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    A Guide toEmployer Branding

    www.pinpoint-research.net

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    ABOUT PINPOINT RESEARCH

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    Introduction

    Recruitment

    Employee Engagement

    Social Media

    Career Website

    How to develop an employer brand

    Benefits

    The risk of employer branding

    Conclusion

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    CONTENTS

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    INTRODUCTION

    The term employer branding is used to describe how a business or organisationmarkets itself and highlights what it has to offer potential and existing employees.The marketing industry has developed numerous techniques to attract, communicate

    and maintain the loyalty of their customers to their consumer brand. Nowcompanies are finding ways to achieve these same aims for their current andfuture staff. The key areas that make up an employer brand is a comprehensiverecruitment and employee engagement strategy, a focused corporate messageand the long term vision of the company, such as policy, values and behaviourthat employers and employees expect from each other. 1 This helps in the longterm retention of the candidates that they recruit.

    Effective employer branding is the combination of market research, advisoryservices, communications, and marketing2 to achieve a trustworthy anddesirable brand position. It means constantly measuring performance andadjusting activities and strategies to continuously improve performance. Employerbranding is there to improve business growth and to help achieve strategic businessgoals in the long term, this is done through talent acquisition and retention of staff.

    Employer branding is extremely important to HR representatives as one of the

    roles of a HR department is to carry out and manage the recruitment process.Employer branding is a tool that can be used to attract applicants to thecompany. Therefore the role o f developing, communicating and maintainingan employer brand is often assigned to the HR department.3 Employer brandingwill help HR departments to gain an insight into their employees, throughemployee attitude surveys and focus groups. This information should help themto inform their HR strategy, how internal communications are handled, and theHR departments ability to design effective people management initiatives.

    The rationale behind employer branding is essentially to improve the growth of abusiness. Employer branding does this by attracting high quality candidates whohave the skills, experience and knowledge that suit the needs of a business. 4Highly skilled and motivated employees are becoming a scarce resource formany companies, especially with a growing willingness amongst job seekers tochange jobs with an upward trend of over 20% of employees under the age of 30

    saying that they would prefer to have a lower-paying job with a brand that theybelieve in.5 Therefore it is even more important nowadays for companies to retainand attract the best employees.

    Figure 1 shows a framework devised by Professor Kristin Backhaus Dr SurinderTikoo, which shows how an employer brand should work. It shows that brandassociation and employer image is vital to attracting candidates and that employerbranding can impact on organisation identity and culture, which helps to improveemployee loyalty, and consequently their productiveness. This framework highlightsthe key benefits of an employer brand and shows areas that need to beaddressed when creating such a brand.

    1 Build your employer brand: A strategic approach to recruitment and retention,Ranstad, 2014, pg. 2,

    available at: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123740504559375085 [accessed 11 August 2014]2 C. Van Mossevelde, What Is Employer Branding? Universum, 2014, available at:

    http://universumglobal.com/2014/03/what-is-employer-branding/ [accessed 11 August 2014]3 J. Jonze and H. ster, EMPLOYER BRANDING IN HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT, Stockholm,

    Stockholm Business School, 2013, pg. 7, available at: http://www.diva-

    portal.org/smash/get/diva2:603822/FULLTEXT02.pdf [accessed 11 August 2014]4 L. Moroko and M.Uncles, Employer Branding, Wall Street Journal, 2009, available at:

    http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123740504559375085 [accessed 11 August 2014]5 Employer branding hit or miss? Boost the value of your brand by clearly positioning your company on

    the job market, Interbrand, pg. 3, available at: http://www.interbrand.com/Libraries/Articles/Interbrand-

    EmployerBranding-EN.sflb.ashx [accessed 11 August 2014]6K. Backhaus, S. Tikoo, "Conceptualizing and researching employer branding", Career Development

    International, 2004, Vol. 9 Iss: 5, pp.501 - 517

    P1

    Figure 1: A framework on how employer branding should work6

    Employer

    Branding Organisation

    Identity

    Organisation

    Culture

    Employer

    Brand

    Associations

    Employer

    Brand

    Loyalty

    Employer

    Image

    Employer

    Productivity

    Employer

    Attraction

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    RECRUITMENT

    Recruitment is currently a vital aspect of employer branding due to aserious ski lls shortage in the UK labour force. This shortage is the resultof a number of contributing factors including; the rapid growth ofemerging economic powers, an ageing UK population, 1and graduateswho are increasingly unprepared and untrained for the workforce.This situation means that companies are under increasing pressure toattract and retain top talent. Developing employer branding not onlyenables companies to attract the best employees for their organisation,it can also help to retain top talent and skilled workers.

    When a company undertakes employer branding the "product" is the employment experienceit has to offer, and the "customers" of this product are current and prospective staff. Byhighlighting the unique reasons why the company is a good place to work, it is hoped thatskilled potential employees will be attracted to apply for positions. This is the cornerstoneof employer branding; it allows you to attract top talent who have the right skills and culturalfit for your organisation.

    A companys recruitment process is an important part of employer branding; every step ofthe recruitment method will shape the candidates impression of the company and will

    influence them on their final decision to accept or decline a job offer. It is therefore essentialthat the application process accurately reflects your brand in a positive way in order toattract skilled candidates.

    It is important that the job application process is designed in a way that will attract not onlyskilled candidates, but also candidates who are suited to the companys outlook, ethos andgeneral organisation. The ability to attract the right candidates for a particular companywill be reliant on the careful design and management of the application and recruitment process.

    Understanding the motivation and skill set of a companys desired prospective employeesis paramount when executing successful employer branding and ultimately, successfulrecruitment processes. Where a company choses to advertise a job is very important becausecandidates with different skill sets will be drawn to a specific recruitment websites. It istherefore necessary to understand the candidates who are applying to be able to targetthem successfully. Careful thought should be put into the method used to respond to a candidate

    to invite them for interview, be it by letter, email or more modern methods such as social media.

    The interview process is of high importance. The questions askedand the tasks set during this process can signify a companysdemand for highly skilled workers who are able to cope in high pressureenvironments.

    The way in which a company either accepts or rejects prospectivecandidates is an additional reflection of the companys brand. A

    simple template email can come across as impersonal, shaping howthe applicant views the organization as a whole.

    Finally, the communications conducted between a company and anew employee before their start date can have a very significanteffect on the new recruits view of the organisation. A lack of

    sufficient information or contact that is conducted in an unfriendly manner is likely to givea negative impression before the employee has even started working in their new job.

    All job seekers hear the advice of tailoring their CV to suit the company needs; companiesnow need to tailor their value proposition to attract the right candidates for theirorganisation. When recruiting, it is necessary to take into account different values,ambitions and needs that candidates may have, depending on the industry and the rolethat is being advertised. For example, sales executives will place more value on salarythan an academic applying to teach at a university.

    The millennial workforce as Figure 2 shows is a big driver of the employer brand. Thegraph shows the growing desire of millennials to work for an employer that has a goodreputation and image. There has been a drop in the number of undergraduates that saythat remuneration is the main driver behind the attractiveness of an employer. Jobcharacteristics are still important, as are the people and culture.

    P2

    1C. Van Mossevelde, Employer Branding: Five Reasons why it Matters & Five Steps to Action, Employer Brand

    News, 2010, available at: http://www.employerbrandingtoday.com/uk/2010/03/25/employer-

    branding-five-reasons-why-it-matters-five-steps-to-action/ [accessed 14 August 2014]

    Figure 2: Shows undergraduate students drivers of employer attractiveness2

    2M. Bailey, What Millennials Want, Universum, 2014, available at: http://universumglobal.com/2014/07/what-

    millennials-want/ [accessed 15 August 2014]

    Employer reputation and image People and Culture

    Job characteristics

    Rammeration and advancement opportunities

    2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

    30%

    25%

    20%

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    EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

    Current employee engagement in the brand can be overlooked, asemployer branding is often focused primarily on candidates. However,this approach misses the potential that employer branding has in terms

    of retaining current talent. Employer branding is about getting the bestout of your talent and keeping them wanting to work for you.1Employeeengagement in the brand requires entrenching it into the companyculture and organisation. The employer brand is only as good as theemployee experience; if the reality of working for the company is notthe same as the brand, the organisation can find themselves losingtalented employees and potential candidates.

    Employee loyalty and a job for life culture are increasingly scarce inthe modern labour force. Over a quarter of the workforce aged 16-34have said that they want to change jobs between eight and twelve timesduring their working lives, with only one in ten employees nationallyexpecting to stay in one job or at one company for their whole career.2This increasingly mobile workforce, with higher expectations of their

    employers is forcing employers to focus their efforts on engaging andretaining their skilled employees.

    Generating an engaged workforce requires creating opportunities foremployees to engage with their colleagues, managers and the widerorganisation in general. Creating a workplace where employees aremotivated and take pride and care in their work is also very important inemployee engagement; committed employees are more loyal, productiveand will act as fans and ambassadors of the company, further generatinginterest from the right candidates for future jobs.

    Employee engagement is primarily about employee retention. The waysto keep employees engaged, happy, and taking care and pride in theirwork will lead to increased productivity. Implementing effective leadershipwhich values employees, offers them promotional and trainingopportunities and acknowledges success with rewards, helps improveemployee engagement throughout a company.

    P3

    1Employee Engagement & Employer Branding, CSA Recruitment, 2012, available at:

    http://www.csarecruitment.com/employee-engagement/ [accessed 12 August 2014]2

    D. Woods, No such thing as a 'job for life' for young people - and HR staff - according to Hyphen, HR Magazine,2001, available at: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1020164/no-job-life-

    youn-people-hr-staff-hyphen#sthash.PRiRVhYg.dpuf [accessed 14 August 2014]

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    SOCIAL MEDIA

    A crucial part of the candidate attraction process is having a positive brand experiencewhen potential employees research the company online. To attract the best candidates, avisible and interactive online presence is vital, as people want to work for an organisationthat they have heard of and trust. Having an online presence is essential nowadays as it

    allows companies to engage with potential and current employees. Figure 2 shows that 76%of companies in 2014 communicate their employer brand through social media, whichemphasises how important it is in todays world.1

    There are many different social media options available for companies to engage withpotential candidates, some are much more industry specific than others. The main socialmedia tools that companies use across the board are LinkedIn, Facebook, twitter, YouTube,blog sites and their own company website.

    LinkedIn is a business oriented social networking service and is seen as being at forefront ofsocial media use in a B2B context. It has been one of the fastest growing professionalnetworks over the past few years, especially with the younger generation. LinkedIn allowscompanies to showcase themselves through articles, video and employee testimonials.LinkedIn also allows you to customise your brand message, offers a talent brand index, andvery importantly it allows you to advertise and receive applications for job vacancies.

    Facebook is an online social network service that has the ability to share photos of staffand company events. It also allows a more human communication through posting on acompanys wall and having more than 140 characters to communicate with, unlikeTwitter. Over half of jobseekers will Like a company on Facebook hoping that they willfind a job from the companys newsfeed.3 Facebook is a fantastic way to promote acompany and get people to follow your page, however, many people will be wary of

    using Facebook for recruitment as the platform is often seen as a more personal socialmedia network.

    Twitter is an online social network and a microblogging service that is used by over twothirds of FTSE 100 companies. Twitter allows a company to reach a huge amount ofpeople and it can be used to target specific audiences by tweeting people or companiesand by using hashtags. Encouraging a cross section of a company to tweet builds amore rounded perspective of the company as more people are likely to tweet about avariety of subjects such as sector and career news.4

    P4

    1D. Smooke, The State of Employer Branding Strategy, Smart Recruiters, 2014, available at:

    http://www.smartrecruiters.com/blog/the-state-of-employer-branding-strategy/ [accessed 12 August 2014]12D. Smooke, The State of Employer Branding Strategy, Smart Recruiters, 20143 C. Gutsell, How to use social media to strengthen your employer brand in 2012, CK Group, 2012, available at:

    http://ckagroup.co.uk/social-media-and-staff-retention/how-

    to-use-social-media-to-strengthen-your-employer-brand-in-2012/ [accessed 12 August 2014]4 Social media and Employer Branding, Employer Brand News, 2013,available at:

    http://www.employerbrandnews.com/social-media-and-employer-branding/ [accessed 12 August 2014]

    Figure 3: Shows employer brand communications2

    Social Media

    Career website

    Training & development programmes

    Internal Newsletters

    Employee referral programme

    Online job Board

    Company brochures

    Career fairs

    Employee video testimonials

    On campus activities

    Graduate programme

    Induction process

    Performance appraisal

    Company events

    Blogs

    Mobile career site

    Sponsorship

    Alumni events

    External newsletters

    Mobile app

    Newspaper job ads

    Trade shows

    I don't know

    76%

    64%

    43%

    40%

    39%

    38%

    37%

    34%

    33%

    32%

    32%

    31%

    22%

    22%

    22%

    22%

    19%

    16%

    16%

    11%

    11%

    10%

    4%

    2009 2011 2014

    14

    44

    76

    Social Media 5 Year Trend

    Employer Brand International 2014 Employer Branding Global Trends Study

    percentage

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    CAREERS WEBSITE

    A companys career website is a vital cog in a companys employer brand. This is

    where a company can really differentiate itself from its competitors and sell the

    company to a prospective candidate. For small and medium sized businesses a

    good careers page has added significance as it is a very cost effective way of

    developing employer branding.

    If the companys career page has attracted a candidate to look at possible job

    vacancies within the company and then potentially apply for a job, the career

    page has worked. If it has not, then the message portrayed by the career page

    may need to be altered. It is vital that the careers page of your company is

    consistent with the employer brand message; if the message that attracted the

    candidate to apply in the first place changes, it can easily deter these potential

    employees.

    A good employer brand can help to create a great career website as it can supply

    useful material for the careers page. Employee testimonials are also useful and

    can help inform potential candidates about what it is like to work at that company

    on a normal day. Increasing ways that the company can communicate with

    applicants through technology such as live chat on the careers page, can give a

    more personal approach to the application process. These kinds of tools and

    showcasing how employees can produce their own material through companyblogs all help to build a hugely positive image of the company, with very little time and

    money spent.

    HOW TO DEVELOP AN EMPLOYER BRAND

    Figure three shows the four main steps that need to be taken to create an employer brand.

    Discovery

    The first stage to building an employer brand requires extensive research, in order to

    understand how the employer brand is perceived by various stakeholders. It is key when

    designing the employer brand to think who you are looking to attract, what these people

    want and most importantly, looking at what your competitors are doing. 1 This will help you

    to gain an idea of what needs to be done and an insight into how to target the candidates

    you want.

    This stage is of vital importance because if it goes wrong, no matter how good the brand

    ends up being, it will still attract candidates who lack the required skills at the recruitment

    stage. Another negative impact of failing to develop the employer brand effectively is thatyou risk hiring people who do not want to work for your company because they do not

    identify or fit in with the companys culture. These people will not be engaged and may

    leave, causing a high turnover of staff.

    Figure 4: The 4 main stages in developing an employer brand

    Discovery

    Analysis, Interpretation and Creation

    1.

    2.

    3.

    4.

    Implementation and Communication

    Measurement, Optimisation and Maintenece

    1 Build your employer brand: A strategic approach to recruitment and retention, Ranstad,2014, pg. 4

    P5

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    Analysis, Interpretation and Creation

    The next stage requires further research, but this time into building a clear and simple

    understanding of what the companys values, culture, and aims are. For prospective candidates

    it is also necessary to know what you, as a company, can offer them and in turn what you

    require of candidates. This is very important, as to create an effective employer brand that

    attracts the correct candidates, it is necessary to know the reasons why people want to

    work for you. It is imperative to create a distinctive and, if possible, unique brand to differentiateyourself from your competitors.

    At this stage it also worth looking at what is already being said about your company on

    social media and the internet. By looking at sites such as Glass Door, Social Mention and

    Google Alerts you can find out what current and even former employees are saying about

    the company. This can all help in the formulation of the employer brand which finds the

    correct tone, voice and authenticity.1

    Implementation and Communication

    After that the next step is the implementation of the brand in the organisation for the first

    time. It is best to release it internally at first to get feedback from staff and to make sure the

    message is on target. If it is released publically, first there are risks that during an interview

    candidates will see the brand is different to the reality and that could decrease their willingness towork there.

    The communication aspect should also be kept internal at first to gain current employees

    opinions and insights. It is also beneficial to make sure they understand the brand by

    offering orientation and training programmes. Later, the external communication should be

    conducted through recruitment advertising, social media, the company web site, jobs fairs

    and other recruitment events to build awareness and promote the company.

    Measurement, Optimisation and Maintenance

    Lastly, there is a need to consistently monitor and check the progress of the company

    brand. It is important to keep the momentum going by making sure that the message stays

    on track and adapts to any significant changes that occur. There are a number of ways to

    measure the success of an employee brand. Analysing staff turnover and retention rates is

    often a good indicator as to how the brand is performing; if employees are staying at acompany it shows that they are content and believe in the brand. Another way of measuring

    the success of the brand is to carry out employer satisfaction surveys, to understand what

    is working well and what is not.2

    To measure the effectiveness of an employer brand it is necessary to look at the flow

    and number of applications received, the cost per hire ratio for each hire and also the

    quality of candidates that apply. As for some companies employer branding is needed

    to attract the best talent to fill highly skilled positions. Figure five shows that to build an

    effective picture of how successful an employer brand is recruitment, retention, and

    productivity rates all need to be measured in terms of performance. Also, measuring

    future, potential, current and previous employees and other stakeholders is vital to gain

    views on the brand and what people think of it through surveys and other measures.

    There are many ways to measure the effectiveness of your employer brand. Google

    Analytics is a useful online tracking tool as is Applicant Tracking Systems. These tools

    will allow you to measure the strength of your recruitment pipeline and the quality of

    the candidates that your brand attracts. Another simple and free way of measuring is to

    take qualitative feedback at the interview stage for prospective candidates. The success

    of a consistent employer brand cannot be measured overnight, which means that the

    implementation of a tracking process is needed from the outset to measure how

    effectiveness.

    P6

    1 Social media and Employer Branding, Employer Brand News, 20132 Build your employer brand: A strategic approach to recruitment and retention, Ranstad, 2014, pg. 53 K. Buttenberg, Employer Branding: Objectives, Channels and Performance Indicators, academia.edu, pg. 6,

    available at:http://www.academia.edu/1751011/EMPLOYER_BRANDING_OBJECTIVES_

    CHANNELS_AND_PERFORMANCE_INDICATORS [accessed 15 August 2014]

    ,

    Figure 5: A measurement tool for

    employer branding activities3

    Employer Branding Activity

    Brand Awareness Performance Measures

    Furtureemployees

    Potentialemployees

    Currentemployees

    Previousemployees

    Brand Awareness surveys segmented by thedifferent target groups

    Other stake holders(media, supplies, government, investors, competitors)

    Recruitment Retertion Productivity

    Performance of

    recruting tools(e.g. clicks on

    job-ads,applications bychannel) andrecruitment(e.g. time to

    hire, quality ofapplications)

    Direct

    employeeretention

    indicators (e.g.turnover) and

    indirectindicators (e.g.

    employee

    satifaction)and motivation)

    Productivity

    managmentindicators

    depending onindustry and

    function /department

    (e.g. error rates

    or salesfigures)

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    BENEFITS

    An effective employer brand will help organisations to compete more effectively inthe labour market and will build employee loyalty through effective recruitment,engagement and retention practices.

    Those with effective employer brands will reduce their time-to-fill and cost-per-hire 1and companies that only have a consumer brand will have hiring costs that are twicethat of a company which possesses an effective consumer and employer brand.Reducing the cost-per-hire is also about increasing the number of referrals fromemployees. If employees are happy and invested in the company they work for theywill sell it to people they know, and will become a force of attraction themselves.

    An effective employer brand that employees can identify with wil l result in a lowerturnover of staff and a more loyal, engaged workforce. A lack of staff turnover willalso be a big help in the employer brand, proving that employees like to work for thecompany. If there is a high turnover of staff prospective candidates may feel uneasyabout working there, as a high staff turnover leads to concerns over why this ishappening. The benefits of employee retention are that there is a low turnover cost,company knowledge will not be lost, and losing staff members can disrupt the dayto day running of a business. However, if employees stay company knowledge willgrow, productivity will also increase and there will be a very low cost in turnover or

    for recruitment purposes.

    An effective employer brand can improve the productivity of staff, recruit highlyskilled individuals that contribute to the growth of the company, as well as improvingyour customer brand. Companies that treat their employees well and are seen asreputable; this can have a positive impact on their sales. The opposite has been seenwhen some large and worldwide companies were seen as taking advantage of theiremployees. These companies received a negative backlash from consumers thatimpacted their growth.

    if employees stay companyknowledge will grow,

    productivity will also increaseand there will be a very lowcost in turnover or forrecruitment purposes.

    1 C. Peyron,The war for survival starts wi th the Fight for Brainpower, Universum, 2012, available at:

    http://universumglobal.com/2012/10/the-war-for-survival-starts-with-the-fight-for-brainpower/ [accessed 12August 2014]

    ,

    P7

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    THE RISKS OF EMPLOYER BRANDING

    Despite the potential benefits of employer branding there are some substantial risks

    involved in creating a brand. One of the big problems that companies who are investing in

    employer branding are facing is that they are not attracting better candidates, just a higher

    number of average applicants. In a CEB report it found that 78% of companies that used

    formal employer branding had attracted more, but not better candidates. As the number of

    applications for open positions rose by 33%, but only

    28% of applicants in the larger number are high-

    quality contenders. Therefore companies need to

    build a brand that attracts the best candidates only,

    whilst simultaneously dissuading other applicants.

    This would help improve the quality of applicants by

    54% and quality of hire by 9%. 1

    Attracting more, and not better candidates can put a

    company at risk of missing out on talent, and can lead

    to rival companies taking them, which can in the end

    negatively affect the companys growth. 60% of CEOs

    are worried about attracting and retaining the right

    people. This war for talent shows that there is a need

    for companies and employers to reassess how theyengage with employees and candidates. If the branding

    is not spot on then the chances are the best talent will

    go elsewhere.

    Another issue that HR departments who are involved

    in employer branding face is building an inauthentic

    brand image. A companys brand image needs to be

    representative of the company and its industry. For

    example, a tech start-up will have and need an entirely

    different employer brand from an established

    insurance agency; having a fake employer brand, will

    attract candidates that are ill suited to the company. 2

    P8

    Another risk is that companies do not fully engage with social media and sometimes rely on

    older forms of communication such as e-mail. Steps to improve a companys social media

    brand and appeal is to put a human face to it. Companies should hire someone to manage

    social media, promote social media communications and train their staff to use It. It is also

    helpful to create a clear social media policy which defines how employees should use social

    media whilst working for an organisation. For example, social media bloggers and twitter

    users should state that they are expressing their personal view.

    The brand message needs to be consistent and fit in

    with the employer brand, while also fitting in with the

    industry of the company. An inconsistent brand can

    lead to potential candidates being unimpressed and

    even mean that they will reconsider working for that

    company. Hence, an inconsistent brand message

    means that the company is failing to deliver its best

    possible impression to potential candidates. Inconsistent

    branding can be a waste of valuable time and money

    as it will not target the desired calibre of candidates.

    Current employees may feel overloaded with

    inconsistent and irrelevant information from a variety

    of sources, leading to frustration and a lack of trust.

    1 Employer branding attracting 'more, not better' candidates, London, HR Grapevine, 2014, available at:

    http://www.hrgrapevine.com/markets/hr/article/2014-07-28-

    employer-branding-attracting-more-not-better-candidates#.U-iJkfldXDZ [accessed 11 August 2014]2 S Rizvi, Truly Social Employer Branding, Employer Banding Today, 2012, available at:

    http://www.employerbrandingtoday.com/blog/2012/10/29/social-employer-branding/ [accessed 13 August2014]

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