Employer branding is an investment for sustainable growth

You have probably heard about it, and it seems to be something you should be doing.

Well, you are right: “Every organization has an employer brand. Whether you own it or not, your organization is influencing its employer brand 365 days a year.” (Minchington & Thorne, 2007)*

Employer branding is crucial for companies to attract talent not just due to clear demographic and sociological changes, but also due to growing digitalization.

In 2021 almost 7 in 10 companies reported talent shortage and hiring challenges.

This shortage results from our educational systems not producing enough people with the required skills and the amount of different industries moving towards the digital era.

Yes, also your company will become a software company sooner or later.

What happens if you are not investing in your Employer Brand?

Losing money

Each lost employee means less resources to achieve your business targets. According to a recent study by Glassdoor, investing in a strong employer brand reduces your employee turnover by as much as 28%. Furthermore, it takes time and money to hire new resources. Strong employer brands reduce cost by hire by 43%.

Reputation issues 

Today information is available online and it is shared quicker than ever. This also means that both good and bad news travel fast. When attracting new employees, note that 82% of job seekers consider the employer’s brand and reputation before applying to a job.

Less qualified candidates 

Employer Branding supports organizations in hiring the best person-organization-fits that enhances employee retention. Organizations investing in their employer brand efforts are three times more likely to make quality hires.

Employer Branding Challenges

Despite the urgent need to put more focus towards EB, there are still several companies struggling with employer branding.

Main challenges we have recognized include:

• Unknown employer – if IT talents do not see a company as a digital employer, the company does not exist for potential employees.

• Poor differentiation and offering – the company is not unique or compelling enough to the target audience.

• Replacement recruitments – external messaging is not aligned with internal messaging, and recruitment efforts are only to patch the employee turnover, not growing the organization.

• New company – focusing on building the employer brand from the start gives a solid ground for efficient recruitments and growth. Unfortunately, new companies often have the idea, vision and money, but nobody working on to achieve the goals.

An Employer Branding consultant can help you to get started

Employer branding is strategic work that takes time to build. Similar to consumer brands. Today all companies (regardless of size) can “yell” their messages online. In this game, luck is not enough but rather well-thought, compelling and authentic messaging can bring you results when your target audience is steadily exposed to these messages in the right place and time.

A Talented Employer Branding Consultant has a strategic eye, excellent (international level) project management skills as well as lots of creativity. Our consultants will work as an integral part of your team, carrying out and developing employer branding work and supporting the hiring managers. Rooted in the IT industry, our consultants will own your story and employer brand as their own and yet share their knowledge and understanding of IT recruitment and employer branding with your team.

Talented supports companies’ organic growth by developing employee experiences and employer brands with sustainable solutions. Drop us a line if you’d like to know how we could help you to stay competitive in the long run. We are here to help you utilize the power of your employer brand and attract the best IT professionals with minimum effort and cost, and reap the rewards of high employee retention.

Read more about our EB solutions

*Minchington, B., & Thorne, K. (2007). Measuring the effectiveness of your employer brand. Human Resources Magazine, 12(4), 14-16.

In the future, every company will be a software company. To prosper in the digital future, winning the talent war is a paramount. That means succeeding across the entire employee lifecycle – attracting, recruiting and retaining the best IT professionals. Talented helps organizations to do just that through Talent Acquisition, Employer Branding and building winning Employee Experiences.