Find out our tips for a smooth and effective employer branding process.
From the very beginning, Degordian was always focused on people and creating the best place for work. I think we can proudly say that the effort was worth it and that our hard work has been recognized. With a five-time best employer award, to be exact — but hey, who’s counting. 🙂
So, a few years ago we’ve noticed there was a huge change happening on the labour market of Croatia, but also worldwide:
Not only were employees becoming the ones who were choosing the employer, but they also actively wanted to know all about their potential company before even considering applying for a job. It was no longer enough to post an ad with a cute copy along the lines of “if you have that and that but also this and this, you might be a fit for us”.
The question became: are you, as a potential employer, a fit for the talent you want to attract?
After seeing that many of our clients are starting to ask us to help them solve this new situation, we have noticed the need to create a process that will sum up all of the actions needed to find the best possible talent and put them in order.
The picture below depicts the process of employer branding as seen at Degordian. It’s already put to use and we realized that our clients greatly appreciate it, so we decided to share it with anyone interested in this topic.
Research phase
There’s no need to explain why the process starts with a research phase, but many companies still get lost in this phase because it is hard to know what you need to search for. To make it easier, here are the most important questions you need to answer in this phase:
- Who are we as an employer?
- Who are our current employees?
- What are our beliefs?
- Which behaviours do we support?
- Who are our target employees? Are they different from the ones we have at the moment?
- What do we offer to our employees?
There are some questions above that need to be defined by the HR department along with the CEO or leaders of the company. However, a great deal of this data you need to get from the people in your company. Here at Degordian, we created our own employee survey called Stetoskop, which is a great way to get all of the answers you need in this phase. If you want to find out more about Stetoskop, read the blog written by my dear colleague and our HR expert Divna.
When working with our clients, we usually have at least a few workshops with the CEO, team leaders, HR and internal communications departments. That way we can gather all of the inputs which, along with employee survey/Stetoskop results, can give us a clear picture of who you are and what you offer. This is the basis for a good employer branding strategy.
Employer branding strategy
Here comes the fun part, at least for our creative heads. This is the part where we define your EVP and Communication strategy!
To put it simply, EVP or Employee Value Proposition is the value that employees gain in return for working at your organisation. This can include financial compensation, various extra benefits, as well as perks regarding work-life balance and career-development assistance. Your EVP is key for retaining the best talent in your company, and it is critical for attracting the candidates you need. Still, we also consider EVP something very internal, necessary to keep you on the right track with the existing workforce and to give you an idea of who you are as an employer.
After defining your EVP, it’s time to work on your communication strategy. Here we define:
- the tagline you will use in all of your materials and activities
- the tone of voice you will use in all your communication
- key visuals and other visual elements
- communication channels (depending on your target)
- strategy for all communication channels (Facebook, internal communication network, LinkedIn, events, job ads…)
The main point of this part of the process is to make sure all your activities follow the same strategic path. By doing that, you will make a stronger appearance on the job market and raise your brand image in the long term.
Implementation
A lot of companies make the mistake of starting with steps that actually belong to the last phase. I’m sure you were in, or at least know a few of those situations:
- we need to make cool job ads
- we need to make some nice videos
- we need a better careers page
- we lack an internal communication tool and concept, etc.
Please don’t make the mistake of investing your time and money into these separate activities before even knowing who you are as an employer, who you want to reach and what you are ready to offer. Your communication will not be consistent and you will not get the results you are looking for.
But if you have completed the first two phases of the employer branding process and know all the key elements that define you as an employer, then on this step you will focus on creating and promoting material that will spread your message among current employees and your future ones.
Here, the possibilities are endless, but I will name just a few:
- Culture video
- Company video
- Employee handbook
- Careers web page
- Culture book
- Social media
- PR
- Events
- Investing in better job ads creatives
If you find our process interesting and need some support in any of the phases, please let us know and we will be more than happy to dig in it with you and make you a perfect fit for your employees!
