Why employer branding matters in recruitment

Employer branding is one of the most important components of your talent management and acquisition strategy. Glassdoor research has discovered that 95% of candidates identify a company’s reputation as a key consideration when exploring new career opportunities. 

But employer branding is more important to candidates than just consideration: in fact, 69% of job seekers admit they would reject an offer from a company with a bad employer brand… even if they were unemployed. 

Today’s job seeker demands transparency from their potential employers. They prefer to research the company offering the role they’re interested in before sending their application. 

If potential candidates cannot find the answer to their questions at any point during their experience researching your company, you will likely miss out on the high-quality candidates your team needs. 

Although there are plenty of reasons that explain why a business fails to attract the candidates they need. In this article, we’re going to go in-depth into how a company’s Employer Branding impacts their ability to attract and retain candidates. 

What is employer branding? 

Just like a consumer brand, an employer brand enables your company to manage and influence your reputation as an employer among job seekers and your employees. Anything you do to show off your company culture, values, the benefits you offer, or employee experiences, encompass your employer brand.  

It’s important to keep in mind that every company has an employer brand — Whether your company actively invests in managing it or not.  Similarly, to a traditional consumer brand, job seekers will also experience your brand through a journey and ultimately decide whether to apply. 

How to manage my employer branding? 

Every business is unique when it comes to the management of their employer brand. If you’re ready to start seriously investing in your employer brand, here are a few tips to get started: 

1. Take control of what top talent will find when they Google search you. Create meaningful content to showcase your company in a positive way and lots of places where people can go and learn about you. Having a presence on social media channels is a good starting point.  
2. Take online reviews about your brand seriously. Make the time to respond to each one of them professionally. Promise to follow up on dissatisfied customers. Encourage happy customers to leave positive comments. This conveys to the top talent that you care about your stakeholders.  
3. Your employer brand requires constant cultivation. Having a dedicated person to manage online presence is a good way to ensure that the message is consistent across all communication channels and someone is staying on top of reviews. 

How to take control of your employer brand

Employer branding for job seekers in the Netherlands is more relevant than elsewhere. According to the OECD, the Dutch have achieved the best work/life balance in the world and prefer to work with employers who share those values.

Job seekers in the Netherlands also become aware of potential employers much differently than other job markets in the world. Recruitment agencies have better access to job boards, talent pools, and networking opportunities that businesses in the Netherlands do not.  

How we do it at Octagon?

After 30 years of recruitment efforts specifically in the Netherlands, our team is keen to understand exactly how a business’ employer brand impacts a job seekers’ perception. Through our activities, we take over the early stages of the Job seeker’s Journey to reach potential candidates with the right message, and ensure expectations are aligned before they meet with you. 

If you’d like to learn more about our process, schedule a consultation with one of our specialists.