With competition for talent at an all-time high and unemployment at its lowest since records began, UK businesses are having to work harder than ever to attract great candidates.
And what’s the main factor that will influence a candidate to want to work for you? Your reputation as an employer.
Talent leaders know just how important employer branding is, with 80% stating that it has a significant impact on their ability to hire great talent. However, just 8% of recruitment budgets are ploughed into employer branding initiatives.
It’s not surprising; with ever-increasing HR workloads and agency fees taking a huge chunk out of recruitment budgets, it can be hard to justify both the money and time to dedicate to employer branding, especially when its ROI is so hard to measure.
Additionally, the majority of employer branding initiatives cross-over with marketing activities and if HR takes the lead, you run the risk of alienating your Marketing team.
This is why it’s vital for your HR and Marketing departments to collaborate; HR will know exactly what it wants to achieve and your Marketing team will be in the position to offer creative input and expertise to help make these ideas a reality.
Just remember, your employer brand should align with your corporate brand; both stylistically and in terms of its underlying values. If the two brands aren’t aligned, it can leave candidates and even existing employees feeling confused about your identity.
So, how can HR and Marketing work effectively together to build a brilliant employer brand?
1) Clearly communicate your goals
Think about what is it that you actually want to achieve. Make a list of your main goals and consider what steps you can take to achieve them and how you can measure your success.
Once you’ve established your goals, sit down with your Marketing team and make them aware of what you want to achieve. Set the scene by discussing what you believe your main employer branding issues are and what you’d like to do to change them.
There’s a strong chance that your Marketing team will have its own ideas and suggestions, which you should take into account.
Open communication is key when it comes to collaboration; you need to make sure that both HR and Marketing are on the same page and have the same end goal in mind.
At this stage, it’s also important to put some rules in place and build a schedule for your branding initiatives. Set timescales for projects and make your Marketing team aware of everything you’d like them to help you with so they’re not taken by surprise with any extra work further down the line.
Remember, a great employer brand can’t be built overnight so it will take a lot of work, consistency and open communication.
2) Work together to build an effective careers page/site
A careers page or site is a fantastic way of showcasing your employer brand. It houses all of your existing vacancies and acts as a destination where candidates can learn more about your company from an employment point of view.
If you’re making changes to your existing website by designing a careers page or building a separate microsite (careers site), it’s important to get your Marketing team involved. They will be able to help you with the styling and copywriting to ensure that it’s consistent with your corporate identity and comms.
Your careers site should act as an extension of your existing website to ensure a smooth and seamless candidate experience.
3) Produce some great employee content
Your Marketing department can help you to produce the employee-driven content that you’ve always wanted to create. While HR might be full of ideas, Marketing will have the resources to transform these ideas into reality.
Whether it’s asking your existing employees to produce guest blogs, testimonials or even video content, your Marketing Department should be able to help you, as long as you’re clear and give them a defined brief of what you actually want.
4) Set a plan for shared social media ownership
Social media is a great tool for promoting your employer brand and sharing your latest vacancies.
It’s likely that your Marketing team will have full ownership of your company social media accounts, however it’s important that you create a code of conduct with them to share your vacancies and other content.
Outline a schedule detailing what content you’d like shared and how frequently. This means that Marketing can retain control of the social media accounts but HR will have input into what employer branding content is posted.
If you’re looking for a more efficient way of sharing your vacancies on social media, recruitment software such as Webrecruit ATS, allows you to automate social sharing so that your HR team can do it without the need to contact Marketing every time a new vacancy arises.
Want to learn more about Webrecruit’s talent attraction solutions? Request more information.
