employer branding expert Mark Puncher by contacting him on 07 3330 2484.

Always be recruiting, even when you aren’t hiring

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With the unemployment rate hovering around the 6% mark, it’s clear that there are candidates out there, actively looking for work. But speak to any hiring manager out there and they’ll tell a different story – that good people are hard to find, and the skills shortage we’ve been hearing about for years is a reality reaching crisis point for organisations across the country.

For companies wanting to escape the cycle of reactionary hiring, it’s heartening to know there is a better way. To eliminate long-term job vacancies, and secure the best talent for every position, a shift in the hiring mindset can set an organisation on the right path.

Employers need to shift from “hiring as needed” to an “always recruiting” mindset. One of the key issues is that businesses don’t’ always recognise the difference between hiring and recruiting. Hiring is about fulfilling an immediate need for a person with particular skills in your business. It’s reactive, and not the most efficient way to attract top talent.

You are at a disadvantage from the very start of the hiring process, because every day you don’t have someone in that role you are losing money. You’ll have to scramble to fill the role and it’s more likely you’ll settle for a substandard candidate, fearing no-one better will come along in the tight timeframe you need them.

Anyone who has advertised a position knows that great people are often hard to find. Hoping that the perfect person will be available at the exact time you choose to advertise is not only illogical, but risky. To put yourself in the best position to secure top talent, you need to always be keeping an eye out for people who might fit your business.

There are a few steps every organisation can take to make the move from reactive hiring to proactive recruitment.

1. Know who you are looking for.

Have clear workforce goals for today and anticipate where your talent needs will be tomorrow. Know the existing positions that are critical to your organisation’s ongoing success, and identify new roles you will need to enable the growth and expansion you envisage for the future. Be clear on the type of candidate you want to attract, paying attention to demographics, key motivators and channels for interaction.

2. Invest in your employer brand.

At the end of the day, recruitment is marketing. Much like consumer marketing, recruitment marketing is all about how candidate markets perceive your brand as an employer, and the journey you take them on to convert them to employees when the time is right. Build the right communications platform for your employer brand to give candidates a clear picture of what it’s like to work for you. Get active on social media and make your careers site interactive, informative and mobile-friendly.

3. Create a talent pool.

If you are always recruiting, you will need an organised way of keeping track of great candidates you may want to extend an offer to in the future. Using an online talent pool, usually linked to your Applicant Tracking System or e-Recruitment software will give you the opportunity to nurture candidates by sending them engaging content that not only educates them on your business and culture, but also prepares them for the right opportunity with you.

4. Makes sure every candidate experience is great.

It’s important to make sure every candidate that enters your recruitment funnel has a good experience with your company. Even if you don’t hire a candidate right away, that doesn’t mean you won’t want to call on them for another role in the future. Or they may become a client – their candidate experience with your company will influence this relationship. Make sure your keep all candidates informed, engaged and give them all the information they need to be a proponent of your organisation.

Recruitment doesn’t start when someone leaves. It is a never-ending process that eliminates the need for the hasty hiring of lacklustre talent and saves you time and money. Recruitment gives you control. Recruitment should be happening every day as a part of your weekly activity. Even if you think you have the “perfect” staff in place, you never know when that might change. So always be on the lookout for that next great employee.

Is Your Employee Value Proposition Up to Scratch? Top Tips To Have Your Candidates Lining Up

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Employer branding has been gaining traction as the buzz-word of the moment in HR and recruitment circles, and for good reason.  As the war for talent rages on, employers are rapidly realising their employer brand is just as important as their consumer brand when it comes to building a successful business. Deeply rooted in the foundation of a strong employer brand is a compelling Employee Value Proposition, or EVP.  Essentially, this is ‘the give and the get’ of the employer/employee relationship.  What are you expecting from an employee in your organisation, and what can they expect you to provide as their employer.

Developing an EVP that will not only attract great candidates to your business, but also engage them and keep them happy when they are there is no easy feat.  It involves significant planning, requires the buy-in of senior leaders and needs to be executed and communicated well to have the desired impact.

We’ve put together a few tips to help you get on the right track to developing an Employee Value Proposition you’ll be proud of.

1. Have a good understanding of what’s going on with your workforce




Just as marketers conduct consumer research to get an insight into what their target markets think and feel about their brand or product, it’s just as important for those working on the employer brand to have a good gauge on employee sentiment and how people feel about the current EVP.  Engaging an experienced Employer Brand Strategist to conduct a series of one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders will give you a good indication of where the EVP is working and where it needs improvement.  An employee engagement survey and an analysis of exit interview data can also reveal the positive and negative aspects of your organisation’s employee value proposition.

2. Know who you want and what you have to offer them




An EVP workshop is a great way to involve all the key stakeholders in the process of defining the candidate personas you are trying to attract.  Working together as a group to determine the demographics you are looking for, in addition to the key attributes and personal characteristics you associate with your most successful hires, will put you on the right path to identify their motivators and the EVP elements they will insist on when making their next career move.

3. Close the gap between real and ideal




In every employer branding project, there comes the time when you discover the existing EVP, and the EVP that appeals to your ideal candidate, doesn’t quite match up.  Organisations need to review their EVP regularly to make sure it accurately addresses the key needs of employees, and is enticing to new candidates.  When refining and adding to your employee value proposition, there are a few key questions you need to keep in mind: Is it attractive? Is it true? Is it credible? Is it distinct? Is it sustainable? If if ticks all the boxes, that element of the EVP should make the shortlist.

4. Define your position in the market




As with any other form of branding, it’s important to know what your competitors are doing.  Your competitors for talent won’t necessarily be your competitors for customers, so it’s important to recognise the difference.  Know who you are competing against for your target demographic and ideal candidate persona, and make sure your employee value proposition is not only competitive, but gives you an edge over these other employers.

If you’d like more information on creating a strong employer brand, supported by a compelling EVP, contact Employment Office’s As you can see developing an EVP  isn’t a simple or easy task and neither is then developing tactics to clearly communicate your EVP messages. If you’d like assistance with Employer Branding or EVP development services contact Brooke Chapman – Employer Branding Team Leader on 1300 366 573 today.

Video Interviewing: The Best New Tool In Your Recruitment Arsenal 

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Just as snail-mail resumes were phased out by online application forms, so to has two-way video interviewing overtaken the humble phone call.

Recruitment technology now allows employers to easily review recorded video interviews of prospective candidates before they spend time and money inviting them to face-to-face meetings.

According to a survey by UK job board Monster, 82 per cent of hiring managers rate a candidate’s ability to hold eye contact as a telling nonverbal cue. Now with video interview technology, characteristics such as this can be revealed before a face-to-face meeting.

Recruitment marketing specialists Employment Office are leading the pack with this emerging recruitment technology, launching their video interviewing product last year in response to increased demand from customers.

“Employment Office is the first company to offer a two-way video platform where a live interview is conducted by a recruitment expert in a format that is both recordable and shareable.  Our approach is human and personal as opposed to a candidate talking into a webcam, answering stock-standard questions,”says Employment Office Managing Director Tudor Marsden-Huggins.

Although job interviews were once seen as the final frontier – a recruitment function that needed to be kept in-house – more businesses are now seeing the value in hiring a professional to conduct a preliminary interview on their behalf.

“Job interviews can be a tough thing to get right.  Without the necessary skills it can be hard to make a confident hiring decision.  By using a trained expert in an interactive interview, you can make an informed choice based on substantive candidate responses, while also having the visual capacity to assess non-verbal communication skills and professional presentation,”Marsden-Huggins said.

Conducting interviews via interactive video is also more efficient and cost effective.  It’s certainly easier and cheaper to arrange a video interview that can be shared with key decision makers anytime, as opposed to scheduling face-to-face meetings with busy people in several locations.

In an age of globalisation and virtualisation, having easy access to candidates beyond geographical barriers is important. Businesses need to think creatively to reach out to potential employees and in today’s recruitment landscape video interviewing is proving to be a valuable tool to add to your recruitment toolkit.

If you would like to receive more information on how video interviewing technology can help your business, contact Employment Office today on 07 3330 2555.

Recruiters become marketers: Why you need to build and engage your own talent pool

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Recruiters Become Marketers

 Over 50 percent of employers have revealed it’s become increasingly difficult to find qualified candidates over the last five years.*  In order to appeal to modern day candidates, organisations need to act more like marketers to effectively attract and retain high-calibre candidates.

Successful talent pools emerge from using engaging recruitment marketing techniques to involve candidates with a brand before a vacant position arises.

72 percent of employers state they first look to internal resources when a position opens up, however unless candidate pools are engaged and up-to-date, the resources become useless.

Effective talent pooling targets specific candidates and categorises them based on data available such as how engaged an applicant is with a website, social media, or an EDM campaign.

Employment Office partner SCOUT eRecruitment Software creates software allowing organisations to turn recruitment processes from reactive to proactive.

General Manager of SCOUT, Andrea Davey, says in the current recruitment sphere companies need to reduce their reliance on job board advertising.

“Building a talent pool is just scratching the surface. Organisations must then use the platform to regularly engage candidates with informative content about their organisation and what it’s like to work there, keeping top talent interested for when a suitable position becomes available,” she says.

In order to get a running start on filling a vacancy, organisations must adopt a marketing mindset and focus on quality, targeted content.

“It’s not enough to attract candidates to apply with your organisation then let them sit stagnant in your database with no engagement – employers need to nurture a talent pool with relevant and interesting information,” Davey says.

So how can you begin engaging your talent pool today? Understanding your target candidate is key. Knowing where they live online allows employers to strategically drip-feed information in snack-sized bites directly into a candidate’s digital world.

Remember, the information needs to be engaging and relevant or you’ll risk losing them. Candidates are more selective than ever so deploy content to help them upskill, re-apply, or learn about your culture to ensure you spark their interest.

Focusing on engaging and effectively managing a talent pool is the way forward for recruitment and it will bring about positive changes in your organisation’s recruitment process.

Contact SCOUT today to discuss how we can build and nurture your organisation’s talent pool. Please call the team on 07 3330 2595.

* CareerBuilder’s 2015 Candidate Behavior Study

Reverse Mentoring – Unorthodox or Invaluable?

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Reverse Mentoring

Reverse Mentoring

Embracing a millennial-driven workplace is inevitable for employers, with the demographic set to make up 50% of the global workforce by 2020. The seasoned expertise of older generations shouldn’t be undervalued, but how can businesses best capitalise on the generational shift taking place?

Some businesses are discovering the answer in a new workplace trend – reverse mentoring. This emerging business initiative partners older executives, typically Baby Boomers and Generation X, with younger, more tech-savvy, Millennials.

Reverse mentoring flips old-fashioned corporate structures on their head and encourages high-level executives to turn to younger employees for assistance with rapidly-changing business technology.

ANZ Bank Chairman David Gonski uses reverse mentoring to upskill on social media technology, and has rolled-out formal reverse-mentoring schemes throughout the organisation for the past 18-months. So far, the program has linked 70 senior ANZ executives with younger social media ambassadors.

Andrew Lafontaine, senior director of human capital strategy and transformation at Oracle also supports reverse mentoring and says exposing Millennials to senior leadership teams gives them invaluable skills and insight.

“Reverse mentoring harnesses the talent of rising stars, and increases how connected the organisation is – by forming unlikely relationships and exposing employees to areas of the company outside their normal daily routine,” he says.

Both parties benefit as younger staff engage with C-level executives where they otherwise might not have the chance. It also exposes an older generation to colleagues who have grown up with technology, who use it socially and expect to use it extensively in the workplace.

So how should your organisation embrace reverse mentoring and keep up with the impending Millennial workforce?

Reverse mentoring has occurred organically in the past, but it’s not enough to rely on motivated Millennials and progressive executives to form their own relationships. Creating a structure around the process will help, but the change needs to come from the top to ensure management teams are onboard and invested in the initiative.

Encourage mentoring relationships to be formed across departmental lines so employees are not only picking up generational insights, but are also learning about other areas of the business and seeing how roles quite different from their own impact on the organisation.

Most of all, create a collaborative work environment, where the contributions of all employees are valued and recognised. To feel comfortable sharing their skills and expertise, no matter what generation they are from, employees need to feel their advice and insights are respected and will be properly considered by their mentoring partner.

Blurred lines: Social media and employees, where do you stand?

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There are currently more than 14 million active social media users in Australia and with this figure on the rise, so are the instances of an individual’s online indiscretions affecting their professional lives and the reputation of their employer.

Social media dismissal cases are becoming increasingly common. A decision handed down by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in the UK last month upheld the dismissal of a British Waterways Board employee for inappropriate posts on Facebook.

The employee was dismissed for gross misconduct due to unsavoury and derogatory comments he posted on his personal Facebook page. Some comments revealed he had consumed alcohol while on a standby shift.  When on standby, employees of the British Waterways Board are prohibited from drinking alcohol.  The employee also made disparaging remarks on Facebook about his workplace and supervisors.

So, closer to home, what can we learn from this case and how does social media affect Australian organisations as employers?

Earlier this year, Australian logistics company Linfox was ordered to restore pay to an employee, whom it had sacked for making inappropriate comments about managers on Facebook. It was found the dismissal was harsh and unreasonable because the employer had not communicated its social media expectations to the worker.

Implementing a social media policy for employees is one tool to not only prevent unwanted social media posts from employees, but also to impose professional penalties when a worker acts outside of the communicated guidelines.

Further to communicating with employees it may be considered to ask employees to sign a social media policy agreement upon commencement with an organisation to minimise the risk of your company being misrepresented online.

Organisations may also consider training staff in the use of social media etiquette. Explaining the differences between private and public online comments and personal and professional social media expectations can prevent Facebook faux pas for both the individual and employer.

Managing Director of recruitment marketing specialists Employment Office, Tudor Marsden-Huggins, says the lines are becoming increasingly blurred between online and offline worlds and organisations must take action to ensure employees represent their company appropriately in all circumstances.

“Employers need to keep a handle on their image across all mediums, including social media.  Disparaging remarks about an organisation, particularly when they come from an employee can be incredibly damaging for a brand,” he said.

“We’re now in a landscape where employees are part of a very tech-savvy generation and are engaging with peers on multiple online platforms.  Employers need to be on the front foot and have clear policies in place to make employees think before they post.

“Each workplace must be considered on a case by case basis, but the key is education.  If employees are forewarned and educated about what is expected of them, the risks will be mitigated significantly,” Marsden-Huggins said.

Employer Branding: Time to sit up and take notice

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It’s hard to believe just a few years ago, the concept of an employer brand was little more than another recruitment buzz word.  Fast forward to today, and employer branding is proving to be a real game-changer in terms of attracting and retaining top talent.

Employer branding is now a permanent fixture on the agenda for not only HR and recruitment specialists, but the C-Suite is also sitting up and taking notice.

LinkedIn’s 2015 Global Recruiting Trends Report has revealed over half of Global Talent Leaders see building their employer brand as a top priority this year.

A further 75% say their employer brand has a significant impact on their ability to hire great talent.

It’s no surprise employer branding has become a major concern for business leaders.  With shrinking talent pools and competitive labour markets occurring in industries across the globe, future-thinking organisations have been working on employer branding strategies for years.

Google is widely regarded as one of the world’s best workplaces and this year was ranked No. 1 for the sixth time on Fortune’s Great Places to Work list.  Google leverages their workplace perks and strong culture to create an employer brand that sets them apart as an employer of choice not only in their field, but in the broader jobs market.

Closer to home, Australian software giant Atlassian, famous for its unique management style  and commitment to rewarding and recognising employees was last year named Australia’s top employer in BRW’s Great Places to Work List.

Cultivating a strategic employer brand is integral in positioning your organisation as an employer of choice, and making your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) stand out among increasingly competitive employee benefits, working conditions and corporate culture.

A strong employer brand shapes the perceptions key candidate demographics have of your organisation and what it’s like to work there.  It communicates your offering in terms of opportunities for career progression, investment in training and education and on-the-job support.

Organisations with a strong employer brand and the EVP to go with it benefit from higher quality candidates drawn from a diverse talent pool, in addition to increased employee engagement and better retention.  Time and money spent on the recruitment process are also slashed, as top talent is more readily attracted to roles with an organisation with a great employer brand.

Employment Office works in partnership with our customers to develop compelling Employee Value Propositions and build strong employer brands. We are specialists in getting the inside message out about why your organisation is a great place to work.

Contact Employment Office today to discuss how we can help position you as an employer of choice for top talent.