Positioning Your Employer Brand (the right way…)

Who I Am

Michael Walker

Co-Founder

michael.walker@walkerdavies.com@_walkerdavies

What is a brand ?

Product Logo

Brand

Corporate vs Employer brand

Corporate brand Employer brand

Where you want to be

Corporate Brand

Promoting the whole corporate entity

Aimed at clients, external facing

Focus is on user/customer acquisition

Employer Brand

What you offer to current and potential employees

What’s it like to work for your company

Focus is on talent acquisition and retention

What brand would you like to work for?

One of these?

Apple, Google...

Why?

Because of your perception of them as a

company and employer.

Why brands are attractive to work for

Awesome people & culture

Great perks

Great projects/clients

Strong corporate brand Development

opportunities

Good work/life balance

Entrepreneurial

Enjoyable work environment

Amazing team

Supportive management team

Why is a strong employer brand important?

What does hiring cost?

41% of companies say that a bad hire cost them at least

Replacing an employee costs an

average of

Average placement costs with recruiters

£4.5k £19k£30khttp://hiring.monster.co.uk/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/managing-hiring-costs/what-are-the-general-costs-of-using-recruitment-agencies.aspx

http://www.hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/recruitment/it-costs-over-30k-to-replace-a-staff-member/50677

http://www.fastcompany.com/3028628/work-smart/infographic-how-much-a-bad-hire-will-actually-cost-you/1

Hiring can cost a lot

& Bad hires can cost more

But with a strong employer brand...

Hiring costs less, retention is improved & your workforce will be more engaged

An engaged team is worth it

Attract long term

employees

Double revenue

High levels of employee engagement can increase revenue by up to 2.5 times

Engaged employees are 87% more likely to stay compared to their less engaged counterparts

http://wisembly.com/en/blog/2016/05/05/the-value-of-getting-employee-feedback

Employer branding top tips

A frequent mistake by startups is a total focus on customer/partner acquisition ignore the employer brand – if you don’t begin to build momentum now it could cost you in future

At an early stage, you can decide what this looks like

You need to define your company values

Decide what it’s like to work at your company

Outline the opportunities for development

Remember “ treat your employees like your best customers “

Offer more than just salary

Don’t just be seen hiring for specific positions – promote the company an employer more generally too

Great examples of a strong employer brand

Softcat

Benefits of a great employer brand

Increase retention Competitive against big

brands

Increased productivityMore engaged

employees

Sustainability

Employees become recruiters making

referrals

Increased sales

Reduced recruitment

costs

How to build the team

Make the unknown, known

Make a ‘day in the life at your company’

Answer these questions:

Make it clear what perks are available

Talk about why your employees love to work for you

State your vision and values for the company

What is it like to work at your company?

What does the office look like?

What fun things do you do?

What is the culture like?

Make a team page with employee bios

Top tip: Videos can lead to 50% more engagement with an organisation

Be as open as possible about business performance

How to build the team

4 Offer more than just salary – share the vision

2 Look for ‘fit’ not just skills/experience

1

3Recruiting is marketing! Optimise your marketing platforms, content and website

Make it clear what your talent gets from you5

Map out your goals and plan how

your team will achieve these*

Note: *‘Define your objectives, plan how you are going to achieve these. Then design the job specifically to work towards achieving these objectives, then decide a job title. Don’t just hire based on pre-existing job titles.’

How to build the team

Make it easy for your team to refer – no agencies!

Advertise on social media

Make exciting content about your company

Treat your talent acquisition like customer acquisition

Create email templates to speed things upConsider a referral scheme

Top Tip: Referral bonuses should be paid after the new hire has completed probation Make a career’s landing page

Don’t neglect your website & company blog

01 Plan out your hiring campaign

Plan your hiring campaign

Launch hiring

campaign

Job posting

Website & SEO

strategy

Content and digital

strategy

Outline the need

Plan your hiring campaign

Website & SEO

strategy

Content and digital

strategy

Make sure you can be found easily online

Keep your site updated with news, team members and clients.

Consider a hiring landing page with relevant keywords.

To get new applicants

To engage with existing applicants

To reconnect with previous applicants

Get going on job websites02

Great resources

Hired (Connecting with Devs)https://hired.co.uk

Angellist (Employer Branding & Hiring)https://angel.co

Workable (Recruitment software)https://www.workable.com/

Unicorn Hunt (Start up job board)https://unicornhunt.io

Workinstartups (startup job board)https://workinstartups.com

Escapethecity (great for non-profits)http://www.escapethecity.org/

Jobbio (Employer Branding & hiring)https://jobbio.com/gb

Headstart (Graduate talent matching app)http://headstartapp.com/

MeVitae (AI-based recruitment software)https://mevitae.com/

Walker Davies (Friendly neighbourhood talent dude)http://www.walkerdavies.com/#hiring

Crunch Poster (job board guru)https://www.crunchposter.co.uk

03 Network – online and offline

Talk to friends, family and current employees

04

05 Reconnect with previous applicants

Ask for help!06

“To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.”

Doug Conant, CEO of Campbell’s Soup