ARTICLE PROVIDED BY PMG EXECUTIVE SEARCH CONSULTANTS

Employer branding has become a critical element for any company, especially in the current economy where there is a candidate shortage. How often does your organization evaluate and manage your brand is in the market? A recent study suggests that nearly all employers believe three things about branding. Managing their brand and reputation is important when attracting and retaining top talent; brand protection will become even more important in the coming years, and employer brand and reputation can impact revenue.

Key statistics from the study include:

Millennials are 2.5 times more likely than Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers to share their opinions about employers on review sites and social media.

Employee turnover can be reduced by 28% by investing more into employer branding.

31% of employers believe review sites give an unfair description of a company’s employment practices and culture, while 55% claim these sites give a “somewhat fair” representation.

91% of candidates seek out at least one online or offline resource to evaluate an employer’s brand before applying for a job.

55% of job seekers abandon their application processes after reading negative reviews. Only 45% of employers monitor and address those reviews.

5 percent of candidates who have a positive hiring experience are willing to put more effort into the job.

Questions employers should ask themselves include:

How do candidates perceive our brand in the market, and is it accurate?

Are employees proud of our brand?

Is our brand attractive to the top 10% of industry talent

How does our brand compare to competitors who are competing for the same talent?

Answers to these questions might indicate a brand strategy is strong, needs major improvement, or just minor tweaks. Regardless, continuous brand management is key with rapid changes in technology, candidate expectations, and internal/external forces.
Having a respected brand is undoubtedly one of the key elements to a strong recruiting and retention strategy. An organization’s brand can certainly be the difference in attracting and engaging top talent in an industry or market. Companies with a strong brand will continuously win the war for talent!