As an employer, your hiring process serves as the first impression applicants have about your business. It plays a key role in forming your brand image in the applicant’s mind. If you want to navigate a labor shortage and bring in top talent, you need to learn effective ways to improve your company’s hiring process.

What Is an Employment Brand? 

An employment brand is similar to your overall company brand, but it specifically targets how you are perceived by applicants, potential applicants, and employees. When building an employment brand, you may want to focus on a range of different qualities.

• Scheduling flexibility and remote options
• Being a family-owned business or having a family-friendly environment
• Company benefits
• Opportunities for career advancement
• Team atmosphere 
• Company values and mission

Why Does Your Employment Brand Matter? 

Your employment brand is the primary quality that attracts workers to your company. Employees want to find a great place to work. When employees look for a company, they want more than just a salary and benefits. They want to achieve a better work-life balance, improve their personal well-being, be a part of an inclusive environment, and achieve better stability.

Employers have long known that workers who match their brand and mission are more likely to stay at their company. Your employment brand matters because it conveys who you are to the applicant. In turn, this ensures that you’re bringing in applicants who match your company’s ethos. By improving your employment brand, you can enjoy the following benefits.

• Better retention rates
• Improved employee morale
• Easier experience attracting talent
• More talented employees
• Lower hiring costs

The Impact of Your Hiring Process on Your Employment Brand

Your hiring process plays a direct role in building and marketing your employer brand. This is especially true for small businesses. For many applicants, the hiring process may be the first time they interact with your company. If the process is disorganized or generic, then that will be the impression that employees receive. 

First impressions matter. Once someone has received a first impression, it takes multiple repeated encounters to change their mind. When it comes to your hiring process, you might not have the time or opportunities necessary to change an applicant’s mind about your brand.

The hiring process workers go through will form the basis of what they think of your business. In turn, this impacts how long they stay at your company, their job satisfaction, and their overall morale. A better hiring process leads to better applicants and more productive hires. In fact, Gallup has found that being able to hire the top 20% of workers boosts your profitability by 30% and drops your turnover by 10%. 

All of these factors can impact how productive and profitable your business is. By carefully honing your hiring process, you can build a better employment brand and give your company a competitive edge. 

Ways You Can Improve Your Hiring Process 

If your hiring process needs an update, there are a few simple things you can do to get started. From improving your application process to customizing your job posts, the following steps can boost your hiring process and employment brand.  

Make Your Application Process Fast and Simple

Modern hiring processes tend to be incredibly slow and cumbersome. They’re also lacking in transparency. Hundreds of people often apply for jobs on Indeed, LinkedIn, and similar job posting websites. Only a fraction of these people ever receive an interview, and the remainder are left trying to guess if they’ll be chosen. 

By making your hiring process fast and transparent, you can improve your employment brand. Even if the individual isn’t hired by your company, they’ll still leave the process with a positive impression of your business. Later on, they’ll be more likely to apply for a future job, buy your products, or recommend your company as an employer to their friends.

Respond to Applicants

One way you can create a transparent, applicant-friendly hiring process is to respond to all of your applicants. Even if the only response is a simple notification that the worker hasn’t made it to the next level of hiring, it is still a better response than applicants typically receive. Additionally, you should send out follow-up emails if applicants aren’t selected after an interview.

Timely responses are also incredibly important for the applicants you do end up hiring. Applicants generally apply for multiple jobs at the same time. If top applicants don’t know how long your hiring process will take or if they are in the running for a position, they may take other job offers first.

Be Clear and Aboveboard 

For your hiring process to be successful, focus on being as clear and aboveboard as possible. Let applicants know what to expect by being clear in your job postings. Don’t create job descriptions and requirements that take up multiple pages. Instead, ask for the qualities you genuinely need and make a concise job description.  

Skip Generic Job Posts

You don’t want to use generic, cookie-cutter job descriptions. Generic descriptions cause companies to miss out on top applicants. Instead, create concise, accurate details when writing out the job description.

Show What Sets You Apart

Employment branding is the same as branding a product. Potential applicants won’t know you have a family-run culture or ownership benefits unless you tell them. When creating a job post, incorporate details about your employment brand and why your company is unique. You can also use social media posts, the company website, job sites, and employee interviews to help build your employment brand.

Discuss Your Benefits

Unless you tell them, applicants and employees won’t know about the benefits of working for your company. In addition to bringing up important on-the-job benefits, you should also discuss values, mission, and other attributes that bring workers to your company. For example, a company that’s devoted to building a better EV battery might advertise its commitment to the environment. 

Get Feedback

The best way to find out about how your hiring process is doing is to get feedback. You can ask employees in informal chats or formal surveys about the hiring process. Additionally, you can request feedback about your organization’s employment brand so that you know which aspects need to be improved. 

Learn More About Building Your Company’s Brand

From hiring processes to onboarding materials, there are many ways you can improve your employment brand. Once you’ve built your brand, online marketing methods, like social media and your company website, can help you market it to potential employees and customers. With the right employment brand, you can hire top talent for your company. 

To learn more about employment branding, reach out to our team of small business HR and payroll experts today.