Employer Branding Summit 15

On Friday, September 25, 2015, Glassdoor hosted its second annual employer branding summit. For those unable to attend the event, Glassdoor offered a live stream which was recorded. Videos of the presentations are available on YouTube and the presentation materials have been posted on SlideShare. Below is a recap of presentations 7 – 9. Next week’s post will recap the final remaining presentations.

 

Glassdoor for Employers YouTube main link

Glassdoor for Employers SlideShare main link

Twitter hashtag: #GDSummit

 

 

 

Recruiter Branding: The Newest Element of Your Employer Branding Strategy

J.T. O’Donnell, Founder & CEO, Careerealism
(Video – 31:53) (SlideShare)

 

“Today’s job seekers want to connect with a person not a company.”

Job seekers no longer want to work for a company, they want to work with a company—partnership.

Job seekers are consumers, i.e. they mimic consumer behavior.  This means they research (81%) your company so they can make an informed decision. A dedicated careers page and a basic Glassdoor profile are expected to be seen as legitimate.

A recruiter bridges the gap between an employer brand which represents the company / leadership viewpoint about what it is like to work for the company and the talent brand which is what your employees say it is like to work for your company.  Need to be consistent between the two. The solution lies with the recruiter brand since they are part of both worlds.

What are the expectations of a recruiter brand:

  • People want proof of recruiter experience
  • Be authentic and transparent
  • Create the opportunity for a personal relationship, i.e., make it easy for people to find commonality.

 

94% [of job seekers] would find it helpful to have a Recruiter Directory. Careerealism just released the first recruiter directory.  All company information in one place.  Includes information for job candidates and recruiter’s perspective sections.

 

Lars Schmidt stepped in to open a Q&A session with J.T. O’Donnell. He encouraged the use of signature lines in emails. They should provide links to your Twitter accounts, etc.  When roles are posted, the names of the responsible recruiters should be included. Make it easy to connect and interact.

 

Q: How do you balance the time between candidates you want to pursue and those you do not?

A: Build and auto generated form for anyone that reaches out to you. Manage expectations. Give candidates a framework for what is happening. Refer them to Glassdoor, Twitter, etc. Give some careers resources and close loop on rejection. Hootsuite posted their process templates to HROS.co – download for free.

 

Q: Mr. Schmidt flipped the discussion and asked attendees to share their company’s practices.

A: To better engage creative types, a recruiter created an interactive, visual job description and a collateral piece that is sent to candidates.

A: For onsite interviews, candidates are given a free docu-sign account in confirmation email regardless of whether hired or not.

A: A company created 5 videos of actual employees in a certain role explaining that role and then sends them out to candidates so they can get a feel for role responsibilities, personalities, etc. Added benefit is that they may actually see those people when they visit the office.  Also created a fun video that is sent to candidate upon completing the application process online to let them know that their application was received and that someone will get back to them.

 

Automated response emails are the most valuable for setting expectations according to Mr. Schmidt.  Add FAQs, tell them what happens in the process, timeline, etc.  JT O’Donnell added that 44% of candidates will not apply to a company again if they received no response to their previous application. They assume the company isn’t interested.

Not many companies have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in place for responding to candidate applications.

 

Summary

Recruiter branding is relatively new. As you go forward, you’ll need to figure out what are the most important and impactful things you can do and then prioritize them. Ultimately, you want to find a way to respond to every candidate that applies.

 

 

 

 

The Employer Brand Action Plan For Those That Don’t Know Where to Start

Stacy Zapar, Principal & Founder, Tenfold Employer and Brand Strategist, Greenhouse
(Video – 30:21) (SlideShare)

 

“Sourcing is like fishing.”  “Employer branding is like casting a net.”

83% [of companies, HR execs] agree that an employer brand has a significant impact on the ability to hire great talent.

What if you don’t have a strong brand, if you don’t attract the right talent, or don’t have a clue about what your employer brand is? 50% of recruiters don’t understand their own employer brand.

You can build an employer brand by starting small and then build on your success.

An employer brand (a realistic story of what it’s like to really work at your company) is composed of four things:

  • Employee value proposition
  • Company culture
  • People (current, past, clients, etc.)
  • Candidate experience

 

Gameplan:

  • Research: good, bad, average. Locations, teams, offices all have different cultures.
  • Ask Questions: Employee surveys, focus groups, one-on-one talks, etc.
  • Social listening – People are talking about you online whether you are joining the conversation or not.
  • Identify core values/ develop an EVP
  • Establish the goals of an employer branding program  using internal and external data
  • Provide social training for employees
  • Build an employer brand roadmap and realize it will evolve over time
  • Take inventory of relevant content

The MEH

PR Awards

Marking/ corp blog

Earning announcements

Job postings

Corp social responsibly

Company benefits

The WOW

Work currently being done is the most popular content

Co Culture/ day in the life

Department/ employee blogs

Office environment/ cube life

Employee spotlights.

Unique perks and benefits

Candid photos/ iPhone videos

Company events

In the news

Asking questions

Career strategies

Humor/ memes

Relevant quotes

 

@PRSarahEvans: “Great content makes people want to share, care or swear.”

 

Checklist:

  • What’s in a name? Everything.  Think like a marketer for blog name, projects, etc. What resonates with employees. It must be memorable and represent your brand
  • A unique and consistent hashtag
  • Establish pillars of content. On what subjects will you be focusing. Be sure to keep passive candidates in mind.
  • Develop a measurement plan
  • Develop a content curation strategy
  • Develop a community management plan – who runs/managers
  • Develop a content calendar
  • Set up a blog: tell employee stories
  • Establish an engaging careers page
  • Branded, innovative job postings that are mobile friendly and use video, pictures, etc.
  • Develop a Glassdoor strategy: Good content, Regular status updates, a Response strategy, and an  Engagement strategy to get people involved (candidates and employees)
  • Focus on candidate experience

 

 

 

 

 

Standing Out from the Crowd: What it takes to be different

Richard Mosley, VP Strategy, Universum
(Video – 27:30) (SlideShare)

 

Mr. Mosely is a former anthropologist. He noted that strong cultures and strong brands have a lot in common. For instance, they are sure of themselves – know what they stand for.

Consumer brands and employer brands are the same.  How stand out with what offering.

Mr. Mosely listed the Top 35 of the world’s most attractive employers 2105. These are good companies but they fail to stand out among the competition.

Many companies use same buzz words. In the banking sector, “a world of opportunity,” is on example. 20 companies use this same phrase. In the technology sector, “Innovation is in our DNA” is used by a lot companies.

Visually, most of these companies use the same mix of people to denote inclusion and diversity:  2 men, 2 women, an ethic mix…and sitting around a table and smiling.

Too many companies are positioning themselves the exact same way. “It’s not easy to be different”

Employment Brand is the foundation of all a company does.

 

Three ways to stand out:

Visual identity: Look different. You cannot limit this to your career page or job postings, you must be consistent across the company for the visual identity to successful.

Brand positioning: talk different

Mr. Mosely talked about 8 territories: status, purpose, teamwork, empowerment, learning, career, performance. Companies need to understand where they fit within each territory and determine what makes them unique in each.

Signature experiences: BE different

 

 

 

 

 

What are your thoughts on these presentations? What was your key takeaway from each presentation? Stay tuned for the final part of the series.

 

 

Let’s Engage!

I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.

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