Whether organisations are consciously aware of it or not, every business has an employer brand. Employer branding encompasses how candidates perceive your organisation. Your reputation as an employer. Your values, culture and employee experience.
At one time, organisations weren’t heavily invested in shaping this perception. But times have changed. In the continual battle for talent, businesses are recognising how a strategic approach to branding can boost the entire employee lifecycle – and many RPOs are moving fast to meet this demand.
So what exactly should you expect from an RPO provider?
Defining employer branding
Think of employer branding as your means to create and maintain your company’s reputation. It typically involves breaking down elements like your mission, cultural differentiators and current employee experiences to attract, recruit and retain top talent.
The trick is defining the heart of your organisation – your USP and ethos – and aligning it with the candidates you want to attract.
A new era of recruitment marketing
In a landscape of crowded markets and skills shortages, the need to stand out is more important than ever. Factor in evolving candidate preferences, and it’s clear that the recruitment strategies of the past are no longer viable.
With an urgent need to build trust and authenticity, organisations are recognising just how critical employer branding is to unlocking long-term revenue. This has led many RPOs to adapt their services accordingly – but not all of them are equipped with the expertise clients need.
Providers that are building employer branding into their talent solutions are the ones to watch. It’s these kinds of RPOs that take the time to understand an organisation’s long-term resourcing plan, and offer employer branding strategies as the market changes.
81% of respondents reported taking action to improve employer brand within their organisation in the last year.
The benefits of employer branding
When implemented as part of an RPO solution, employer branding can enhance your influence and credibility, helping you gain an advantage over your competitors.
Here’s a breakdown of the key benefits:
Attract top talent
Your employer brand not only provides the basis for reaching out to talent directly, but also helps reach passive candidates who aren’t actively job hunting. Using internal and external research to inform your brand, you’ll be able to communicate consistently across your channels to attract the right people.
Establish market positioning
Once you’ve established your organisation as a magnet for attracting talent, you can develop clear market positioning to enhance your brand further. As this becomes more defined over time, you’ll be able to actively increase your brand value and market share.
Reduce costs
At a time when budgets are tight, employer branding can build a solid path towards sustained growth. The best providers will be able to strike a balance between filling niche, hard-to-fill roles with building and adapting your employer brand for the long term, giving you a commercial edge.
Improve retention
Authentic organisations are the ones that get people to stay. If your employer brand is aligned with your current employee experience, there are no hidden surprises for candidates, which means they’re more likely to stick around. It’s about keeping the promises you’ve made to ensure people feel valued, engaged and connected to your organisation.
What strategies should your RPO be using?
Your RPO should help you develop, build, maintain and improve your employer brand. Proactive providers will do this by:
Creating and communicating a strong EVP (Employee Value Proposition)
Armed with market insights and years of experience, a capable RPO will provide more than a few words about your company culture. They will be able to create an EVP that excites existing team members and entices new ones by creating an authentic picture of what it’s like to work within your organisation.
Experienced providers will consider:
- Emotional drivers
- Purpose and learning opportunities for employees
- Your company mission, values and goals
- Compensation
- Flexible/remote working options
All of which will help clients change how they hire.
Focusing on quality candidate experiences
It’s critical for your employer brand to positively impact every stage of the candidate journey. Otherwise, you’re in danger of losing the best candidates to your competitors.
A strategic RPO will work in partnership with your organisation to establish clear, transparent and consistent communication with your candidates. This is delivered through enticing job descriptions, clear timelines for each stage of the recruitment process, and feedback after interviews – even for unsuccessful candidates.
Meaningful DEI initiatives
For progressive organisations, DEI isn’t just a policy to state. It’s a key driver in how organisations attract, recruit and onboard candidates, and is seamlessly embedded into an employer brand.
Not every RPO will have the knowledge and experience to do this successfully. But those who appreciate DEI and have a level of sophistication in their branding and marketing are well-placed to offer both strategy and implementation.
Measuring and improving performance
Data-focused RPOs will be able to track the right metrics to help you refine your recruiting process. Using clear KPIs such as time-to-fill, cost-per-hire and quality-of-hire, your provider will identify what’s working, what isn’t, and how you can continually improve your employer brand.
RPOs using predictive analytics can go one step further. They’ll utilise historic data to forecast future hiring needs, helping you make informed decisions on your recruitment marketing strategies.
Conclusion
A lax approach to employer branding no longer cuts it. As candidates reassert their focus on authenticity and meaningful work, organisations can’t afford to miss out on opportunities to build rapport with talent.
By communicating who you are as a company, you can attract the right people for your roles while boosting retention rates. Doing this relies on an RPO provider who has the capabilities to create a strong EVP and deliver personal candidate experiences, as well as drive DEI and improvement efforts forward. Less of a traditional, arms-length outsourcer, more of a strategic partner who’s invested in your future growth.
