Building a beautiful brand. That have most marketing professionals all over the place. But an employer brand... that is often a different cookie after all. We have listed some important signals that will help you discover the improvement potential at your organisation.
Signal 1
Your colleagues are proud of the work but not the brand
We often come across it; employees who talk passionately about their profession but don't say a word about the organisation where they work. This can be due to a number of things. In the worst case, they simply do not know how to name good aspects of the organisation. It may be that these are hardly present. Then there is work to be done. But in many cases, there is simply no awareness of well-regulated aspects of being an employer. From the discipline of marketing and communication, you can pay considerably more attention to this. A lot of research has been done into the aspects that make being an employer attractive. We have summarised this in the work elements as part of our measurement tool the Magnet Score. Want to know more? Read our whitepaper on the subject.
Signal 2
Your employer brand has no core concept
We are looking for colleagues.
Congratulations! Almost all of the Netherlands is looking for colleagues. You are not going to stand out in the job market with such a message. Make sure you have a strong core concept. That starts with a good analysis. It then provides direction for a strong promise: Employee Value Proposition (EVP). That is the basis for a sharp core concept. Make sure that this core concept, consisting of image and promise, provides a framework for all communication around your employer brand. So for both external communication (attracting new talent) and internal communication (retaining, involving and making your current colleagues proud). If it works on both sides, it also reinforces it as a whole.
Signal 3
You cannot immediately name your most powerful employer pillar
The biggest question for a marketer in the field of Employer Branding: Where is the uniqueness of your employer brand? It happens all too often that this question gets a long answer with container terms: informal, short lines of communication, nice working atmosphere, etcetera.
You're not going to make a difference with middle-of-the-road features. How then? You can measure the appeal of your employer brand very easily on a scientific basis. The so-called Magnet Score measures not only the current appeal of your employer brand but also the degree of importance for talent and future ambition. This gives you an overall picture and allows you to really work on your employer brand on a fact-based basis.
Signal 4
Your labour market communication is mainly about sending
Want to get talent moving? Then stop talking and start listening. Labour market communication is all about talent-oriented communication. What do they find important? If you know that, you also know which aspects of your organisation are important to tell.
You can use that interaction in various ways throughout the candidate and employee journey. Think of interaction opportunities on the website, original conversation starters for the job interview or an interactive buddy programme for the first 100 days.
Signal 5
You mainly target active jobseekers
Did you know that only about 11% of the labour market is actively looking for work? Those are the people who regularly look at job boards and read vacancies. A much larger group (around 40%) are latent job seekers. These are talents who are already working somewhere, open to new opportunities, but are not yet taking action themselves. How do you reach them? Spoiler alert: not by promoting job ads.
It remains extraordinary that most labour market communication is aimed at the smallest group in the labour market. So how do you reach the latent jobseekers? Focus on communication tools at employer branding level (image/reputation) and recruitment marketing. An interesting case related to this is that of Fontys. In a recruitment marketing campaign with them, we achieved no less than 370 introductory interviews with talent in less than a month! You can read here more on.
Signal 6
Your target audiences are rather general
As a marketer, you know; it starts with the target group. Yet, when it comes to employer branding, we often see insufficient zooming in on labour market-specific motives. Making a traditional Persona then simply falls short. It is better to use the candidate canvas where you zoom in on the transfer motives of talent that is currently active in another job. Also consider attraction factors, job drivers, development opportunities, growth perspectives and how meaningful the work is.
Sparring about your organisation's Employer Brand? Let us know! We are happy to inspire you with practical examples.
