How to Audit Your Employer Brand
When we advise our readers and customers to focus on their employer brands, they often have a lot of questions.
“What kinds of things should we be paying attention to?” they ask. “How do we actually perform an audit of our employer brand?”
Given that so many people have questions about how to improve their employer brands, we thought it would be a good idea to give out some guidance. Today, we’re specifically talking about auditing your current employer brand – after all, you can’t improve your brand unless you know what’s wrong with it.
Does Your Employer Brand Miss the Mark?
In 2015, employer branding became a hot topic for HR and talent acquisition: As the economy has continued to improve, employer branding has become more and more important. Now that top candidates have so many options, organizations need to use their employer brands to capture talent’s attention.
Not sure if your employer brand is really doing everything it can to attract great candidates? Take a look at these components of your branding strategy and determine whether or not they’re on target:
1. Your Website
How does your company website present your organization? What is the messaging and what kind of audience does it reach? These are critical questions to ask when determining whether or not your employer branding is working the way you want it to.
Employer branding is messaging that you can control, and the company website is a great place to start – but it’s also easy to mess up.
Consider whether or not your website adequately represents your team. Are there any friendly, human faces on the site at all? How are your open positions presented? Does the site explain what the culture is like? Is the site authentic? Is it easy to navigate?
2. Company News and Press
Do stories about your organization in the media tell the same story that your website tells? Are they at odds?
Google your company to see how it’s doing in the press. The stories being told about your organization will shape the thoughts and perspectives of your candidates. Depending on what the media is saying about your company, this could be a good or bad thing.
3. Your Job Postings
Are your job advertisements specific and engaging, or are they vague and banal? Do you mention a “good” company culture without providing specifics? Is your talent acquisition team available to answer candidate questions – and is the team’s contact information presented in the advertisement?
In short: How your job advertisements present the company and its open roles can greatly help – or greatly hinder – your employer branding efforts.
4. Online Reviews of the Company
Sites like Glassdoor post reviews from real employees about what life is like inside a company. Is your organization on Glassdoor or any similar sites? If so, how is the company doing?
Do employee reviews paint a rosy picture of life in your office, or do they make your organization look like an absolute nightmare?
Use these online reviews to guide your talent strategies. If the reviews are good, then that’s great – keep doing what you’re doing. If the reviews are poor, on the other hand, than take notice of what employees are unhappy about. Then, respond these concerns. As your organization does more to address employee concerns, you’ll see fewer and fewer negative reviews popping up.
5. Your Candidate Experience
A lot of organizations make mistakes in the realm of candidate experience. Many of the candidates we speak to complain about things like a lack of information, no transparency, poor communication, overly complicated application processes, and more.
The candidate experience is critical to your employer branding. No matter how good your organization looks, a poor candidate experience will drive talent away in droves. Make sure that your candidate experience is efficient and convenient.
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You can only improve your employer brand if you know what isn’t working. Start by auditing your brand: Take a look at these critical components of your strategy and determine what’s running smoothly and what needs a tune-up.