No-Gos in Employer Branding for Developers
Not all employer branding content is created equal. Well-written job ads and a well-prepared career website can set your company apart from the competition. However, if you're careless when creating this content, the entire effort could ruin your company's reputation with the developer community.
To ensure you don't lose candidates, take a look at four employer marketing mistakes that could negatively impact your developer recruiting strategy.
Squishy positioning
Storytelling is a powerful technique for building successful relationships with consumers. Although "storytelling" is very often used in a marketing context, we feel that developer recruiting is similar to traditional marketing in many ways. The appropriate words on a career page or job posting can make candidates want to learn more. However, one of the biggest employer branding mistakes you can make is to generate a lot of excitement like a marketer with statements like, "We're the best company on the planet and we're looking for great ninja developers to join us." Instead, give some fundamental thought to beforehand: How does your company position itself to its customers? What phrases do your current employees use to describe the business? What keywords do they avoid? Once you sit down to create content for your employer brand, find ways to involve your developers in the process as well.
Featured photos
Raise your hand if a posed stock photo has made them laugh before. What did you find funny about this image? Chances are, the image was of a group of extras carefully staged by a professional photographer. Now take a second look at the images you've uploaded to your career site. Do your employees look natural in their work environment or are they a little too perfect. If it's the latter, that could turn off potential applicants.
Of course, you should choose the photos you publish carefully. Therefore, make sure that you depict your employees at work as authentically as possible. When potential developers look at your employer branding content, do they imagine what it's like to work for their company? If your images and videos are too good to be true, many developers will switch to the next company that offers honest content.
Too much focus on few benefits
Very often, employers assume that huge cash bonuses or employee gifts are required to compete for the best developers. It would be naive to suggest that programmers don't consider the benefits you offer, but it's important to remember that these aren't the only things that matter.
Both the technology stack, the opportunity for professional development, and the equipment and office environment, are equally important to developers when considering new jobs. Whether you're creating a career page or a job posting, avoid focusing on one or two things you think developers will care about. Instead, tell a story about what makes you stand out as an employer. Overdo it with a variety of benefits, candidates may assume you're trying to hide something negative regarding your developer culture.
Your employer branding content is hard to find
You may have the most authentic employer branding strategy in the world. However, if you don't market the content on platforms used by programmers to find jobs, it won't improve your reputation in the developer community either. GitHub or "devjobs" are excellent platforms to target your audience.
Where do your ideal candidates consume your news? What kind of events do they attend, both online and in person? The answer to these questions, will help you understand where you can find suitable developers.
