Feb 24th 2022
How to build an employer brand that attracts the talent you want
As discussed in our previous article, the UK is currently facing the worst talent shortage since the late 1990’s. So having a strong employer brand has never been more advantageous for securing top talent. The ‘power’ is estimated to remain with candidates throughout 2022, leaving organisations who choose not to adapt to be left behind. As demands change, as candidates evolve what is important to them, we’ll see the need for rapid evolutions within businesses in order to fill positions and also deliver on the employee experience as a whole.
On Thursday the 17th February, we held a lunch and learn webinar all about how to build and leverage your employer brand to secure top talent. We spoke to two of the UK’s leading HR & Marketing professionals including Rob Fawkes, Head of Sales & Marketing at Standing On Giants and Linnea Bywall, Head of People at Alva Labs, to gather their top tips on how to leverage employer brands in the great talent fight. Let’s find out what they had to say.
1. Tailor your job ads & back up your promises
When asked what employer branding meant to their company, both experts were unanimous in fostering a brand that ensures loyalty, trust and where employees really feel like they are a part of something.
Alva Labs Head of People, Linnea Bywall made a point of “We need to realise that it doesn’t matter what product or service you have, if you don’t have the right people you are never going to make it.“ In order to stand out from other job descriptions in a competitive market, Alva Labs tailors job advertisements using various themes such as Harry Potter, The Lion King and Zombies to provide some insight into the job and company as well as to attract a particular audience.
Linnea also expressed the significance of writing job ads in an inclusive manner. “Research shows that women need to feel that they match the prerequisites, whilst men will apply even when they only match a little bit. If you want more women to apply, reduce the amount of demands in your job ads. Step two is to use inclusive language and get help from marketing. We’ve found that if we use words like competitive, dominant and leader-like, it deters women from applying. Step three is to make sure you have a really objective screening process.”
Standing On Giants Head of Sales & Marketing, Rob Fawkes emphasised the importance of external perception and being authentic with your message,“You start with a brand purpose and what your brand stands for (outside of your product(s) and services). You then move down to what you are promising to your consumers. And then you need to back that up. Apply the same structure to your employer brand, what are people going to say about you at parties?”
2. Focus on wellbeing
With studies showing the reality of employee burnout, there was an emphasis on the importance of nurturing a work-life balance, having respect for life and health outside of the workplace as well as being constant and consistent in your employer communications.
Rob commented “It’s absolutely essential to ensure that you are putting in place initiatives, benefits, schemes that your employees actually want, that improve their wellbeing and make them feel a part of your culture and ultimately, that might come down to salary or supporting them taking time off. And help them stop working.”
As a licensed psychologist, Linnea shed some light into how to further impact your brand by actively encouraging the behaviour you want to cherish and the values you wish to be known for, “The easiest way is to reinforce the behaviours when you see them. It is really important to talk about it, but that will explain about 20% of if the behaviour happens or not, but the reinforcement and the consequence that happens when you do take a personal day, that will affect 80% of the behaviours moving forward.”
3. Bring your brand to life
With the current market being especially candidate-driven, there is no denying the challenges that come with attracting quality talent.
Linnea provided some insight into some of the employer branding challenges she faces. “We are a tech company, but we operate in the smushy, soft field of HR. The technical/product heavy roles, they don’t want to work in HR. Despite us having the coolest tech stack ever! And that’s not something you’d typically associate with HR. When you have a B2B brand, you’re never going to be known to a large extent, whereas if you have a B2C product, people more often know about you and have a feeling about you. B2B sometimes feels like Alva WHO? That’s why you need to tell your story in a much more vivid way.”
In order to overcome these challenges, Linnea goes on to explain their plans to initiate a tech blog as well as a podcast with the engineering team that can be displayed on the Alva Labs career page to provide a sense of what it is like to work as an engineer. As for the B2B challenge, Linnea believes it is crucial to be very clear on vision as well as trying to speak to the millennial generation regarding hiring purpose.
Rob reflected on his initial experience at Standing on Giants as a newly employed marketeer striving for more employee engagement, “Let’s go back two years ago, having just joined as the first marketing employee ever in the company. And I announced – right you’re all going to get on LinkedIn and you’re all going to be in videos and I’m going to interview you and I’m going to tell all these wonderful stories about all you great people… You can imagine the reception I got.” After a hesitant start, Rob knew that it would take time to warm up employees to become brand ambassadors “the challenge initially was personally building trust with employees. But it is a marathon not a sprint.“
Rob strived to overcome this challenge by identifying the few initial people who were willing to participate in various content. He then got some examples out there and before long, the rest of the team were less frightened and welcomed the opportunity to put themselves out there. Although it is not for everyone, building up an external professional profile is mutually beneficial for both the company and the employee. Not only does it bring awareness to the business, but it can assist employees in discovering professional networks and finding career mentors.
4. Have a long term strategy
In order to leverage and evolve your employee brand for future success, it seems businesses need to take a step back and look at things holistically.
Rob put a spotlight back on his initial point of backing up promises, he added, “Have an employer brand strategy and set it out like you would a brand strategy. What do you stand for? What is your employer brand purpose? Why would people join you? Why will they love being a part of your company? What is your brand promise or your employee mission statement? What are your people doing everyday that helps you achieve that purpose? How are you delivering the culture you want with the initiatives that are supporting it, rather than just words on a page.”
He also commented on the great impact mental health and wellness benefits can help to retain candidates in the long-run. “There is a wellbeing windfall to be had for employers who really prioritise their employees wellbeing and doing it properly. Honestly, I think if you don’t do that, people will start leaving.”
Building on Rob’s point, Linnea agreed that a long-term employer branding plan is imperative for a successful future, she added “You also need to start doing something… like this afternoon! One part is having that long-term commitment and strategy in place, but don’t wait around for the perfect plan. Try stuff out and figure out what you can do. Like A/B test different job ads, include different things on your career page and just see what happens. Make small improvements and get the wheel going.”
Missed out on the webinar? You can sign up to get instant access to the recording here.
Don’t miss out on our next event. Check out our upcoming webinar Spotting Potential: How to make brilliant junior hires coming late March. Register your interest here!