Most companies are not as fortunate as Hilton, Salesforce or Wegmans Food Markets (top 3 in the 2019 great places to work survey) in that candidates don't know their story, culture and are certainly not queuing up to work for them.
The recruitment market is currently a candidate driven one and so unless companies stand out with a strong employer brand or EVP, I am afraid it is unlikely that the high calibre talent you need to achieve your business objectives will try to find you. Why would they when they have so many other companies vying for their expertise?
This recent report confirms that more than 1/3 (37%) of internal recruitment or talent specialists don't have a good understanding of their employer's employer brand!! If they don't know your story who does?!!
It seems that these internal teams are more focused on job descriptions and hiring manager needs than they are on why candidates would be attracted to their businesses.
As executive search specialists we are mainly focused on identifying, enticing and engaging with talent in the passive job market. This means those who aren't proactively looking for a new job. This requires us to understand our client's story so we can present an attractive and compelling reason for our headhunted candidates to engage in a recruitment process.
Many of the clients we work with for the first time haven't given any thought to their employer brand and are too focused on job descriptions and so I can validate the findings from The FIRM's research.
However, every company has a story and usually one that great talent would love to hear. As a starting point, think about what interests you about the companies you have applied to or worked for. Purpose, vision, values,, culture, performance, career opportunities, who else works their are all areas that you should be addressing in your story. When you have created your story you then need to communicate it via your website and social media. Wouldn't it be great if outstanding talent kept knocking on your door even when you don't have a vacancy to fill rather than getting stressed every time you need to go to the market to find candidates?
If you partner with recruitment consultancies they will also need to understand your employer brand or story.
If you do have a great story then please make sure that everyone in your company knows about it. It isn't just the recruitment team who should be able to tell it. You are all in this war for talent together!!
Here is another article we wrote to help you create your employer brand https://www.collingwoodsearch.co.uk/our-insights/recruiting-retaining-talent/employer-branding-what-is-it-all-about/
More than a third (37%) of talent acquisition and recruitment specialists consider their knowledge of their employer brand and employee value proposition (EVP) as “weak” or “getting by” – despite these being identified as areas of critical importance. Members of The Forum for In-House Recruitment Managers (The FIRM) were asked to rate their own capabilities in several elements of their role. Employer branding Could your hiring processes be damaging your employer brand? Why do so few staff feel their employer lives up to its brand? They were most confident about their understanding of hiring managers’ requirements, with 91% considering themselves as either strong or at an “expert level” in this area. This was followed by the their soft skills, with 84% stating they were either “strong” or “expert”; candidate engagement abilities (83%); and sourcing skills (81%).
https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/recruiters-employer-brand-knowledge/
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