2021 Brand Image & Recruitment: Telling Your Story to Potential Employees

2021 has been a hard year for employees. As much as businesses had to shift gears in response to the pandemic, employees' lives were uprooted and their circumstances forced many to work in jobs where they were put into harm’s way. With some being furloughed indefinitely because they were deemed to be excess weight, some retaining their jobs but dealing with an increasingly impatient customer base, and many risking exposure to the deadly virus spreading across the U.S., several employees have elected to step back and re-evaluate their options.

This has led to what employers are calling a widespread “labor shortage,” and what economists are describing as “reallocation friction;” this is a much more accurate description of the phenomenon we’re observing. Workers are not leaving the workforce indefinitely; they are looking at the working landscape as it’s evolving and trying to decide where they want to fit into it.

The pandemic made people realize that they don’t want to work at jobs where they are overworked and unappreciated anymore. They want a job where they are valued, where they can put their skills to good use, where they are given benefits and higher pay in exchange for their hard work. If companies want to move past this period of employment scarcity and cynicism, they need to be able to tell their story and let employees know that their contributions will be valued should they come and work for them.

In short, they need an effective recruitment marketing campaign.

Recruitment Marketing and You: The Essentials

Your Message is Key: Define it, and Then Roll it Out

In order to have a strong recruitment marketing campaign, you have to understand what your employee value proposition is and be prepared to communicate it. An employee value proposition (EVP) can best be understood as what a company can offer an employee in exchange for what the employee provides – the skill they bring to the table, the hours they dedicate to the company, and the work they complete. If you’ve been struggling with getting candidates through the hiring process or keeping them satisfied after they’ve been hired, take a look at these tips:

● Do you provide benefits for your employees?

Take a moment and look at the benefits you provide employees and how they hold up to what your competitors may be providing. Are you paying your people at a bare minimum the average salary for their position? Are you providing paid health and dental insurance? The more you can add to your EVP, the more likely it is that you’ll attract employees.

●How effectively are those benefits being communicated by your current marketing strategy?

If you’ve put up postings on job boards, do they communicate your EVP in a clear, practical, attention-grabbing manner? Are you lighting up your social media with posts that highlight your corporate culture and how much your employees love working for you?

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, it might as well have not fallen. The same is true with job postings and your messaging. You could have top-tier benefits and all of your employees could be 100 percent satisfied with your company, but if you don’t get the news out in an effective manner, it doesn’t matter in the slightest.

Crafting a Coordinated Campaign

Now that you’ve done all of that, you have to spin everything together into a coordinated marketing campaign that focuses on reaching a specific demographic. In order to understand what your demographic may be, do some research on who might best fit the positions you’re looking to fill. Consider reaching out to a consulting firm that can help you tell your story, narrow down your target demographic, and plan out an effective campaign to reach them.

While the tips above constitute a basis for self-evaluation and might give you a starting point from which to promote your image, they are nowhere near exhaustive enough. Launching a campaign will involve the coordination of outreach events, text and email marketing movements, ad-buying campaigns on prominent websites, and the like – all focused on drawing the attention of your target demographic and promoting your brand’s image.

Brand Image is Everything

Would-be employees must be willing to believe, despite any bad experiences they may have had before, that your company is a place they can work and grow at. Taking the basic steps outlined above and then launching a more thorough, extensive recruitment marketing campaign will ensure your company’s good reputation reaches a veritable legion of potential employees.