In the following video transcript, Konstanty Sliwowski, the founder of Caissa Global Recruitment, talks about employer branding. He explains how to retain key players and attract the right candidates to stand out in the market. You can read the video transcript below:
Earlier this week, I was in touch with a Chief Technology Officer I know. And our conversation came to the topic of employer branding. He took a pause and said after a moment,
“You know, employer branding often-times is not getting the attention it deserves, but I am not sure, though, how many companies are looking to invest in this area currently.”
He then proceeded to explain why.
His feeling was that there are two types of companies currently:
- those who are trying to cut costs and lay off people and
- those who are benefiting from this and hiring strong.
To him, clearly, the first type of company would not invest their budget into their employer brand and the second type of company had no reason to do so because they don’t seem to have too much trouble finding candidates. On the face of it, this is a fair assessment.
I do, however, disagree with this point of view because it focuses on the immediate rather than strategic.
Let’s start with the first company: The one that is cutting costs and laying off people. Sure, this is far from an ideal time to be investing a serious budget into anything, but here is the thing. Unless you as a business are shutting completely, retaining your A-players, your business-critical staff, should be a priority. Without them, your business goes out of business.
- How you treat them
- How you communicate the reasons for them to continue logging into work every day
- How you support them as a business both personally and professionally
This all will help you retain them. And in the future, this empathetic and fair treatment will pay dividends - your business will be recommended as the one that did right, the one that was fair in tough times, the one you want to work with, buy from and work at.
This is your employer brand - one crafted and molded through challenges and one that defines you as an employer of choice once we emerge from this crisis.
As to the second company type benefiting from multiple applications and hiring strong. I am sorry to tell you, but these applications you are getting (sometimes 100’s of them) are also landing in the inbox of every other company with the same keywords in their job description.
Many of these applications are one click applications enabled by job boards or even automation tools (someone wrote an automation tool to apply to jobs for them).
Needless to say, it is easy to apply. Many candidates feel that making more applications improves their chances of landing a job. So they keep clicking away.
And it is precisely because of this, you, as an organization hiring in this climate, need to make sure you stand out. You have a key position to fill. You want to hire someone for it that will not only have the skills but also be engaged with your business, your brand as an employer, and fit into your culture.
Defining your employer brand is what will enable you to stand out, and instead of inviting more applications for you to sift through, you will invite more of THE RIGHT applications.
Remember this. Employer brand is the experience - not only candidate experience but employee experience. It is what keeps things together and focused in bad times and growing in the right direction in good times.
In summary, if you want to invest in employer branding, you must:
- Focus on retaining the employees who are extremely crucial for your business
- Ensure that you explain your situation clearly, to retain them even when laid off
- Executive Recruitment should choose applications and tools sparingly, preventing duplicate applications.
- Ensure that your recruitment process or the process of the recruitment agency is aligned with your employer brand, garnering the right candidates with
- Create a memorable experience for the candidates and the employees, to move in the right direction
Do you want to stand out and get the best talent? Are you looking for a new principal engineer job? Are you searching for the best recruitment agency to find you a suitable position? Contact us with your concerns, and we’ll be happy to guide you about the Berlin Market.
