Pop Quiz: What's an employment brand?

If you hired someone to call 10 of your field associates and 10 ideal job seekers in your market, what would they say about your staffing or recruiting agency?

That's your employment brand.

Stated simply, your employment brand is what job seekers, candidates, temporary associates and contractors think of you. It's your identity and reputation as an employer. It's how you're viewed in the market. It’s what people tell their friends about you!

Your employment brand is much more than your logo, colors or website. And it’s not just about how visible you are on social media or how aggressively you recruit.

Creating a strong brand is about clearly defining how you want to be seen, and then ensuring that message permeates everything you do. When done well, employment branding makes your job advertising more effective. It helps you attract and keep better talent. And it can help you consistently outperform your competition, especially in a tight candidate market.

And as you've probably guessed from the title, content marketing is a great way to build your employment brand.

OK, but does employment branding really matter?

We've had clients say to us, "We have a fantastic job board and pages for job seekers on our website. And our recruiters do a great job explaining our firm to applicants. Isn't that enough?"

In today's talent economy, the short answer is "No."

Skilled, experienced job seekers can and will be selective. They want to work with an agency that's trustworthy. Competent. Easy to work with. And whose recruiters actually give a damn about their success.

That doesn't sound like too big an ask, right?

What's more, potential applicants do their homework online to find out what they want to know, too. So, unless you take charge of how they perceive you by:

• clearly defining the unique value you provide to job seekers…
• providing relevant content that answers would-be candidates' questions about your staffing firm…
• sharing and promoting that branded content where job seekers will find it…
• proactively managing your online reputation…

…you might be missing the mark – and missing out on great candidates.

Your competitors are aggressively building their employment brands right now. If you want to recruit and retain the best people in your market(s), you need to prioritize branding, too.

Employment branding IS essential. But don't just take our word for it. 

These statistics from Glassdoor and LinkedIn show what's to be gained by building a strong employment brand – and what's at stake:

Talent attraction and recruiting:

• 68% of millennials, 54% of Gen-Xers, and 48% of boomers indicated they visit employer's social media properties specifically to evaluate the employer's brand.
• 75% of active job seekers are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand.
• Companies with a strong employment brand see 50% more applicants.
• A strong employer brand can reduce the cost per hire by as much as 50%.

The stakes are high:

• Nearly 8 in 10 (76%) of Glassdoor users agree their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review.
• 86% of women and 67% of men in the United States wouldn't join a company with a bad reputation.
• Employee voice is 3x more credible than the CEOs when it comes to talking about working conditions in that company.
• Companies actively investing in employer brand can reduce turnover by up to 28%.

How Should You Build Your Employment Brand?

You know the definition, but do you know how to build your employment brand? Get our free eBook on Using Content to Drive Your Employment Brand to learn how!