Your Reputation as an Employer – More Important than Ever

Drake Editorial Team

In this world of upheaval, stress and change, how your company is perceived and will be viewed going forward is more important than ever.

The pandemic has decimated the labor market. Employees have reduced hours of work, and unprecedented layoffs have taken place. Unfortunately, some businesses may never recover. With high unemployment, more people will be in the marketplace looking for job opportunities. As doors reopen and daily business routines start up again, companies of all types and in all industries will be flooded with resumes and enquiries. You will need to be prepared.

Organizations, whether small, medium or large, may start with a reduced workforce and use temporary staff to fill gaps. However, as business ramps up, hiring additional staff to pursue aggressive growth may be a necessity. The skills and abilities of your current employees, and those you hire, will serve as crucial elements in getting your company back on its feet in the shortest time possible. You will need the best people on board. To hire the best, you will need to quickly attract the top performers that every company will be pursuing to help revive their business. This is why your reputation as an employer, your ‘employer brand’ is more important than ever. To be competitive, you need to innovate and shine.

In simple terms, your brand reputation combines everything that people recognize and remember about your business. It’s all about how potential candidates think and perceive your company and its history, your overall messaging, the quality of your products or services, your values and guarantees, your philanthropic efforts, and your leadership. This reputation is known as your primary brand and plays a vital role in attracting customers and increasing revenue. Your company, whether small or large, also has a secondary brand that speaks to how you are viewed as an employer. And it’s this secondary employer brand that enables your reputation to soar and attract talent. Or not.

In other words, is your company perceived as a great place to work?

Your employer brand reputation is affected by many things. A key brand influencer is your people. When they are happy, motivated, engaged and feel valued, they tell their friends. Word gets out. Your employees are powerful brand advocates.

Your reputation as an employer is also greatly affected by:

• the quality of the people you hire
• your onboarding and orientation processes that make a lasting impression
• the training and support you provide
• your motivation and engagement efforts
• advancement opportunities
• the transparency of your communications and overall messaging
• staff feedback channels
• your ability to retain great staff
• your culture

Revving a business up after challenging times will require doing everything with greater efficiency. Your existing staff will need to focus on the essentials to keep your business moving forward. And you will need to strategize your ‘people’ requirements for the short and long-term. Your staffing needs and projections are an important part of the recovery cycle. Throughout it all, you can’t lose sight of the need to keep boosting and protecting your employer brand reputation in everything you do.

When it comes to hiring additional staff, consider these key points:

• Will you have manpower and time to effectively handle the number of resumes that will pour in when you start your search? If applicants are not treated appropriately and responded to within a certain time frame, you will lose them, and your reputation could be harmed.
• Who will be available to develop specific competency-based behavioral interview questions? You need to hire the best the first time – only those who will be a strong asset to your team. From a cost and image perspective, turnover matters.
• Staff retention greatly affects your employer brand and your bottom line. A key recruiting challenge is differentiating candidates who do well in interviews from candidates who will do well in the actual position. Do you have the ability to conduct scientifically based behavioral assessments? They take the guesswork out of predicting performance.
• And let’s not forget about background and reference checks. This is no time to hire candidates who may not be who you think they are or who don’t have the skills you urgently require.

The whole hiring and vetting process can negatively affect your reputation if not done right and handled carefully. Your employer brand plays a crucial role in attracting top choice candidates. When you don’t have the time, staff, or expertise to handle the recruiting steps, outsourcing is an excellent solution. Why bother sorting through the clutter of applications when someone else can do it faster and more efficiently? You may also want to contract out other steps such as the important behavioral interviews, personality assessments, skills testing, or the time-consuming background and reference checks. When you need assistance, we can take care of the first step or any steps in the hiring process. Our unbundled recruitment services will help you focus on the critical things you need to get done right now while ensuring your employer brand image is protected.

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