Too Busy to Monitor Your Employer Brand Health? Here’s A 3-Step Audit
Simply Hired Staff
A healthy employer brand directly leads to better hires, which leads to increased productivity, better employee morale and lowered training and recruiting costs. However, many human resources leaders get lost in other priorities and fail to monitor and track their employer brand. They approve changes to the company’s digital presence without considering whether or not those changes might attract or repel qualified job candidates. Over time this can lead to a web presence that negatively affects your employer brand without intending to do so.
It’s important to do a frequent employer brand health audit to make sure your branding sends the correct message to prospective candidates. The first place to start is with the digital appearance of your company, including your overall website, careers page and mobile presentation. Here’s a look at how you can improve these brand assets to create a positive brand impression and attract more active and passive job candidates.
Is your website optimized for job seekers?
In an increasingly digital job hunt environment, candidates look to your website first to give them a feel for how your company treats its employees. You know that prospective employees will spend time on your website researching your company for their interview, so make sure that the website makes good use of their time. What information do you want them to have? What would you like them to ask questions about? Include possible conversation points such as recent press mentions, awards, acquisitions and goals to give prospective employees a full package of information.
Do your career pages offer enough information?
Don’t just list your job listings and call it a day. Use the careers page space to offer honest and accurate insight into your company culture. The goal is not to create a perfect presentation of the perfect company. The goal is to represent your company authentically so as to draw in the candidate who offers the best fit. If you present a “perfect” picture of a company that doesn’t exist, the candidate you recruit will be perfect for the company that doesn’t exist, too. Don’t exaggerate or make promises you don’t intend to fill, or it will reflect poorly on you when the candidate comes in for an interview or accepts the position.
Include photos of employees working and enjoying themselves, and keep the photos updated. If possible, include a photo feed or company hashtag that includes monthly or quarterly updates direct from employees. Also include details that will tell the powerful background story of your company and how it grew to be what it is. Added details such as historical infographics, team biographies and detailed benefits will all help to build a clear vision of what your company is about and who is the best fit for it.
Does mobile matter for your job seekers?
How prospective employees reach your website is also very important. Look at your website analytics to determine the source of your traffic. Are your careers pages viewed mostly from mobile, tablet or desktop? Are they visiting your careers page and dropping off your website entirely, or are they continuing to click through to the rest of your web pages? The answers to these questions will help you determine what information to include on each page and how to display it for the best possible candidate experience.
For example, consider your industry and the position for which you are hiring. If you find that a significant percentage of your traffic to a particular job listing arrives via mobile but then drops off, it is very important to assess the page for its mobile accessibility and, if necessary, redesign the page to be more accessible. If you find that a significant portion of your traffic for some job openings is from mobile but for other job pages the traffic is 100 percent desktop or tablet, it may indicate that the former pages are not accessible from a mobile device, and you are missing out on traffic.
As a hiring manager, you have a lot on your plate. However, taking care of your employer brand health can lead to more effective long-term hiring results. Auditing your employer brand health can reveal useful information that can help you create a more accurate and compelling view of your company through your website and mobile engagement.
