Employment branding best way to reach untapped talent
Talk of an impending labour shortage is finally hitting home. Faced with a shrinking workforce that will soon be exacerbated by retiring baby boomers, top Canadian employers are combining traditional recruiting methods with marketing strategies to attract, hire and retain the right employees.
In this highly competitive labour market, the key to success will depend on a company’s ability to develop a compelling employment brand and market it effectively.
As the labour pool shrinks and unemployment levels continue to plunge, companies will need to look beyond active jobseekers and develop recruiting strategies that reach out to passive jobseekers and make an impression that resonates.
Employment branding is a recruiting strategy that has evolved to meet this need. It is the strategic approach of attaching a brand, be it visual, emotional or cultural, to an organization. A company’s employment brand is the impression the company makes on employees and jobseekers. Marketing it successfully is the same as marketing any other brand.
Building a brand that resonates
In the same way marketers talk about the unique features of their product, employers need to clearly understand the unique strengths of their organization. With these strengths in mind, employers can better communicate the selling points of the job and develop an employment brand that resonates with employees and jobseekers.
Edmonton-based EBA Engineering Consultants developed an employment brand so compelling it convinced recruits in the United Kingdom to relocate to Western Canada. The company developed a high-tech and high-touch promotional tool that differentiated EBA in a powerful way. A leather-bound album featured stunning natural photographs of Western Canada, testimonials from EBA employees who had been previously recruited from overseas and a USB key that linked candidates to a comprehensive informational website.
At the back of the album, a leather luggage tag was mounted as a call-to-action, inviting candidates to pack their bags and join the EBA family in Canada.
As this example illustrates, an employment brand that provides a compelling sense of differentiation can carry as much weight, if not more, than traditional recruiting tools like incentive packages. In a tight labour market, an employment brand that resonates with jobseekers will make the difference in winning the war for talent.
Targeting consumer segments
Effectively marketing an employment brand means learning to look at the labour pool the same way marketers look at consumers. Employers need to understand the different segments that make up the labour pool — from recent graduates to professionals contemplating retirement — and target their efforts to the segments that best fit the organization and the particular jobs they are trying to fill.
When McDonald’s Canada needed to fill a recent hiring shortfall, it chose to target young people. To do this, McDonald’s had to close the gap between young people’s perception of what it was like to work at McDonald’s and the reality. McDonald’s identified factors that were important to its youthful target, such as a sense of individuality and belonging.
McDonald’s then emphasized the attractive aspects of working at the chain, such as uniform choices, schedule flexibility and scholarships. McDonald’s saw a surge in the number of young people who recognized the company as a great place to work as a result.
The right media mix
No matter how compelling the employment brand, it’s ineffective if it doesn’t reach the right audience. The key is developing an integrated campaign that makes use of the right media mix, including television, billboards, print, online job sites and online advertising to reach the right potential employees, many of whom may not be actively looking for a job.
Southland Transportation, a school bus service provider in Calgary, is an example of a company that was able to target exactly the type of recruits it was looking for with an extremely effective multimedia campaign.
Faced with a 40-per-cent hiring increase for new school bus drivers, Southland had to overcome both an Alberta-wide labour shortage and a major new competitor.
Southland developed a campaign that illustrated key benefits of the job to different target groups over a variety of platforms. Radio ads highlighted the advantage to young mothers of bringing their child to work. Print ads featuring the slogan “plenty of time for hobbies like golfing and curling” were placed in local newspapers and specialty magazines directed at groups such as retired police officers.
Beyond traditional advertising media, Southland also hosted a free barbecue, spoke with the media about the campaign and went to community events, such as baby shows.
The results surpassed all of Southland’s expectations and led to a deluge of ideal applicants.
Putting it all together
The secret to an effective employment brand is differentiating an organization from the competition, targeting key benefits of the job to the right labour segments, and using multiple platforms to reach the right audiences.
Kim Peters is the vice-president of online classifieds at CanWest MediaWorks Inc., including working.com, Canada’s national job search network and presenter of the annual Employer of Choice Marketing Awards, which recognize excellence in employment branding.
In this highly competitive labour market, the key to success will depend on a company’s ability to develop a compelling employment brand and market it effectively.
As the labour pool shrinks and unemployment levels continue to plunge, companies will need to look beyond active jobseekers and develop recruiting strategies that reach out to passive jobseekers and make an impression that resonates.
Employment branding is a recruiting strategy that has evolved to meet this need. It is the strategic approach of attaching a brand, be it visual, emotional or cultural, to an organization. A company’s employment brand is the impression the company makes on employees and jobseekers. Marketing it successfully is the same as marketing any other brand.
Building a brand that resonates
In the same way marketers talk about the unique features of their product, employers need to clearly understand the unique strengths of their organization. With these strengths in mind, employers can better communicate the selling points of the job and develop an employment brand that resonates with employees and jobseekers.
Edmonton-based EBA Engineering Consultants developed an employment brand so compelling it convinced recruits in the United Kingdom to relocate to Western Canada. The company developed a high-tech and high-touch promotional tool that differentiated EBA in a powerful way. A leather-bound album featured stunning natural photographs of Western Canada, testimonials from EBA employees who had been previously recruited from overseas and a USB key that linked candidates to a comprehensive informational website.
At the back of the album, a leather luggage tag was mounted as a call-to-action, inviting candidates to pack their bags and join the EBA family in Canada.
As this example illustrates, an employment brand that provides a compelling sense of differentiation can carry as much weight, if not more, than traditional recruiting tools like incentive packages. In a tight labour market, an employment brand that resonates with jobseekers will make the difference in winning the war for talent.
Targeting consumer segments
Effectively marketing an employment brand means learning to look at the labour pool the same way marketers look at consumers. Employers need to understand the different segments that make up the labour pool — from recent graduates to professionals contemplating retirement — and target their efforts to the segments that best fit the organization and the particular jobs they are trying to fill.
When McDonald’s Canada needed to fill a recent hiring shortfall, it chose to target young people. To do this, McDonald’s had to close the gap between young people’s perception of what it was like to work at McDonald’s and the reality. McDonald’s identified factors that were important to its youthful target, such as a sense of individuality and belonging.
McDonald’s then emphasized the attractive aspects of working at the chain, such as uniform choices, schedule flexibility and scholarships. McDonald’s saw a surge in the number of young people who recognized the company as a great place to work as a result.
The right media mix
No matter how compelling the employment brand, it’s ineffective if it doesn’t reach the right audience. The key is developing an integrated campaign that makes use of the right media mix, including television, billboards, print, online job sites and online advertising to reach the right potential employees, many of whom may not be actively looking for a job.
Southland Transportation, a school bus service provider in Calgary, is an example of a company that was able to target exactly the type of recruits it was looking for with an extremely effective multimedia campaign.
Faced with a 40-per-cent hiring increase for new school bus drivers, Southland had to overcome both an Alberta-wide labour shortage and a major new competitor.
Southland developed a campaign that illustrated key benefits of the job to different target groups over a variety of platforms. Radio ads highlighted the advantage to young mothers of bringing their child to work. Print ads featuring the slogan “plenty of time for hobbies like golfing and curling” were placed in local newspapers and specialty magazines directed at groups such as retired police officers.
Beyond traditional advertising media, Southland also hosted a free barbecue, spoke with the media about the campaign and went to community events, such as baby shows.
The results surpassed all of Southland’s expectations and led to a deluge of ideal applicants.
Putting it all together
The secret to an effective employment brand is differentiating an organization from the competition, targeting key benefits of the job to the right labour segments, and using multiple platforms to reach the right audiences.
Kim Peters is the vice-president of online classifieds at CanWest MediaWorks Inc., including working.com, Canada’s national job search network and presenter of the annual Employer of Choice Marketing Awards, which recognize excellence in employment branding.
