Why you should invest in your employer brand

4 mins, 22 secs read time

Investing in your employer brand is more profitable than you think. Have you ever wondered why certain companies never have to worry about searching for the best applicants? Those companies have likely taken the time to stand out above their competition and brand themselves.

What Is Employer Branding?

As previously discussed on the Greenhouse blog, employer branding is the term used to describe the process of creating and maintaining your company’s employer brand. Essentially, your employer brand is the public image you’ve built around your workplace culture. It is defined as how others perceive your company as a place of employment, rather than as a place to get goods and services like company branding.

In a world where people are looking for companies of substance, your employer brand will impact any interactions you have with potential candidates. We are living in a time where negative company reviews can turn potential candidates away.

Once an awful employer brand is developed, it can be challenging to shake the consequences or turn it around. Your job is to make sure your company never creates a negative employer brand in the first place.

Now that you know what an employer brand is, let's move into four reasons you should care about it.

Your Employer Brand Helps You Stand Out from Bigger Players in Your Industry

Giants in your industry are not as likely to care about employer branding. They may have a few initiatives or none at all. Certain brands have name recognition, which means they'll likely have a myriad of applicants even if they don't focus on employer branding consistently. Many of these companies have built up a reputation over decades, so people in your industry already know their name.

If you don’t currently have that name recognition going in your favor, you’ll have to focus on employer branding to stand out. You won’t be able to add years of industry experience to your resume overnight. Instead, you can focus on creating a stellar work environment for your employees and building trust with applicants.

Other People Are Likely Controlling Your Employer Narrative

We know that bad news travels further than good news. If you aren’t putting time and effort into caring about your employer brand, someone else is. Sites like Glassdoor are helpful for potential employees who want to know more about your business. Those reviews will exist whether or not you check them frequently.

The reviews that applicants and employees leave online mean something. They can have an impact on other applicants, but you can also use them to better your business. Each review you receive is an opportunity to better understand your employer brand and make changes consistent with company growth.

Employer Branding Influences Company Branding

If employer branding only influenced who you could hire, that would be one thing, but it goes beyond that. What you do as an employer often impacts company branding as a whole. Employer branding isn't just what happens between you and your employees. Employer branding also encompasses how potential employees perceive your brand.

Applicants and employees are often customers of your brand, especially if you run a B2C (business to consumer) brand. For example, CareerBuilder study, 32% of applicants were less likely to buy from a brand if they applied for a job and didn’t hear back on their application.

Chances are, many people who apply for a job with you will know you as a company before they recognize you as a potential employer. Those brands are interconnected. You don't want to create issues by addressing your company brand but ignoring your employer brand.

Hiring Costs Less When You Have a Stellar Employer Brand

Recruiting is expensive. According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), hiring an employee costs $4,129 per hire. That’s a lot of money, especially when you have several roles to fill at once.

With a stellar employer brand, you can spend less time and money hiring amazing employees. Potential employees will come to you because they have heard how great it is to work for your company. You will have a list of people excitedly checking your career page for new openings. Instead of depending heavily on job search sites, potential employees will come to you.

Focusing On Employer Branding Is About Creating Choices

If we could boil down why it's essential to focus on employer branding, we'd say it's about creating choices. An employer brand gives you more applicant opportunities, allows you to spend fewer dollars on advertising job openings and helps boost your company brand.

Overall, most of what you need to create a stellar employer brand is free or low-cost. Compared to what you get back, the return on investment is clear.

You save money and time hiring employees. Your candidate quality goes up due to stellar employer branding. Your employees are more engaged with your company because they love where they work. The simple act of investing energy in your employer brand creates many positive benefits for your company. So why would you wait to get started on improving your employer brand?

Looking for more tips on creating an employer brand that will keep the candidates coming? Join us at Greenhouse OPEN 2019.