Eight Trends In Employer Branding

Real people, real stories

Employer Branding is changing fast.
 

Here are the eight trends we see.

1. Purpose/ Purpose/ Purpose

In the last years is has become more important for organizations to have a clear and compelling purpose. Future and current employees more and more are looking for organizations that contribute to making the world a better place. As it is not so clear for many organizations how they do this, there are still many purpose and mission statements that make a somewhat ludicrous impression.

Labor market communications and consumer marketing used to be separated. Today the disciplines are more coming together, especially in organizations where consumer marketing is important. HR can learn a lot from marketing. For many organizations applicants who are in the end not selected are potential clients. Example: a women’s clothing store, that offers all candidates a nice discount on their first purchase. Read: “How GE blends employment and consumer branding”.

Employees and future employees of organizations are looking for real stories told by real people. Brochures and carefully crafted messages do not longer work. People base their opinion on the way your organization comes across on social media and in real life. A nice example here: the Instagram account of the Arcadis Global Shapers (a global network of young professionals working at engineering/design company Arcadis. Every week another Global Shapers shows her/his workweek in a series of Instagram postings. More and more organizations are doing this. Real people, real stories.

The “employee experience” is an important current trend. The status of people today is less determined by the car or house they own, but more by unique experiences they can communicate about. It seems that virtual experiences are becoming as important as real experiences. Designing the candidate and the employee experience, from start to finish, is an important element of employer branding.

The use of #Virtual Job Tryouts” will increase. Pre-employment screening is getting more advanced, and with the technology of today, it is possible to combine employer branding, an attractive virtual job tryout, and an initial assessment on really relevant criteria. Integration and face validity (relevance for the job) are important. Read some case studies on the blog of Shaker.

In two ways an individual approach is required. Organizations must be able to match what they offer with the individual needs, wishes and capabilities of employees. Personalization is an important focus area for HR. As the communication preferences of people also greatly vary, a tailored communication approach enabled by a variety of channels is necessary for success.

This is also a trend that has been evolving over the last years: organizations are creating and maintaining themes communities for potential employees. Through the communities, candidates can be offered experiences and connect to real people.

 
Amanda Mintz wrote a nice article in Forbes last year, titled: “The super-connected community is the future of creative recruitment”. A quote from her article: “Without a doubt, I believe whether you’re an individual, startup or established brand or agency, it’s critical to be super-connected to a tribe that can feed you. Having a talent curator or "super connector" at the heart makes a big difference. This is that person in your network who knows everyone, intuitively sees where there’s compatibility, chemistry and mutual need, and acts as a bridge, pairing people in the community together or creating places they can meet.”

Technology and analytics can be used in several ways. With clever sourcing solutions you can find candidates that come close to the profile of the people you are looking for. Not only capability wise, but also looking at personality and cultural fit. By continuously measuring and analyzing employer branding activities, you will be able to detect the most effective interventions. Technology can also be used to enable your current workforce to act as employer branding ambassadors.

Employer branding is no longer the domain of recruitment only. In fact, it can be considered a responsibility of everyone involved with organizations: management, employees, clients, suppliers and family and friends. Turning as many people as possible into brand ambassadors will strengthen your employer branding efforts.
 
Eight trends in employer branding, creating opportunities to improve employer branding.

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Author Bio

Tom Haak is the director of the HR Trend Institute. Prior to founding the HR Trend Institute in 2014, Tom held senior HR positions in companies as Arcadis, Aon, KPMG and Philips. Connect Tom Haak