Monday, February 20, 2017

Employer Branding: Perception VS Reality

Once upon a time, there was an HR department at a company interested in the trend on employer branding. Like most of them, they were talking about how to attract the best talent and become a great workplace, how to have a good perception among colleagues and potential employees…

Then one day, they decided to hire Employer Brand Specialists and compose a team to make the company one of the best workplaces. They made interviews with candidates and hired one of them; convinced the C-level to get the budget necessary to invest in employer branding.

Based on the assumptions about candidates (target group), they carried out some projects to increase the employer brand perception. Surely, they became one of the best workplaces, attracted the best talent and the HAPPY END…

Do you think that there is something weird in that story?

I think that I’m not the only one who thinks that it is really weird. So, let’s rewind and take it step by step.

But firstly, let’s not forget the fact that employer brand perception among candidates must not be different from the one among employees.

Step one: You forgot to send a response to candidates?
What happened to all of the candidates the company interviewed during the hiring process of “Employer Branding Specialists”? Did they receive a response in a timely manner without needing to contact the company a couple of times to receive an answer? If an HR department dedicated to increase “Employer brand” perception doesn’t do it, who will?
Furthermore, it would be hard to change perception among all these people and their friends (you know the power of word of mouth)!

Step two: You Base On Assumptions?
Who is / are your target group?
You hire among high-school graduates or postgraduates?
Do you consider university rankings?
Do you prefer new graduates or experienced candidates?

You need to answer these questions and more; then you need to conduct a survey among your target group(s) to better understand their expectations from companies.

Step three: You copy-paste a practice you have seen at another company? 
There are lots of companies who do very good jobs on employer branding. But does it mean that a good project with wonderful results will also result the same way at your company; considering company culture, employee profile, etc? There must be an intersection between company culture, employees’ perception and candidate expectations; so that you can base your projects…   

Step four: Once established, had good results and stop then? 
We, human beings are very forgetful, merciless and always want more. This is what HR specialists face every day. When an employee has a good salary increase, he forgets about it in 6 months and starts to complain about salary. When he / she participates at trainings, he/she says that there are lots of work and no time for training; but when you don’t offer trainings they say that “there is no training to improve ourselves”. Anyway, the list continues like that.

Here is the link to our subject: As a result of successful employer branding strategy and implementation, you may have an increase among best workplaces rankings. However, if you don’t continue your practices and develop them, what you do will start to be considered as “normal”. Then you will face a decrease among rankings and among candidates’ & employees' perception. So you have to develop projects for better practices.

Step five: What about daily routines? 
Beside all these steps, one important thing to remember is here. While working on big projects, you mustn’t forget the daily routines that may affect the employer brand because these ones really affect it. When you focus very much on how to develop the ongoing processes / projects, you always forget to start with small steps that can easily change the perceptions.

When increased employer branding perception meets reality, your company can become one of the best places to work for! Here is the HAPPY END!

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