What does your organization look like from the outside?
Employer Branding is all about how others perceive your company – it’s certainly a case of “you can lead your audience to water – but you can’t make them drink.” For the brand to work – to attract the candidates your business needs and engage and re-engage your valued employees, it has to be authentic. What you say about your employment experience has to match the word in the market.
To know if your branding efforts are hitting the right note, it’s important to get outside the organization and see your company the way your target audience might see your company – warts and all. Here are a few of the things you can do to ensure that you are taking an “outside looking in” approach to your overall strategies:
Socially speaking…
Google yourself – no, that’s not an insult – it’s an honest suggestion for a place to start investigating what people really say about your company. When you Google your organization what comes up?
- Is it positive, negative?
- Are you on the first page of results?
Does your Company have a page on Glassdoor or Ratemyemployer?
- When your candidates go online to check your company out, what will their first impressions be?
Look for the quick wins to help you incorporate the positive into your branding messaging and address the negative. Work with your marketing department to expand your online presence and improve your SEO.
Know Your Score…
Do you know who your fans are?
The Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is based on the basic idea that every company’s clients can be divided into three categories: Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. This can work equally well for your employees or candidates.
Surveying your clients can tell you how they feel about your company – would they refer your company to friends and family? If yes – what is it that they appreciated so highly about their experience? These are the factors that will set you apart in the market and should form the base of your EVP.
Provide a Warm Welcome
Don’t forget your applicants. Applying for a role is often their first interaction with your organization. Make that process enjoyable, and set your company apart from the black-holes of many complex, impersonal ATS experiences.
Get to know what that new hire’s first experience is like.
- Is it easy to search for relevant opportunities? Are your job descriptions mini novels, or are they short and accurate descriptions of the responsibilities?
- Is it easy to apply for these opportunities?
- Can you inquire about your organization without having to apply?
When you look at it from the other side, how would you rate your new hire and onboarding processes? Are they set up to bring people into your organization and help them feel a part of things from the beginning? Work with all your internal stakeholders to make the transition an easy one for new hires, to help them feel supported and set up for success.
Taking the opportunity to view your processes with a fresh eye, by putting yourself in other people’s shoes, will provide you with incredible insight on how your company is perceived as a place to work. These realizations go a long way to helping you develop and sustain a top employer brand!