Developing your employer brand: our tips

Employer branding encompasses all strategies aimed at highlighting a company’s attractiveness to the public. It can be very useful in attracting new candidates, as well as in building employee loyalty. It is vital to ensure that the public has a positive view of your company’s identity. Many companies have an employer brand, but it is very important to develop it and communicate it to your audience. Today, employer branding is an essential part of corporate communication strategies. Customers regularly choose to collaborate with companies where the well-being of employees is asserted and affirmed. In fact, 95% of applicants find out more about the company before applying for a job .In addition, according to Glassdoor, 60% of candidates say they had a bad recruitment experience, and 72 % of them talk about it on social networks. Being vigilant and on the lookout for comments related to your company is fundamental to developing your employer brand. Here are our tips for developing your employer brand effectively:

Working on your corporate identity

The first step is to define your company’s identity. To do this, it is important to be able to distinguish the elements that set you apart from other companies. The definition of your values must be in line with the reality of your company. Beyond differentiating yourself from other organizations, defining your values will help you attract potential candidates who recognize themselves in them. It is important to communicate your values through the various means of communication available to your company: website, career page, social networks, job adverts, etc. These days, candidates pay particular attention to the policies pursued by companies, and more specifically to issues relating to corporate social responsibility. Moreover, companies that pay close attention to their employer brand see their employee retention rate increase by 40%. 

Communicating via your website

In general, the website is a candidate’s first point of contact with a company, so it is essential that you communicate your company’s culture. Candidates need to be able to find information about the company, its history, how it works, and the benefits of working there, to understand the world in which the company operates. For all these reasons, companies need an attractive, dynamic website that makes potential candidates want to browse through it. To communicate effectively and efficiently about your employer brand, you need a career page. A career page provides a 360-degree view of the company, as well as the opportunity to go into greater detail. Beyond facilitating the user experience, you give your candidates all the elements they need to project themselves.

Writing attractive job offers

The field of recruitment is constantly evolving, and the job offers found on social networks and professional job boards are now more informative and attractive than ever before, and more focused on the company's culture. Regularly, the first part of job offers is devoted to presenting the company and its employer brand. Most job ads are therefore built around the idea that the employer brand is an element that will strongly influence the choice of candidates, in the same way as the position and its missions. When you write a job ad, you need to make sure that you communicate the elements that your candidates won't find elsewhere, to arouse their interest in your company. When you communicate a job offer, the tone you use must correspond to your values, and the whole offer must reflect the reality of life within your company.

Communicating on social networks

Your social networks must also reflect your company's image and values. It's important not only to project an external image of your company, but also to present what is going on internally. You need to post quality content on a regular basis and present a strong image of your company in order to attract new candidates and avoid high turnover within your organization.

Good use of your social networks can help you build your corporate culture, communicate in a positive way and present life within your company through different types of content: photos, videos, testimonials, illustrating the daily life of the company. This content can be easily integrated into your marketing strategy and will be highly appreciated by potential candidates when they research your company. Transparency and honesty are two factors that must be considered when building your content, and when speaking to your audience, they help to establish a relationship based on trust. Your employees are your best ambassadors, so it's important to highlight them when people talk about your company. What's more, content with a human touch is the most popular with candidates. Employees are in the best position to talk about your company, as they are an integral part of its daily life. This also gives candidates the opportunity to better project themselves into the company.

Keeping an eye on your reputation & e-reputation 

Your company's reputation is the most important element to consider. You need to know what your employees, customers and candidates think of your company. A good reputation is essential to the success and growth of your business. Moreover, it is the basis on which your recruitment team will be able to attract the most qualified talent.

E-reputation is just as important, as it is important to keep an open eye on all company-related feedback and comments across all your online communication channels. Hence the need to respond to opinions and comments, especially negative ones, and make sure you provide the best possible user experience by showing that the company is striving to improve, so that they keep a good image of the company in their minds and can recommend it.

Tools to extend and improve your employer brand

There are many tools you can use to improve and evaluate your employer brand communications. When communicating about your employer brand, you should also pay attention to the form of your content, favoring content with impactful visuals. To do this, you can use graphic creation tools such as Canva or Adobe Express, which are easy to use.

Many companies evaluate their employer brand, and there are several tools, such as Glassdoor, that can help you understand your company's reputation as an employer. You can, for example, consult your overall rating, the percentage of people who approve of your management style or who recommend you as an employer. This is a good indication of the strengths and weaknesses of your employer brand.

Obtaining a label is a good way of evaluating your employer brand and getting concrete feedback on your reputation. In addition, obtaining a label enables you to generate content directly related to the life of the company and helps attract new people.  To help you program and measure the performance of your content on social networks, we recommend using tools such as Hootsuite or Buffer.

Fed Africa, your employer brand ambassador 

Fed Africa is a recruitment firm specializing in top and middle management positions in Africa and the Middle East. By placing your trust in our consultants, you benefit from the advice and support of experts with in-depth knowledge of the local and regional job market. Our consultants have specific recruitment tools, so reduce the risk of recruitment errors and save time by relying on recruitment professionals. Moreover, our experts offer you the best service for attracting and recruiting candidates who match your company's vision. In addition to helping you write your advertisements, our experts in turn become ambassadors for your employer brand. Take advantage of the many benefits of outsourcing your recruitment process to a recruitment firm. Specify your needs in this form and don't hesitate to contact us for more information.

Many companies choose to outsource their recruitment processes to specialist recruitment firms. We know that corporate culture is expressed right from the start of the recruitment process, and that consultants become ambassadors for your employer brand, which is why you need one if you want to attract the best talent.