Employer branding: win them all over!

By Nathalie Pouillard & Maëlys De Santis

Published: November 12, 2024

According to a recent study by StepStone, 95% of candidates inquire about a company's reputation and employer brand before applying.

That's why communication and marketing have become an integral part of inbound recruiting.

In addition to attracting prospects and customers, the company must also succeed in attracting the best talent, who will then contribute to the company's development and longevity. employees, as well as those who will be recruited tomorrow (recruiter brand).

Does the success of a company depend on its human resources and the HR image it projects? Introduction to employer branding, corporate communication 3.0.

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Definition of employer branding: what is it?

Employer branding is a concept at the heart of HR marketing and HR communications strategy, designed to promote :

the company's image,
its organization,
its working conditions,
its missions,
its raison d'être,
its expertise,
its culture,
values, etc.

Its objectives are manifold. Consequently, employer branding influences a variety of stakeholders:

internally: employees, who must be kept loyal in order to retain talent within the company;
externally:
- potential candidates, in the recruitment or proactive search phase, who need to be attracted by an attractive image,
- various partners (subcontractors, freelancers, media, schools, etc.), who also play a role in building reputation, and therefore in recruitment.

The role of employer branding

To understand how employer branding manifests itself in concrete terms, we need to understand the three main components around which it revolves.

Employer identity

An employer's identity is made up of various concrete elements that constitute its DNA. These include

the products or services offered,
company history,
premises,
geographical area,
professions,
degree of innovation and use of new technologies, etc.

Added to this is a key and highly influential element of this identity: HR strategy. And with good reason: it includes many aspects likely to retain current employees and attract potential recruits:

salaries,
managerial practices,
development prospects,
the recruitment process,
integration of new employees, etc.

Internal image

In contrast to employer identity and human resources management practices, internal image is more a matter of perception. In other words, it is embodied in the mental image that current and former employees have of the company.

☝️ Internal image is therefore not directly a matter of the organization's will, even if concrete actions and the values conveyed help to improve employee perception.

External image

External image can be defined as public opinion of the company. This "judgment" is all the more important as it has an impact on potential candidates as well as potential partners.

☝️ External image is reflected in the company's reputation and e-reputation, which are largely the result of its communications strategy.

Why develop your employer brand?

Employee retention

Today's companies are faced with the growing volatility of employees, who are more and more likely to leave a job that doesn't correspond to their values and their quest for meaning... even for a lower-paying job! On the other hand, if employees feel good about their job and its reality matches their initial promises, they are less tempted to look elsewhere.

☝️ A good employer image also strengthens team and corporate spirit, which in turn boosts commitment and productivity.

Attracting talent

Companies with a strong employer brand save 43% on hiring costs. It also increases the number of highly qualified applicants by 50%.

PeopleDoc

These days, candidates find out more about a company before they apply. But with new practices and the omnipresence of digital technology, sharing experiences on the web is easy and plentiful... even the most negative.

What's more, in some sectors (IT, for example), the balance of power has shifted on the job market, as there is a real shortage of talent.

Working on your employer brand guarantees :

avoid a bad reputation or e-reputation ;
stand out from the competition;
attract the good graces of influencers involved in future recruitment success, such as schools or other companies.

Attracting customers

Last but not least, consumers are increasingly sensitive to the ethics of the companies they buy from.

A good employer brand therefore helps to reassure them in their purchasing decision.

Employer branding: 3 corporate examples

Here are three examples of HR communication around employer branding, to inspire you.

Example 1 - An article on Maddyness, about the decision taken by a hundred companies to extend the second parent's leave after the birth of a child.

Example 2 - A video on Michel et Augustin's recruitment campaign:

Example 3 - Another video highlighting Virgin Atlantic's human resources development:

How can you develop your employer brand and become more attractive?

Step 1: Define your objectives and personas

As with any strategy, an employer brand development process involves knowing precisely why you're doing it.

For example, do you want to :

Attract more candidates to facilitate recruitment?
Strengthen your reputation? Enhance your reputation?
Retain your best talent and reduce turnover?
Optimize your recruitment operations, particularly in terms of time and cost?

Once you've specified your objectives, it's time to prioritize them in order to determine which levers to activate as a priority and put them in place .

💡 A good HR marketing strategy also involves knowing who you want to appeal to. For example, when recruiting, we recommend defining your candidate persona, so you can use the right language elements and relevant arguments.

Step 2: Identify your strengths and weaknesses

Next, take the time to identify :

your strengths to develop and/or communicate;
your weaknesses to be improved.

To do this, use, for example, feedback from your employees to establish your Employee Value Proposition (EVP ), and feedback from your partners and customers to get an outside view.

💡 Some people talk about employer brand personalities: extrovert, ethical, sincere, open... which one do you have?

Step 3: Determine your acquisition and communication channels

What are the most relevant acquisition and communication channels for reaching the personas you've previously identified?

To (get) people talking about you, let's mention, for example:

LinkedIn,
trade shows,
blogs,
YouTube,
company website,
internal communications (such as the corporate social network ), etc.

☝️ Satisfied employees are proud to talk about the company, and become ambassadors for the employer brand.

They then convey a positive brand image, which is beneficial for :

attracting the best candidates, as well as customers ;
contribute to a good internal social climate, and thus to employee loyalty.

What's more, it's free HR communication!

Step 4: develop your strategy, in line with your objectives and values

To attract talent

Here are a few ways to attract talent, develop your recruiter brand and promote inbound recruiting:

build a career page on your website ;
carefully craft your job offers;
adopt innovative recruitment techniques;
don't lose sight of the candidate experience, and respond to each and every one of them. Recruiting tools make it possible to automate and personalize responses, and what an impact on your image!

To retain your talent

Discover a few actions you can take to reduce staff turnover:

adopt transparent HR communications;
develop your human capital, especially soft skills;
involve your employees in your decisions, especially when it comes to recruitment;
take care of your relational strategy and employee experience, from onboarding to offboarding.

According to Welcome to the Jungle, 1 in 5 employees leave their company within the first 3 months due to poor integration.

Step 5: Track your HR indicators

It's a good idea to track relevant HR indicators using a dashboard:

retention percentage,
staff turnover
absenteeism rate,
number of unsolicited applications received,
volume of visits to the career site,
cost per hire, etc.

In this way, you obtain reliable information on the effectiveness of your actions, on whether or not your objectives are being met, and are then in a position to adjust your HR strategy.

Step 6: Digitalize your HR tools and processes

Digitizing your HR tools and processes will enable you to deploy your employer brand more effectively, as well as your actions relating to the well-being of employees in the workplace and the user experience of applicants, thanks in particular to :

automating processes (e.g. recruitment),
optimizing employee follow-up and support,
improving HR communication,
compliance with regulations,
identifying strategic missions.

🏆 Success story: CHRU de Brest aims to attract rare talent in a highly competitive market. It was awarded the HR innovation prize thanks to its use of the Beetween digital recruitment tool. A fine example of employer branding conveying modern values, which makes all the difference.

Other examples of software:

Beehire the intuitive, easy-to-use software that facilitates your recruitment process. With over 60 functions, you can collect applications in just a few clicks, post your vacancies on over 200 job boards and gain in productivity with application management.
Flatchr, recruitment software, promotes employer branding by enabling you to respond to 100% of applicants via automatic, personalized emails, by facilitating appointments with candidates, and by offering an optimized, intuitive career site.
softgarden, HR recruitment and marketing software, gives a company's candidates and employees a voice via an evaluation system. It optimizes the candidate's career path and promotes the authenticity and transparency so sought-after by talent.
Softy: in addition to 360° recruitment management to save HR time while ensuring the relevance of their actions, it enables the creation of a personalized career site, with a presentation of the company, its teams and news.