Having a brand as an employer has never been as important, with up to a staggering 80% of those tasked with hiring talent suggesting that employer branding has a direct impact on their ability to do their job. This has been underlined with bodies such as Best Companies Limited recognising the achievements of brands like InTouch Gaming as being one of the best companies to work for. As a result of this, we have seen in excess of 59% of employers believing that employer branding is essential to the overall HR strategy.
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This has led to a natural synergy between HR and Marketing teams, who are now actively collaborating in this area. The two departments see this as a common goal, and in practice it has become vital that they work together, rather than one taking the lead and risking alienating the other. So in light of this, we have taken the liberty of listing a few aspects that help make this union between HR and Marketing as effective as possible in building a solid employer brand.
One of the first things to put in place is communication. Communication is key in all areas of business, but HR and Marketing communicating properly will be crucial to building an employer brand. There should, for example, be agreement over the goals which need to be achieved. The two departments may have differing goals to begin with, but through good communication, there will be common objectives that can be agreed on before moving forward.
With social media playing a huge role in the daily lives of so many of us, including businesses, it has become the ideal way to help build as well as promote an employer brand. While many would suggest Marketing teams are the experts here, it’s important that HR bring their expertise to the table, possibly working with Marketing to draw up a code of conduct when it comes to sharing content and/or advertising vacancies.
Furthermore, considering social media is all about content these days, it’s another area where HR and Marketing can work together on an employer brand. The ideal working relationship here would be for the HR team to be the ones coming up with bulk of ideas, while the Marketing team are the ones who are best qualified to ultimately turn them into reality. Blogs and video content could be utilised effectively, once there is smooth working relationship between the two departments.
One of the finest ways to show off your employer brand is to develop an employer page on the company website, or to set up a standalone careers site for people to visit. This will be the place where potential employees can visit to check out existing vacancies, as well as being able to garner some knowledge about the company when it comes recruitment, employment and career paths.
This is another area where HR and Marketing co-operation is vital. Human Resources are the ones with the knowledge surrounding employment, while Marketing is best qualified to bring it all to life through design, copyrighting, and potentially fine tuning the existing site or even designing a new one. The link to any potential new careers website would need to be seamless however, but that should be a piece of cake for any experienced marketing professionals in this day and age.
It is no doubt that employer branding is increasingly recognised as being an essential ingredient in the long term success of any business. And so it is quite fortunate that two departments can come together to make this goal a reality, as long as there is that willingness to compromise and work together.
