Your Employer Brand Precedes You. Why it Pays To Be Proactive
A recruiter once confided in me that after five years working at a tech company, she was stuck on one question posed by almost every new job candidate.
She kept being asked, "What's the culture like there?"
And every time, she was embarrassed that she did not have an answer.
Her work environment was cutthroat, and people were burned out.
She stumbled over her words. She faltered. She changed the subject. She failed to "sell" the company as a great place to work, leaving vacancies open for way too long.
🔬In my research for a new culture leadership book, I hear some recurring themes. Recruiting and retaining high performers is top of mind.
To succeed in recruiting top talent, we first need to investigate what our employer reputation is out in the candidate job market.
🧐 What does Glassdoor or Comparably say about your company?
Employer brand is your company’s reputation and popularity from a potential employee’s perspective and describes the values the company gives to its employees.
⭐️Your reputation precedes you and impacts many areas, especially your company’s capacity to retain and recruit the best talent.
Consider this: When a job description is out on the boards, candidates will read about how great you say your company is.
However, most candidates will not take your word for it. They will Google you. They will search LinkedIn to see if they know anyone who works there or has a second connection that can give them insights. They will search on social media. They will read reviews on well-established reputation platforms like Glassdoor and Comparably.
People shop for jobs and recommendations now like they shop for TVs, books, or handymen.
🗣 Candidates will find out what others are saying first before taking the plunge into your company.
In our new world of work after a pandemic, employees – or potential employees – seek a culture of respect and appreciation.
💜 They want to find a place where they feel valued as a whole person, not just an output producer.
The data shows that people want more than a secure salary and benefits.
✅How about your company…when candidates ask your hiring managers about the culture, are they given a consistent, compelling, and confident answer?
If not, that’s okay and very common.
💡 This is one reason I created the Culture CARES model – an acronym for Commitment, Appreciation, Respect, Engagement, and Safety.
If you work in the health industry, your internal culture can be articulated through a simple, sticky, easy formula called CARES.
➽ If you are intentional about giving culture language to hiring managers, then you are steps ahead of your competitors. When you tie your mission to culture, then you hold standards of excellence for how your employees, patients, clients, and customers are treated.
That’s a formula for success.