Do you offer what you seek? The front-end of your employment brand.
Written by Susan Burns
Think about a brand that you admire. What comes to mind? How do you feel when you interact with the brand’s product or service? How about when you interact directly with the brand through their website, retail store, phone service, advertising or other means of outreach? Brands are emotive and most people like brands that make them feel good, are dependable, provide some desired combination of quality and value, and have a fun factor.
Now, think about your company’s recruitment process. What does the candidate experience feel like? At the most basic level, is it efficient? Respectful? Is it easy for a candidate to get to know your company in a meaningful way? Has appropriate attention been paid to the importance of design? Are the job descriptions well written? Do they get the candidate excited? Can the candidate see not only how their work contribution benefits the company but also what opportunities employment could provide? Would they be excited enough about what they’ve learned to tell someone else? Keep in mind that these elements only begin to address the front-end of your brand experience. If you don’t have a clear talent philosophy and process that delivers brand continuity through each point in the application and interview process, your front-end experience will be quickly diluted.
If you read my post on Adaptive Talent Strategies you know that employment branding is one of the key elements. In that post I discussed the importance of resource allocation, technology and process design to developing an adaptive strategy. An adaptive talent strategy provides you an architecture to meet the evolving needs of business and develop a value-oriented talent function. The employment brand is a key component of the strategy. Closely related is the use of networks, which has been increasing in importance to the brand and establishing an adaptive, sustainable approach – see the post on community managers.
Employment Brand and Networks
Employment brand and networks are tightly linked and should not be looked at as being independent from each other. We also should not lose site of what’s at the center of the external employment brand and networks – the prospective employee. And, yet, most candidates have less than desirable experiences with a company. The job seeker’s experience will directly affect the company’s current and future competency in attracting and hiring the talent they desire. This starts with the front-end experience and all too often deteriorates further as the candidate moves forward and expresses interest in a job. The fact is that most corporate recruitment sites have become incredibly boring. They’re flat, static and lack engaging attributes. Very few catch your attention and draw you in. I can hear the arguments. “But, we’re not really hiring now.” ”We don’t have the resources.” ”Business is way off.” These may all be true but there other important truths. What doesn’t happen today will be significantly more costly tomorrow because it will be much harder for you to catch up and secure the talent you need when you need it, which is why brand and networks are part of an adaptive strategy. Ultimately, the job seeker doesn’t care what your issues are – they only want a good experience and to be treated respectfully as they move through the application and, potentially, the interview process. Even making relatively small investments today will provide exponential value tomorrow. Think of it this way. After connecting with friends on Facebook, exchanging tweets on Twitter, or connecting on LinkedIn they come to your website. Does it measure up? Is the experience as interactive and engaging or does it feel like it needs an infusion of energy?
Moving from Fragmentation to Integration
The first place to look is at your corporate recruitment site – the center of your employment brand for prospective talent. Aesthetic design, the application of technical elements and community spaces haven’t continued to evolve. I do like Microsoft’s new site, and am still playing around on it. The job search integration is sweet. I also had a sneak peak at what Steve Fogarty is getting ready to launch at adidas and can only say that it will significantly raise the bar….stay tuned. In many instances, brands have become fragmented through the introduction of new channels that are shifting quickly, but also important to connecting with prospective talent. The model included below provides a view into the complexity of the recruitment ecosystem. The corporate career site is at the core and each of the spokes shooting off from the center are brand touchpoints. While it certainly isn’t necessary to be represented through every touchpoint it is important to understand who your trying to reach, what they do online and what is brand appropriate for your company. However, This approach will
help you capture and drive the most relevant job seekers to your site and set the stage for providing a positive experience. Integrating a set of touchpoints into the corporate career site and supporting bi-directional links delivers a more enhanced brand experience and adds value. The dashed line circling the corporate career site and intersecting with each touchpoint represents the tools used to communicate and manage (CRM), support viral behavior (sharing), and push out content (RSS). Lastly, implementing an SEO and SEM strategy will advance visibility for your brand and drive relevant traffic to your site in a very cost effective manner.
Evolution
Ideally, the corporate career site has an embedded community. Extending the corporate career platform to support actively engaging job seekers in a dialogue is simply an evolutionary step. Why not engage job seekers in a discussion about the company, its products and services? What are you proud of? What problems are you trying to solve? What are you working on? Wouldn’t this type of interaction be more rewarding then having someone stop by for a visit and read, watch or listen to what you have to say? Blogging is a good way to begin. If your interested in learning more about how to incorporate a blogging strategy here’s a link to the Definitive Guide to Corporate HR Blogging. I had an opportunity to work on this guide with Ben Yoskovitz of Standout Jobs. Trust me, blogging is hard work and can take a lot of time but there is value in staying the course to develop your voice and a regular writing habit – I’ll let you know when I’m there! You’ll find that there are a lot of opportunities for companies to enlist a variety of voices as part of a blogging strategy that can make developing a diverse mix of content much more manageable.
As your thinking about your recruitment strategy, the talent your trying to reach and the experience you want to create, think about your favorite brand and how it makes you feel. Then, go to your website with the “eyes of your job seeker” and experience the brand. Are you smiling?
