Comments on HR Search Marketing: Your Employment Brand Matters

btw i like "A bigger dork, I could not be". If yo...

2009-06-02T08:43:19.788-06:00

btw i like "A bigger dork, I could not be". If you ever want to make t-shirts of it I'll go in halfies.

In the market we all live in right now, it's a gre...

2009-04-28T15:45:00.000-06:00

In the market we all live in right now, it's a great time to be investing in your employment brand. Just think about a brand like Zappo's that goes to the ends of the earth to reinforce their value proposition and focus on the employee. And at the same time they have to do a microscopic amount of marketing compared to many of their competitors. They realize the value of service, and therefore, the value of people. And for their bottom line, it's amazingly effective. In essence, their employment brand fulfills all the promises of their consumer brand. It's a wonderfully symbiotic relationship that could only happen with the fall of traditional media and the rise of the web. In today's market where paid media is more and more passe and added value is so hot right now, it's more important than ever to let your employment brand speak for itself.

Ryan & Lizz thanks for stopping by and commenting....

2009-04-28T10:49:00.000-06:00

Ryan & Lizz thanks for stopping by and commenting. Absolutely fantastic points.

Lizz I especially love the
"implanting a chip" I'd love to do to a few people myself..LOL

I hope to meet you at Kennedy :)

I did not get a Google alert, but the last time I ...

2009-04-28T10:33:00.000-06:00

I did not get a Google alert, but the last time I shook hands with Ryan I implanted a chip in his right hand so I know what he is writing about – LOL.

Employment branding can be defined in different ways, but it comes down to one crucial factor—putting your company’s REAL face forward. The key to success is honestly portraying your organization’s strength and culture. Employment brands are increasingly recognized as the single most important factor to winning the war for talent. A strong employment brand will attract even the most passive prospects to an organization and predispose them to consider its employment opportunities even when they wouldn’t consider openings anywhere else. If you paint an unrealistic picture of your company through a weak employment brand, it becomes a detriment to the company’s hiring goals, reputation and bottom line.
Kevin Delany, head of human resources consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers says, “the brand is saying this is how we want to be seen by our people. It is shaped by values, by culture and by management technique.” He also says “after years of spending hours creating external brands for clients, organizations are starting to realize that a strong internal brand is a vital recruitment and retention tool.”

To the point of agencies trying to “snkooker money” out of potential clients, I will say, there are recruitment advertising agencies out there that do oversell services by rebranding, repackaging and regifting other client work they have done, but the majority of agencies I have worked with are legit and take a systematic approach to understanding the organizations culture before starting any creative solution work. By understanding cultural “fit” first and foremost, you can create a brand that will attract, retain and repel the right employees, which is a significant way to increase the ROI of recruitment and retention efforts.

Google Alert indeed! Good discussion on the topic!...

2009-04-24T08:01:00.000-06:00

Google Alert indeed! Good discussion on the topic! Here is my original response to Ken's blog post:

Pick up a copy of the current issue of the Corporate Journal of Recruiting Leadership and read about the Employment Branding initiatives underway at Addidas (The Incredible Power of The Employment Brand), Microsoft and Catholic Healthcare. I think you may reconsider your position. You are dead on right in your assertion that Recruitment Advertising isn’t Employment Branding. And perhaps that misnomer has been incorrectly perpetuated and confused the issue. EB is proactively managing your image/reputation/experience as a quality employer among your primary stakeholder sets - Employees and Candidates. Its about creating positive, authentic, consistent experiences. I also concur that those experiences and what the stakeholders say defines the brand. Culture and Reputation have much more impact on a quality candidate’s consideration around applying for job than title and location. We’re still above 90% employment and that target demographic will carefully consider an abundance of factors and a specific and personal value proposition prior to both applying and considering an offer of employment. I think a lot of the work being done at Jobs2Web perpetuates an improved brand experience. But recruiting is only part of the story (and advertising less a part) as the Journal features illustrate.