Talent acquisition and retention are integral to the success of an organisation. So is the brand image of the employer. Here are the steps you need to take to ensure your startup hits the ground running.
Did you know that almost a quarter of startups fail because they do not have the right team? If you want to attract the best candidates for the job and improve your reach and outcomes, then you need to have a strong and appealing employer brand. However, before you build your brand, you need to have a clear idea of what your organisation represents. Once you have that in place, there are plenty of strategies you can use to boost your brand. Let us take a look at a few of them:
Create fun recruitment videos:
With the proliferation of digital technology, you do not exactly need professionals to shoot engagement recruitment videos. If you have the budget for it, use it by all means to shoot polished videos. However, if you are only getting started, don’t shy away from smartly done smartphone action. If you are going to go the route of a recruitment event, grab a few of them and shoot live footage and edit it into a fun music video to entice potential employees.
Make use of social media:
Social media platforms are not only effective, but most millennials use them to look for jobs. Make sure you devise a consistent game plan for the platforms you are looking to target. If anyone in the organisation is adept at social media, incentivise them to write copy for you. Social media is a great way to draw attention to your daily work culture in a fun and engaging way. It will help if you stay on the lookout for trending memes that resonate with the zeitgeist.
Host a casual recruitment event :
You do not really have to book a fancy hotel and offer free food to pull off a successful recruitment event. Ask candidates and they will tell you that a recruitment event is stressful enough as it is. Just defy convention and host an informal one at a local favourite bar or restaurant, and offer free snacks and drinks if you can afford to loosen the purse strings. Tell the candidates that there’s no need to come dressed in formal wear or prepare material, but make sure the overall vibe of the mixer matches that of your company’s culture. They will get to know you better and will appreciate your candor.
Establish a talent community:
A talent community is basically a list of candidates who have been interested in your company, have applied or even gone through the process of recruitment but somehow did not end up working in your organisation. Keep them close by connecting with them on a regular basis. Use a tracking system to keep track of the talent pool if you can. You can utilise the content you have created for recruitment video, social media and job descriptions when reaching out to the talent community.
Create a memorable experience for candidates:
If you want to stand out from your peers, then you need to make the candidate experience a memorable one. 75% of candidates tend to share negative reviews online, tarnishing your brand reputation, and over half of them end all relationship after going through a bad experience. Improve the experience by streamlining the interview process, keeping in touch with the applicants, and simplifying the application process. This will help build a strong network of applicants who will submit positive reviews online, which will help draw talented people to your company.
Encourage the involvement of your team members:
Your team has to get involved if you want to make your branding strategy a success. Do not pay for advertisements on social media. Instead, encourage your employees to share personalised content on their social media channels, but do not force them to do so. Just declare a contest with a prize reward to see who can come up with the most engaging and entertaining copy for social media. You can take it one step further by creating content that they can repurpose and use across platforms.
These are just a few ways in which you can improve the brand image of your organisation. It might not have been a priority for you so far, but hopefully you have an idea of the role it plays in attracting the right talent, helping your organisation grow faster.
The author is the director and creative strategist, CHAI Kreative and Return of Million Smile