Photo by Lali Masriera

Why should a candidate work for you instead of your competitor?

Today, I’m going to talk about how to develop an employer branding strategy. The answer to that question is going to be the core of your strategy. After all, isn’t the goal to hire better candidates more easily and effectively?

Developing an Employer Branding Strategy

What makes your organization a great place to work?

An employer brand can’t be about what you think makes your organization a great place to work. It has to be about what your employees actually think.

When go to create an employer branding strategy, that’s where you should start.

What do your employees think?

If you conduct regular employee surveys, that might be a great place to start. Dig through the survey and look for trends.

Do people love the fun culture, or the flexible work hours? Maybe they have access to great training programs, or feel like you put a priority on career development. Why should a candidate work for you instead of your competition?

You might also want to reach out to some A-players who recently turned down positions at your organization and ask them why. Is what they were looking for (and didn’t find) something you actually offer (and maybe didn’t do a great job marketing)?

What about rockstar new hires? Why did they decide to join? The answers to these questions are all things to consider when building an employer brand.

Choate vs. Megafirm

Choate, Hall & Stewart is a law firm in Boston, MA. They’ve built an employer brand around meaningful work experience.

Why should you work for Choate instead of one of their larger competitors? Simple. They provide you with meaningful work experience from day one.

Go check out their hilarious “Mac vs. PC” spoof videos:

Megafirm: Well, I have to do document review for our next big case – over 800 boxes!
Choate: Yea, I have to do document review, too. But, that’s not the only thing I do. In fact, it’s just a part of it.

Notice how they don’t sugar coat the work. You get to do some fun stuff, but there’s also some crappy work.

Their message is transparent. Your employer brand should be, too. Which brings me to my next point.

If your culture sucks…

If your culture sucks, tackle that first. Don’t worry about developing an employer brand. People will know you’re full of it – if not now, then definitely later. And either way, it’s going to sting.

Fix your culture. Make it a great place to work, and then work on a brand.

You don’t need to make it on any “Best Place to Work” lists – you just need to have a place where people can enjoy a meaningful career in a good environment.

Ideas in Action

Let’s put what you’ve learned into action. Here’s what you can do right now to start building an employer branding strategy:

1. Collect data. Get your hands on your last employee survey. Create a survey to give recent new hires, asking them why they joined your organization. Reach out to A-players who rejected a recent job offer, and ask them why they turned you down.
2. Analyze. Read the survey results. Throw them into spreadsheets. Look for trends. Are there any recurring themes? What do people love about working there? Why did the candidates who turned down a job with you do so?
3. Answer the question: “Why should a candidate work for you instead of your competitor?” Write a clear, straightforward answer. “We provide you with meaningful work from day one.” “We provide fantastic training and development opportunities.” “We work hard and play hard.”

Next time, I’ll talk about how you can start putting your employer branding strategy into action.

PS: This article is part of an ongoing series about Employer Branding through Social Media. If you liked it, you may want to check out the rest of the series.