Have you been trying for months to attract top talent to grow your company, yet struggle to find the right people? The problem might not actually be a talent gap but your employer branding.

Your employer brand is how your company is perceived by future and current employees. Creating a positive and appealing employer brand is crucial to attracting and retaining top talent. A bad reputation or not creating an inclusive environment deters people from applying to your company.

Read on for our tips on how to appeal to the best job seekers out there and boost your employer brand.

Identify your company’s unique value proposition

Your company’s unique value proposition is a critical asset that informs everyone on what your brand has to offer and how that sets you apart from your competitors. Your employer brand establishes your company’s position not only to existing employees but to future candidates. Capitalising on the value of your brand helps potential employees recognise your company’s strengths. The company’s mission, vision, values, culture, and benefits play a part in creating a powerful employer brand. A clear and concise statement summarising your overall brand mission should entice job seekers to apply for open roles in your company.

Evaluate your company’s brand reputation

It’s crucial to learn about your company’s standing in the business as you might be unaware of how your company’s reputation is seen in the market. A bad reputation hurts your brand and might hold prospective employees back from applying for open roles and might drive away existing employees to seek opportunities elsewhere. Conduct an audit of your company’s reputation by researching social media, reviewing Glassdoor reviews and sending out internal feedback surveys. By studying the results, you’ll be able to discover the positive aspects of your company culture as well as areas you’ll need to improve on. Based on the feedback you receive you can work on an action plan to turn things around and communicate things you do well to boost your company’s brand reputation.

Define your employee value proposition

Having an employee value proposition is a great way to attract candidates and explains why they should join your company. It should provide compelling answers to candidate’s questions such as “Why should I work for your company? “Why is your company a great place to work? “What can you offer me that other companies can’t?”. In order to get the best talent to work for you, you’ll have to differentiate your company from the rest by articulating your company’s key strengths like flexible working, career progression, weekly team activities, annual company retreats, or health benefits. When working on your employee value proposition, ensure there’s an alignment with your employer brand, which bolsters your position against your competition. Other than appealing to job seekers, your employee value proposition should also drive talent engagement and employee retention.

Leverage existing employees

A true representation of your employer brand enables job seekers to understand your company better. By engaging your employees organically, you’ll be able to capture their perspectives and convey authentic experiences to  prospective talent on what it’s like working in your company. Receiving recommendations from your employees is the best form of advertisement as it empowers, engages and provides them with ownership of your employer brand. Transforming your employees into brand ambassadors is a great way to share your company’s culture and values to future employees. When your employees are active brand ambassadors and consistently share updates about the company; it will greatly increase the marketing and social reach of your company and captivate job seekers.

With the talent pool tightening across the board, companies are facing increasing pressure in finding the best candidates to fill their open positions. In order to engage and retain top talent, companies have to place importance on their employer brand. Ultimately, the success of your employer brand depends on how well job seekers view your company.

Are you an employer who needs some help with hiring digital talent? Visit the Salt Employer page to submit a short brief and we’ll be in touch shortly.

Looking for a new job? Check out our current opportunities on our job page.