Does your brand have the ability to attract top it-talent?

Hiring TipsEmployer Branding

If you don't build a great image of your business in the minds of potential employees, you will never be able to attract top talent.

Startups and established companies alike face the challenge of hiring top talent. The burden is no longer on the company to choose the best candidate, but on the candidate to choose the best company and opportunity. Although most companies develop strong brand identities to attract customers, what many don't realize is that they need to strategically use brand marketing efforts to draw in top talent as well.

The United States government recently reported that there were 9.2 million jobs available. Due to the shortage of skilled and experienced talent, companies must compete fiercely for personnel. Usually, companies will invest a lot of effort into benefits packages, bonuses and perks to attract candidates. What companies often overlook is developing and marketing their brands such that they are strategically tailored to inspire top industry professionals to want to work for them.

As with any challenging situation, it is often necessary to take a step back and assess the strategies and messages that your organization has used in the past. Are you differentiating yourself from others? The first step to standing out in a sea of similar organizations is to create a recognizable and memorable brand. However, employer branding does not happen overnight. It is a long-term process designed to demonstrate your value to both your consumers and potential employees.

3 BRAND MARKETING STRATEGIES TO FIND TOP TALENT

• Exclusive Meet-and-Greet Events.
• Social Media Campaigns.
• Leverage Recruitment Firms.
• Always give your best effort

Evaluating your website should be one of the first things you do. Your website is often the first point of contact potential customers have with your company, so it is important that the information contained therein is accurate and up-to-date.

Your website should be free of grammatical errors, have an appealing layout, and contain consistent messaging that speaks directly to both your customers and your ideal candidates. Your organization's core values can be communicated through selective keywords and phrases on your website. If a company communicates its values clearly and consistently, it will appear more attractive to the right-fit candidate.

Furthermore, it is essential to use high-quality photos of employees in the workplace. Short, engaging videos of your employees explaining why your company is a great place to work or why they chose you are great tools as well. Then, if a potential candidate identifies with these values, they will be more likely to apply.

When creating your website, you should keep in mind individuals who may one day hold C-level positions and who will be looking for new opportunities. It is important that these potential candidates view your company in a positive light. To achieve this, the structure of your website should be such that it makes a good impression.

Improve your reputation

It is important to monitor all digital platforms for your organization in order to create a cohesive brand message. This includes your website, as well as search engines, social media, and online review sites. Utilizing press releases and public relations outreach from your company can help develop a cohesive image as well.

It is important to invest time in cultivating your organization's online reputation well in advance of trying to attract top talent to the company. In an ideal world, when potential candidates conduct a Google search on your company, they would only see positive reviews, news coverage and social media posts. But this is not always true. For this reason, all businesses should keep track of how the public sees them online.

Potential candidates who research your company and read poor reviews are much less likely to want to join you, and may even stop considering you entirely. If a problem arises, existing employees should encourage each other to publicly express why they enjoy working for the company and share success stories about how the work environment boosts individual growth. If you find that employees are not motivated to celebrate their workplace as one of the best, it is time to take a closer look at the situation and address the larger issue.

Congratulate yourself on a job well done!

It is not enough to avoid negative information or create a neutral image for your company online. To differentiate yourself from competing employers in your industry, your organization must demonstrate accomplishments regularly and publicly that are relevant to the ideal executive you want to attract. It is necessary to invest in your company's future growth by doing this: it will capture the attention of a potential perfect-match candidate and position your organization as an employer of choice.

In other words, to have a successful employer brand, you must cultivate a positive reputation among your current employees as well as your target executives' perception of you as an employer. Employer branding is a way of marketing your company that appeals to the type of industry professionals you want to recruit.

It is important to remember that, unlike entry-level employees, executive candidates are not attracted to a company just because it claims to make great products or because it offers bonuses and office perks. If you want to keep top talent, you need to make sure that potential hires understand your company values, workplace culture and the greater purpose it serves.

Develop a marketing strategy to reach top talent.

A few strategies that can be used to market your company's brand are creating exclusive meet-and-greet events and gatherings digitally, and having regular virtual or in-person events. By hosting virtual gatherings on Clubhouse, for example, you can give many talented executives who currently work for your competitors a glimpse into what makes your organization and its mission different.

Another strategy for attracting top talent is to create social media campaigns that emphasize the positive aspects of working with your company. Try to curate topics that will interest your targeted candidate. Recruitment marketing should not be limited to LinkedIn, but should also include YouTube and Instagram to show why your organization is an ideal employer. It is advisable to take a long-term view of online image cultivation as an investment in recruitment.

When it comes to discussing new opportunities with executives, both the company and the candidate may have many reasons for not moving forward. Usually, there are more factors on an executive candidate’s end that prevent them from moving forward with a new opportunity, such as their desired location, professional and personal circumstances and goals. Although it may be tempting to cut ties with these individuals, it is important to remember that there is always the potential to reconnect with them in the future. Try connecting with them on social media platforms and offer them the opportunity to opt-in to receiving news from your company. By doing this, they will be able to stay updated with your organization’s accomplishments as well as any new opportunities that may arise. By interacting with candidates digitally, you can not only maintain their interest in working with you, but you can also keep them in your database of potential candidates for future openings.

Working with a specialized executive search firm is one way to expand your reach and find more qualified candidates beyond your organization's limited network. They also know how to make the opportunity more appealing, positioning you as a preferable employer in your industry.

It is essential to remember that the goal of recruiting top talent is to promote the growth of your organization and secure its success. This cannot be done without experienced and intelligent leadership. If you cannot find the right candidates in the necessary time frame using your company's internal resources, you should consider using a professional recruitment firm in order to compress the hiring timeline.

Finding the best talent is key to success.

Companies can no longer rely on individual outreach and the networks of a few internal employees. Instead, they need to plan ahead and create strong recruitment marketing programs that can reach a larger pool of candidates. It is important to remember that developing trust through familiarity is key in maintaining long-term relationships with potential candidates.

A company's success in developing a brand from the perspective of its outstanding products and services does not automatically mean it will be successful in marketing itself as an employer. A company's positive image, through its online reputation and feedback from employees, allows it to optimize recruitment efforts, attract top talent and grow with a solid foundation.