In this era of industrial revolution, the labor market of Vietnam is becoming more and more dynamic, causing many businesses to face challenges such as “brain drain”, employees “hopping jobs” too frequently. Therefore, to attract and retain talents for businesses effectively, employers need to update and apply different measures. In particular, one method that is currently in trend is: Employer Branding — the process of building a brand for employers.
The Concept of “Employer Branding”
Employer Branding is a familiar concept that has been around for quite a long time. Employer Branding process aims to increase brand recognition, promote a company or an organization to stand out in the marketplace. In other words, the employer branding process is building the brand reputation of the company as an employer instead of a business to mainly impress job seekers.
The Importance of the Employer Branding Process
It can be said that employer branding is becoming a trend that businesses today are due to the demands as well as the effects it can bring about.
According to a Harvard Business Review article, the topic of employer branding has become of particular interest for large corporations such as Unilever, Apple or P&G. These companies have applied methodical branding programs to improve their brand image and attract talents.
Nowadays, it is not difficult to come across the recruitment pages of large corporations that are very well designed and visually appealing with high quality content. Their job postings are not only encapsulated in the JD (job description) framework, but also the company’s activities and events. That’s how candidates become more interested and curious about the positions of the company, setting the foundation for the desire to become a team member, a part of that culture. A strong corporate brand is an important foundation for building a strong employer brand. Everyone loves working for a highly reputable company. Having big names like Unilever, P&G, or McKinsey on your CV/resume is like having a guarantee stamp for any individual.
However, a strong corporate brand is not enough. The target audience of this employer branding process are potential employees. They are very different from the customers who buy the company’s products. In addition to the prestige of the company’s brand, this group of audience has other wants and needs such as: their bosses’ leadership, competitive salary and compensation package, or the working environment.
Every employee wants a position with career development opportunities, good income and healthy working environment. If an employer manages to satisfy those 3 conditions and attract talents, your company’s brand image will be rapidly improved.
A friendly healthy working environment is the foundation for employee satisfaction. When employees are satisfied, the quality of their work will definitely improve, which will be reflected in the customer satisfaction score. Customer satisfaction, as we all know is, the key factor in the quality of your company’s brand image. Although employer branding doesn’t seem to have a direct impact on customers, in the long run, a proper employer branding process will pose a positive effect on your company’s image and revenue thanks to your employees’ high-quality input.
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Steps to building an employer branding
Most of the time, people think of branding as building a positive brand image for customers. In fact, employer branding aims to build a good brand reputation for current and potential employees. However, the process of building and maintaining the brand image to both employees and customers is pretty much the same.
Here are some suggestions to help you build an effective employer brand for your business:
Testing
You can’t skip the stage of market research and companies’ assessment in terms of strengths and weaknesses. During this stage, besides using online channels to find out employees’ perceptions, employers can have internal employees do some surveys to figure out their employers can use online channels and do surveys to find out employees’ perceptions of the company, their opinions and level of satisfaction, etc. Based on that information, businesses can start creating a branding strategy to attract candidates.
Messaging
Next in the process, a clear message that aligns with the company’s values is needed. These messages must show the consistency between the job characteristics and remuneration when working at the company. Messages also have to be built in a way that helps employers attract candidates and retain talents at the same time. Nevertheless, it is important to make sure that every single message being sent out aligns with the vision, mission and values of the business.
Media
Print media, outdoor advertising and public relations are traditional channels that can be used for employer branding. However, businesses need to consider the relevance and effectiveness of each method to the target candidates.
Evaluation
Employer branding can become meaningless if the business does not have reasonable metrics to assess the effectiveness. To evaluate the employer branding process objectively, recruiters need to create metrics that are measurable for each campaign, such as views, number of applications, etc. At the same time, businesses also need to refer to the data of jobs and companies in the same field for a more objective evaluation.
In general, employer branding is a method that any business and employers should study and put into practice.
The JobHopin team