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Kia Ora, my name is Simon and I am a part of the team here at Mint Design. Here at Mint, we have the privilege to work alongside some great Kiwi businesses and help solve their marketing problems. And, during that process, we often hear about their challenges and pain points. One that comes up regularly is the question of "how do I attract the best staff to work with my team?".
So, let's look into that question further by way of your Employer Brand and work through a health check of whether your Employer Brand is either helping or hindering you in your search for the best staff.
First of all, let's clarify some terms. In this video, we will be talking about Employer Brand which is the brand that potential new employees see and interact with - this is similar to your company's brand and does have a lot of crossover but the audiences that you are wanting to communicate with are fundamentally different.
For an employer brand, your audience is potential new employees who are looking for a new position. For your company brand, this audience is potential customers who are looking to make a purchase of your product or service.
So, let's run through this Employer Health Check to see how your Employer Brand is performing and if you can make any improvements or changes. As well in the description below is a link to a free resource that works through each step of the process, which you can work through in your own time or even better, with your leadership team.
1. How is your Employer Brand perceived in the market?
Firstly, we need to ask the fundamental question of "How is your Employer Brand perceived in the market?". With this question, you should be looking to answer a few key questions like, 'What is your reputation in the market?'. Do people know of you or your company and what you do? Then, if they do, do they see it as a great place to work?
Are you a new start-up or an established company in the market? Do you have a legacy in your area of expertise which means that everyone in the market knows your company? Or, are you just breaking into your industry and are looking for the best people to come join you and help grow your business?
Do your employees enjoy working for you? And would they recommend your company as a good place to work? Are they telling their friends and family about how much they enjoy work?
These are key questions that you should ask as they will give you an idea of how people view your company and what your employees are telling people about your company.
2. What do you offer as a point of difference for potential employees?
The next question to consider is "What do you offer as a point of difference for potential employees?". When you are trying to attract the best potential employees, usually these people are actively looking for multiple jobs and therefore will be considering a few different companies to work with. So, what makes your company stand out from the rest? What do you offer that others don't?
Is it the work that you do? Are you working on really interesting projects or trying to solve some big problems? It could be the flexibility that you offer, like the ability to work from home or remotely. Or, it might be your team that you have - are the best and the brightest?
If you are in an industry where great staff with the right skills and experience are hard to come by, you should be putting some effort into finding your points of difference between you and your competitors. Otherwise, you won't stand out from the crowd.
If you are looking for potential new employees who are currently based overseas, some good things to consider is what New Zealand as a society and country can offer someone. This is an excellent point of difference from the rest of the world - certainly at the moment and another good thing to consider if you are looking overseas for new staff - are you going to assist them to relocate their life to New Zealand?
3. Is your website putting your best foot forward?
Your website is one of your biggest assets for your Employer Brand since, in this digital age, almost everyone when looking for a new job will be looking at your company's website to get an understanding of your company, the team that they're considering working with, and the type of work they should expect to be doing. Your website needs to be putting your best foot forward.
One fascinating piece of information is that for our website here at Mint, our 'meet the team' page is the most visited page on the website. This is due to the fact that people are curious and want to see a picture of who they are going to be working with.
Some good things to consider around your website are:
- Is it easy for a candidate to apply for a role directly with your company via your website? This could be with an online form or a more formal application process through an ATS or Applicant Tracking System.
- Does your site have a careers section that gives further information to candidates about the company, the team, and your points of difference? Is this information clear and concise?
- Can a candidate sign up for a newsletter about your company and the work you do if they are interested? Or, can they sign up for updates of when a vacancy becomes available if there aren't any that they could apply for right away?
All of these are ways that you can keep candidates interested and engaged with your employer brand and the work that you do.
And remember - candidates who are aware and engaged with your Employer Brand are more likely to apply for vacancies.
4. How are you promoting your Employer Brand in the market?
Your Employer Brand can be promoted in areas such as your website, as we've already talked about, but also the other platforms that you operate on.
The could be LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or Google - a good thing to do is check if your brand is consistent across all of those platforms. A good example would be when someone visits your website then goes to your Facebook page - are they seeing the same images? Key messages? Overall Employer Brand?
Are you promoting your key employer brand messages or values on those platforms as well? Is your branding and logo consistent on your job advertisements on job boards like Seek or Trademe Jobs?
To create consistency across all of the platforms that you operate on does require some work to start with but once done, can make a big difference.
An ideal end goal that you can aim for is to be like Apple, Facebook, or Google where you are the preferred employer across your entire industry. This means that the majority of people looking for a digital technology role would be over the moon if they could get a job at one of those companies. This is a great goal to aim for but does take some time and a lot of effort to get to that stage and by incorporating all of the things we have talked about. But, it can be done and these companies are proof.
So, you should have some good ideas to start with a remember to download the document which will be in the description of this video and work through it with your team. It's always beneficial to get a check-up and a reminder to make sure your Employer Brand is working the best it can.
Thanks for watching!
