The phrase employer brand is thrown around quite a lot by recruiters, marketers and anyone with an interest in digital. But what does it really mean and how can it possibly help you as a business attract the best people to join your team? 

The value proposition. 

It’s no secret that most developers, architects and campaign managers working with Adobe marketing technologies have in excess of seven job offers open to them at any point in time, so you might have noticed that we talk about brand positioning a fair bit. While throwing money at someone can often win over 70% of people, not all businesses can afford to do it. On top of that, while it might get you the bodies through the door initially, it’s not a great retention technique. 

This is where your brand comes into play, and more importantly the perceived value of the company, culture, progression, and projects that individuals could be working on. It goes without saying that you need to be offering a competitive salary and we’re by no means saying that employer branding can be in lieu of that, but knowing the demand for candidates in the market, making your company the most appealing offer could just swing it for you.  

What are your perks? 

There are a few key things that can help you win this war, first of all do you know if your company is an attractive place to work. Taking off those rose-tinted specs, you need to take a hard look at your business:  

• What’s your working environment like? 

• What are the typical hours, and can you do flexible or remote working?  

• What’s the culture? This could be company-wide or team-specific. 

• Are there perks to working for your company? If so, what are they? 

• What kind of clients / projects are you working on? 

All of these things will play a small part in helping a candidate choose whether they’re interested or not. For example, there will be some Adobe implementations that are clearly show-stoppers for an individual’s CV and regardless of pay, someone will want to jump at the chance of working on said project. Similarly, since Covid, some level of flexible or remote working is now almost expected across a lot of roles. Are you well-equipped to manage your team remotely or are you still an office-based establishment? 

If you’re struggling to see what’s a benefit and what’s the norm – some of the more agile start-ups have a lot of ‘perks’ as standard compared to larger outfits, give us a poke. We speak to companies day in, day out, so we have a good idea of what’s a head-turner and what’s expected. 

Spread the word. 

Once you’ve identified your value adds, you want to ensure you project this externally. Even if you’re using a recruitment consultancy to help you find the right people, candidates will still head to social and your website to check you out.  

Ask your marketing team to incorporate some of the brand value-adds into your comms on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Insta. There’s a lot you can shout about, from current employee testimonials to snaps from socials, or case studies of previous work – your social team will know which content is best placed across each channel. Similarly, if you have a careers page or about us area on your website, make sure some of these points are nestled in there somewhere – reassuring the candidates that you really are what you say you are. 

Brief your partner agency or internal recruitment team.  

Any recruitment consultant worth their salt will likely ask about your brand and proposition as they take a brief for a new role. If they don’t then you want to make sure you highlight these so when candidates are being approached on your behalf the consultant can paint an exciting picture of your brand before you’re even involved in the process. This’ll make the negotiations a little easier when it comes to it.