The Employer’s Most Underutilized Asset
Is your company having difficulty attracting the right talent? If so, you are not alone. I have worked with many companies having a hard time recruiting the right people for the right position. The high level of competition in today’s job market is forcing employers to think outside the box and look for new and improved recruiting techniques. I have good news. One of your best assets for attracting top talent is likely right under your nose: your company’s brand message.
Companies spend months or even years developing and molding their brand image in an effort to grow their client base and boost sales. Unfortunately, many of these same companies fail to utilize their brand message when it comes to recruiting top talent. I’m here to tell you that marketing and recruiting are very similar. I can show you how to attract and recruit high-quality candidates using the same principles that work to grow your business.
How to Integrate Your Brand Message
Are you thinking that your brand message has little to do with recruiting? Think again. Technology has changed the way prospective employees apply for a job. I recently read a study that shows 64 percent of candidates claim to search online for information about an employer before applying for the job.
I agree that your job announcement is typically the first point of contact with prospective applicants, but your website, landing page and social media sites are the next lines of communication. How you portray your company, not just as a business but also as an employer, will directly determine what type of applicants respond to your job announcements.
Your logo, slogan and catch phrases are just as important to recruiting as they are to sales. My company, OptiJob, can show you how to incorporate your company’s values and goals into your brand image, so that it will not just resonate with the consumer, but it will attract higher quality candidates.
Optimize Your Job Postings
As I stated earlier, your job posting is your first point of contact with prospective applicants — so you have to make it stand out. The wording, formatting and meta tags all play an important part when it comes to career site optimization. You want to optimize specific keywords and key phrases that are consistent with your employer’s brand image. I have found that this will help you not just attract the best candidate, but also attract candidates that are best for your company.
Reach Your Target Candidates With Social Media
Facebook alone now has more than one billion users. This is a huge potential talent pool that I just cannot let you ignore. Perhaps you are already one of the growing number of companies that post their job openings on social media, but I have helped companies do so much more with their social media. In fact, social media recruiting tools are perfect for highlighting your brand message.
Through social media recruiting training, I have showed employers how to take simple steps, like posting pictures from staff events or highlighting recent employee achievements, to get more social media exposure. I have also helped some clients take advanced steps, like making videos of select employee explaining what it’s like to work for your company. This type of visual storytelling will not just get your company noticed, but it will speak directly to potential applicants.
Incorporate Your Brand Message Into Your Landing Page
I have noticed the new trend where employers now include a job-specific landing page with each job posting. These pages have one primary goal, and that is to convert a potential applicant into a prospective candidate. I use landing pages to help employers make their brand message clear and concise. The results are undeniable. The more the applicant connects with your business, the more likely they are to take the next step and complete the application process.
How Utilizing Your Brand Can Help
In my line of work, I have found that integrating your already-established brand message into your recruiting strategies offers several great benefits.
Improve the Candidate Experience
The more potential candidates know about your company’s values, goals and expectations, the more prepared they will be to move through the application process. This can enhance the candidate’s experience and improve your search results by helping you streamline the recruiting process.
Attract the Right Candidates
Attracting job candidates is only half the battle. You want talented candidates that have the right skills and experience, and ones that “fit” into your company’s workplace culture. More and more applicants are searching for this type of “cultural fit.” Studies also show that employees that feel that they fit well with their employer are more productive and remain with their employer for a longer period of time — both of which are good news for you.
Boost Employer Online Reviews
Building an employer brand is just as important for your current employees as it is for your prospective candidates. A strong and accurate brand can help your current and former employees, as well as applicants, view your business in a positive light. This will encourage employees to post online reviews that also highlight your employer brand. This, in turn, will make your company more attractive to potential applicants.
If you are ready to use your brand message to boost the quality of your applicants, OptiJob can help. OptiJob offers the best recruiting software on the market. I can help you integrate your brand message into your recruiting process in a way that attracts and convert higher quality job applicants. From creating the ideal job posting to optimizing for branding keywords to developing customized landing pages for each job, OptiJob does it all. Contact me to learn more.
Sources
http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?ed=12%2F31%2F2016&id=pr951&sd=6%2F1%2F2016
https://www.eremedia.com/ere/top-10-ways-to-supercharge-and-optimize-your-job-postings/
https://www.lever.co/blog/how-to-use-social-media-for-employer-branding