Introduction: Employer Branding is not a Marketing Gimmick anymore

In today's competitive job market, employer branding has become an essential strategy for companies looking to attract and retain top talent. Employer (talent) branding is the way a company presents itself to potential employees, and it encompasses everything from the company's values and culture to its reputation and social media presence. Employer branding is no longer just a marketing tool. It's now a critical component of a company's talent acquisition strategy. Organizations that invest in their employer brand can attract more qualified candidates, reduce turnover rates, and improve their overall reputation as a desirable place to work.

Strong employer branding leads to better hiring and talent retention

A survey by LinkedIn found that 71% of Indian professionals consider employer brand when applying for a job, and 69% said that a company's reputation plays a critical role in their decision to accept a job offer. Another report by Linkedin states that companies that invest in employer branding experience a 28% decrease in staff turnover, a 50% cost-per-hire reduction, 50% more qualified applicants, and 1-2x faster time to hire.

A Glassdoor survey revealed that 92% of employees are willing to switch jobs without a salary increment, provided they can work for a company with a good reputation. Post COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of employer branding has increased to create a sense of connection and engagement among employees, especially those working remotely.Companies have caught up with the increasing need to build a strong employer brand, and HRs have taken the onus into their hands across the spectrum.

Companies are scaling up investments to build a strong talent brand

According to a report by People Matters, companies in India are increasingly investing in employer branding to attract top talent. In 2022, more than 60% of employers surveyed planned to increase their employer branding budget by more than 25%. The technology sector in India is particularly competitive when it comes to employer branding. Companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro are among the top employers in the country, and they invest heavily in building their employer brands to attract top talent.

 

This article also discusses how employer branding will add distinctive advantages in talent acquisition and what steps can help you plan an effective employer branding strategy for FY'24.

 

Employer Branding initiatives that can be a Game Changer during hiring

Employer branding can massively improve your talent acquisition efforts. It has become a distinct advantage in today's day and age due to various factors. Here are some hooks to help you build the employer branding strategy to attract and retain great talent. 

1. Showcase your company values and culture: By showcasing their unique company culture, values, & employee experience, companies can create a more positive and attractive image for potential employees. A LinkedIn report says this leads to a more engaged and motivated workforce, which can help drive business success.

2. Prioritizing & Improving the Hiring Experience: Many companies still have boring, lengthy, and redundant interview processes and structures in place, which can be discouraging for candidates. A survey revealed that a significant majority of skilled individuals, ranging from 80 to 90 percent, believe that their perception of a job or organization can be swayed by the quality of their interactions with the company during the recruitment process, either positively or negatively. Learn how to efficiently improve your hiring process as the trend demands Talent Optimization to find the best candidates for your company.

"Increased focus is being pointed to enhancing the job applicant's experience with the entire recruitment process. Be it via gamification or bots to simplify communications, recruiters and hiring managers have shifted their energies and resources to making the hiring process flawless when engaging their candidates," explains Sachin Alug, CEO of NLB Services, in an interview with People Matters.

Hence creating a positive perception of your organization can improve communication, increase response rates, and reduce candidate drop-off rates.

3. Flexi-working norms can help increase your talent pool: Hybrid and remote workplaces create spaces with new-age working leverages like no-leave policies, flexible timings, and more.

The latest survey by Career Builders reveals that 68% of candidates believe that the way a company treats the candidates during recruitment will be the same as the company treats its employees.

Good talent has a lot of options to choose from, and their perception of your brand defines their interest in applying for your open positions. Link Humans report says that 88% of millennials believe that being part of the right company culture is very important.

How to use new-age technology to enhance employer brand?

From virtual reality to artificial intelligence to gamification, companies are leveraging technology to create unique candidate experiences during the hiring and interview process.

The latest survey by People Matters for 2023 Recruitment Outlook emphasizes that in addition to traditional job boards, employers are interested in exploring newer solutions like candidate relationship management and talent analytics. The survey predicts a significant adoption rate of advanced recruitment technologies in the next year, such as conversational tools like chatbots and gamified & interactive assessment tools like games and augmented reality platforms.

Here are some ways to use technology to build a differentiated and meaningful employer brand.

Virtual Reality

VR is an immersive technology that allows candidates to experience a digital environment as if they were actually there.Marriott International created a virtual reality hotel tour to showcase their properties and hotel jobs to potential candidates. Candidates could explore the hotel, interact with employees, and even simulate tasks. By using VR, Marriott could give candidates a realistic preview of the job and attract candidates who are the right fit for the role. A similar use case helped Walmart attract good-fit candidates and reduce turnover rates.

Generative AI

Companies use AI to personalize the candidate experience and streamline the recruitment process. With AI, companies can automate the screening process, analyze resumes, and conduct initial interviews. Forbes reports that 24% of companies have begun using AI for recruitment, and 56% of managers will adopt automated technology very soon.

Unilever is using AI to screen candidates' resumes for its graduate recruitment program, who are then invited to complete a video interview. This has allowed Unilever to reduce the time it takes to screen candidates, freeing up recruiters to focus on other aspects of the recruitment process. Now, the next-gen AI is helping recruiters understand candidates' skills and competencies directly and help identify the right match for a specific role.

Gamification

Gamification is helping recruiters to improve candidate engagement. It's making the process more engaging and interactive and efficiently assessing skills and competencies.

With the use of game-based assessments like Unberry, candidates are more likely to be engaged and motivated to complete the application process. It's resulting in far superior candidate experience, higher completion rates, and more qualified candidates.

A latest report showed that 78% of surveyed people said that gamification in recruiting would make a company or position more desirable to them. Candidates with a positive experience are more likely to recommend the company to others and apply for future job opportunities.

For example, Deloitte created a gamified assessment tool called "The Deloitte Leadership Academy Game." It's moving away from self-reporting and real-time assessing candidates on problem-solving skills, decision-making, leadership, and other critical competencies. McKinsey and Unilever also use game-based tools to assess talent.

Deep Tech and Talent Intelligence Tools

Use of talent intelligence tools based on deep tech is helping objectively assess talent and know them better right at the start of the hiring funnel. It's allowing companies to assess candidates' skills and competencies without bias. 

New-age tools enable testing a candidate's problem-solving skills, critical thinking, learning agility, ambiguity tolerance, and a host of modern workplace competencies. 

Deep-tech based talent intelligence can help you know a candidate in depth - their cognition, communication skills (speaking and writing skills), domain knowledge and functional skills (using coding simulators), and even behavioral competencies. These in-depth insights are impacting the talent landscape across hiring, internal team mobility, and learning & development (L&D) initiatives.

In addition, these tools help to identify the most qualified candidates and reduce the time and resources needed for screening and interviews by leveraging talent insights.

Deep tech now enables accurate evaluation of soft skills like communication, empathy, and emotional intelligence. This gives recruiters a more comprehensive view of candidates' suitability for a specific role and helps them make more informed hiring decisions.

People Matters Workplace Trends 2022 report suggests that HR executives are adopting technological tools that enable them to observe and trace their employee's actions to boost their efficiency.

Way Forward

Employer branding is a must for companies to attract and retain top talent in today's candidate-first job market. By showcasing their unique company culture and values, companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors and create a more attractive and engaging employee experience. Companies are also implementing new-age solutions and tools that transform the candidate and employee experience using game technology and immersive experiences.

Unberry is one such new-age platform that uses path-breaking technology to assess talent across their functional skills, communication, cognition, and behavioral parameters. It's building meaningful and holistic talent intelligence along with brilliant candidate experience. For example, using generative AI, Unberry simulates a live contact center environment. It enables companies to see how a candidate handles a customer query and evaluates the efficacy of their responses.

Utilizing talent intelligence can help organizations make more informed decisions around hiring, internal team mobility, and focus on learning and development , leading to a more engaged and productive workforce. These positive associations can lead to better retention rates, higher engagement levels, and, ultimately, better business outcomes.