Cultivate your employer brand and witness results

Celeste Sirin

However, there is an increasing number of progressive companies acknowledging that they still have a dire need for scarce skills within their respective industry sectors and for them to compete for talent employer branding is extremely necessary.

The turnout at the first Employer Branding Masterclass held in Cape Town in March 2015 attracted a fantastic delegation representing a cross-spectrum of industries. The masterclass allowed enthusiasts the opportunity to think like marketers, giving them the creative space outside of their demanding daily work schedules, to brainstorm, highlight challenges and share solutions.

Employer-branding strategies

It became evident that some companies were at different stages of building their employer branding strategies and unique employer value proposition. In addition to this, whilst some delegates' recruitment challenges in the scarce skills categories were immediately eminent, we addressed innovative methods of short-term, external employer branding attraction initiatives.

Delegates found it most beneficial with being able to shift the channel vision of focusing solely on their organisation. This inspired knowledge sharing which provided them with great insights and lessons to be learnt.

It was evident that there was a common thread of challenges woven through our two-day agenda, comparative to what our global counterparts are experiencing. As we moved through our agenda, delegates could resonate with participants as they experienced a lot of mutual ground, not only through the implementation of their talent attraction strategies, but the employee engagement and retention factor/aspect throughout the lifecycle of their workforce."

Highlights

• The importance of one unified brand: The disconnect between the consumer and employer brand to make up one powerful unified brand and the endless opportunities being missed was very apparent. Whilst the brand reputation within the consumer market might be very strong, organisations' employer brand might be non-existent or lagging behind the consumer brand. Companies are still relying heavily on the historic usage and projection of their product/service brand in order to educate and attract talent. Delegates identified with the dire need to close the gap between their HR and Marketing and Communications Departments with a view to jointly working towards capitalising on potential missed opportunities.

• A compelling (Employer Value Proposition) EVP necessitates talent attraction - especially with scarce skills: Each company identified with at least one scarce skill, be it chief engineers, pathologists, a wine maker or regional sales managers, where they acknowledged that they would continue with their ongoing resourcing battle and retention factor until they packaged their competitive and compelling employer value proposition.

• Strong alignment of product brand to consumer brand: It was interesting to witness the joining and interaction of like-minded people as the delegates started drawing thought-provoking analogies between a 'packaged product' (box of cereal) versus a 'packaged company value proposition'. Highlighting the ingredients one would find listed on the package of a product was indifferent to the unique selling points employers would advertise/market when seeking out talent in the candidate market. Upon candidates joining the company does the employer brand promise live up to the expectations that the prospective candidate bought into? Alternatively, once the candidate has joined the company and is on board, does the new employee experience, taste and consume a product unlike the impressionable ingredients that were promised at the forefront?

• Social Media very necessary in talent attraction: Methodologies and the proactive usage of various channels and tools towards new-generation recruitment were discussed. There was a strong admittance that in order to actively tap into the passive candidate market, a concerted effort needed to be made towards utilising electronic and social media channels if they wanted to win as well as not lose talent to their competitors.

• Lack of recognition from CEO and EXCO: Companies are still experiencing the ongoing challenge when it comes to justifying and motivating the expense associated with implementing an Employer Branding Strategy, with the CEO and EXCO. With this in mind, whilst there was a concern, there was equally an interest in how best to measure and motivate one's return on investment when it came to employer branding.

The role players, stakeholders and influencers in establishing your employer brand, the importance and benefits of a strong internal employee brand and pitfalls and tips on rolling out an employer branding strategy were some of the additional exciting agenda items which we covered. With the roll-out of the second of our series of Employer Branding Masterclasses nationally, we are hoping to again attract a following of leaders that are open to experiencing the importance of employer branding and the positive impact it can have on company reputation and profitability.

Listen to what delegates had to say:

Next Masterclass

The forthcoming Employeer Branding Masteclass will take place on the following dates:

Cape Town: 21 & 22 July 2015
(Two Oceans Aquarium)

Gauteng: 20 & 21 August 2015
(Venue to be confirmed)

KwaZulu-Natal: 17 & 18 September 2015

For more information and to register, go to www.employerbrandingsa.co.za