In this competitive job market, the key to attracting the best candidates lies with a company's employer brand. But what is it, and how do you develop a positive employer brand?
It represents the company's reputation as an employer, encompassing its values, culture, and the overall employee experience. Here are several compelling reasons why employer brand is important in today's competitive job market.
The important thing to remember is that every business already has an employer brand – it represents how employees and potential employees view your organisation. In simple terms, it is what people think of your business as a place to work, encompassing values, culture, and the overall employee experience. Just as marketeers develop strong consumer brands to encourage people to purchase their product or service, a strong employer brand helps position the business, encouraging people to work for the organisation.
This isn't only about new recruits, but also about ensuring good people want to stay with the business for the long-term. It goes beyond financial reward to encapsulate culture, working conditions, learning and development opportunities, benefits and ways of working in one coherent story that employees and candidates can understand and want to be part of. Increasingly, particularly for younger candidates, an organisation's approach to sustainability is also a key part of its employer brand, with people wanting to work for a business that shares their own values in this respect.
It may sound obvious, but organisations with a good reputation as an employer are more likely to attract proactive applications from quality candidates.
In today's highly competitive job market, attracting the best candidates is a challenge. An appealing employer brand can be a powerful magnet for hiring top talent as well as keeping them in the business.
Positive employer branding becomes even more important in times of economic uncertainty, particularly in a labour market where there are skill shortages and organisations competing for talent. The employer brand can set a company apart and become a unique selling point.
But your employer brand is not something you can simply invent – it is what you are, and your identity as a company is shaped by various stakeholders. Building a strong, positive employer brand is, therefore, founded on 'doing the right thing' by your employees.
To be effective, your employer brand should be evident throughout the employee lifecycle and across the organisation's approach to people management. For example, it will influence employee inductions, performance management and reward, management behaviours and even how you respond when people leave the organisation. As always, listening is important, and the organisations with the strongest employer brands tend to be good at understanding employee needs and views, using attitude surveys, focus groups and regular dialogue to understand what people think and feel, and identifying areas for improvement and acting upon them.
What's more, the role of leadership in building and promoting a strong employer brand cannot be underestimated. Leaders set the organisation's culture and directly impact how employees feel and speak about their experiences. It's often said that people join an organisation because of its reputation and leave because leadership doesn't live up to expectations!
With a talent shortage within the agricultural and land-based sectors, your employer brand has never been more important, both in terms of attracting new talent and retaining existing staff. What does your employer brand say about you?
Contact us to discuss how we can help you find leaders who personify your culture and what your business stands for, helping you remain competitive when recruiting top talent from within the forestry industry.
