Article: Best practices for Employer Branding

Employer Branding

Best practices for Employer Branding

Effective employer branding is the combination of market research, advisory services, communications and marketing to achieve both a credible and desirable brand position.
Best practices for Employer Branding
  • Almost 66% employees agreed that the brand's  name matters the most while selecting a job offer.

  • A Pew Research found that 43 percent people in the U.S used mobile phones to look up info about jobs, while 18 percent used it to submit a job application.

  • In the Indian Job Outlook Survey 2012 conducted by TJinsite, research and knowledge arm of TimesJobs.com, experts claimed that recruiters have to push boundaries to create brand attractiveness for making skilled talent consider their employment options. 


Employer branding is the process of promoting a company, or an organization, as the employer of choice to a desired target group, one which a company needs and wants to recruit and retain. The process facilitates the company’s ability in attracting, recruiting and retaining ideal employees referred to as Top Talent in recruitment and helps secure the achievement of the company’s business plan. Employer branding, like many management practices moves in line with economic growth. Investment in people, technology and the supporting systems and processes all benefit from an improved economy. 

For effective employer brand promotion, however, the company can only attract current and future employees if it has an identity that is true, credible, relevant, distinctive and aspirational. To achieve this, extensive research needs to be conducted, so as to ensure that the employer’s identity addresses not only Top Talent’s but also Top Management’s demands. 

Factors influencing  on Employer Brand Name:

  • Salary of the employee paid by the employer.
  • Employee benefits given by employer.
  • Job security. 
  • Pleasant working atmosphere. 
  • Work-life balance. 
  • Career progression opportunities. 


The objective of Employer Branding is quite simple. It is a strategy employed by an organisation to create an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) that conveys to desired current and prospective employees why the organisation is unique, appealing and a fantastic place to work in. The targeted marketing effort attempts to shape the perceptions of potential employees, current employees and the public. Successful employment branding should reduce hiring costs and ease the hiring process. An Employer Brand has value and positioning. Employer branding is critical to build an image in the minds of potential employees and market the company as a 'great place to work'.

The Employer Branding Process:

  1. Research & Advisory Services:  The company needs to understand what it offers of value, as defined in the EVP, to current and prospective employees.
  2. Activation & Talent Sourcing:  The activation phase requires a holistic communication, marketing and talent sourcing plan to ensure the company is getting the right kind of talent aboard. 
  3. KPI Development & Tracking: Constant testing and measuring when using different campaign techniques, messages, channels, etc. is required for a company to set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and keep track of  performance levels in order to make continuous improvements.


Google (business and engineering)continues  to be a hot favourite for career seekers as the company has emerged as the world's most attractive employer, for the fourth consecutive year, says a survey. According to global employer branding firm Universum's global talent attraction index, The World's Most Attractive Employers 2012.

Soxedo USA has been innovators in the use of social tools to enhance employer branding communications internally. Having a successful social media program that is highly visible has led to a high degree of cooperation between the talent acquisition team and other division.

The coolest things about PwC’s careers page are the employee stories, where PwC highlights individual employees through photos, bios, Q&A sessions, and career timelines. Not only do these stories give job seekers a good idea of the kinds of people they’d work with at PwC, but they also show job seekers how PwC might meet their long-term career needs.

Salesforce has built itself a powerful employer brand. Salesforce leverages Instagram to showcase the exciting lives of its employees. From cute cat pics to group shots at Star Wars-themed holiday parties.

Few best practices that we need to know:

Clarity about what to stand for: An  organization’s mission, vision, and values should be clearly defined and this should flow through to your employer branding communications. Two of the standout companies in this area are Apple and Starbucks.

Awareness of political risks: The risks of shifting manufacturing and/or production offshore and/or recruiting talent from outside local borders has to be weighed up against the risks of not doing so. Increasingly due to the threat of terrorism, quality concerns, and corporate agility, companies are reconsidering their appetite for political risks.

Digitalising employer brand strategy: The digital technologies underlying talent attraction, engagement and retention may not be new, but they are being used to new effect. Enormous amounts of information are accessible as never before, from what’s being said about your company online to internal forums focused on improving business processes.

Network is the net worth: The key is to continuously organically grow the network. Ensure to have global reach on the network and it is diverse enough to ensure we are learning and connecting with people from a range of talent from different backgrounds.

Foster relevant lifelong learning: For the cost of under $500 for a tablet or smartphone companies can put self-learning at the fingertips of employees and train them on how to get the information to come to them. There are an increasing number of open-source free education websites available to anyone with an Internet connection.

Role of CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility is a good employer branding tactic that influences how people perceive a brand positioning in the market, in comparison to the competition.

Optimising communication flow: There are a range of tools such as IBM’s social software solutions to support the communication flow inside and outside an organisation. These tools assist organisations of all sizes to work smarter, become more agile, and foster innovation.

Onboarding as an equally important experience: When people join any company, they are either too excited or too nervous - the team at Management Study Guide writes. Both are extreme conditions, which needs to be handle well.

Being a cyclical process, constantly measuring  performance and adjusting activities and strategies to continuously improve, it begins with understanding unique employer qualities and continues into sustaining the employer brand as a living, vibrant and attractive entity. The alternative to employer branding, and perhaps even catastrophic scenario, is to be considered as a generic employer, unspecific in offerings and unnoticeable to promising career seekers. Finally, through talent acquisition and retention, the end purpose of employer branding is to stimulate business growth and achieve strategic business goals. Employer Branding gains tremendous importance in times when the talent pool is shrinking and is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain talent. It then becomes critical to position the organisation in the minds of the target audience to give it every possible advantage in attracting employees with superior skills and knowledge - a primary source of competitive advantage for any organisation. 

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Topics: Employer Branding

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