If You Build It, They Will Come: The New Role of Employer Brand Candidate Preferences, Behaviors and Motivators This is the third in a four-part series from ManpowerGroup Solutions analyzing the results of its Candidate Preferences Survey. Forward-thinking companies are leveraging their strong brands to attract and retain top talent. These companies are positioning their brand promise specifically for employees. For those companies who have not looked at their brand from a talent recruitment and retention lens, this requires new strategies and practices to deliberately enhance the brand promise and its potential to inspire talent to engage with the company’s mission. ManpowerGroup Solutions’ 2014 survey showed talent to seek out a company and top performers that one in four job seekers or candidates considers to stay with an organization. brand/company reputation to be one of the three most important factors in making career decisions. When job seekers are contacted by recruiters, brand BRAND: A POWERFUL reputation leaps to number two overall in priority – MOTIVATOR FOR CANDIDATES second only to the quality of the job description. This means that for many candidates, a company’s The data revealed the importance of brand and brand or reputation is as important as compensation company reputation as a motivating factor in career- and type of work as a motivator to apply for decision making and identified candidate experience employment. And while candidates’ perceptions may preferences that can be shaped by employer be shaped in part by a company’s market brand, it value propositions: is a company’s employer brand (e.g., vision, values, culture, transparency, relationship with current and Employment experience and potential employees) that has the greatest effect. The brand as a motivator survey message was clear: build a strong employer Time in the workforce is positively correlated with brand and top talent will line up at the door. brand reputation being important. The survey also revealed more experienced candidates will contact recruiters based on brand reputation. “Competition for top talent is where it all starts. Finally, survey respondents with more experience And today’s talent is being bombarded by messages. How can employers build connections indicated company brand reputation was among the with candidates that separate them from the top three factors in their career decision-making. pack and position the company in advance as an It is likely that as individuals advance in their career, employer of choice when a position opens up? compensation versus culture may, respectively, The answer is employer branding.” decline and increase in relative importance. Lisa Schiller, Vice President of Client Delivery ManpowerGroup Solutions RPO Recruiters are seeing an increasing significance placed on employer branding. Companies should To understand how branding affects competition place special emphasis on building their brand and for today’s candidates, ManpowerGroup Solutions investing in a strong employer value proposition Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), the (EVP).1 This is especially critical for industries world’s largest RPO provider, surveyed more than experiencing the “aging out” of their workforce, 200 job seekers about their current employment, in markets where the employer has low brand job search preferences and motivators. What recognition, or in a competitive market where emerged was a clear picture of the importance the employer may be struggling to build a robust of brand and company reputation among candidates talent pipeline of candidates to fill open positions. — along with insights about best practices for Although the connection between brand reputation building an employer brand that will motivate top and passive candidates (those applying to two or 50 43% 40 33% 32% 31% Brand 28% 30 Reputation $$$ My 20 job Matters to and Motivates 10 Job Seekers 0 Job Brand Compensation Interesting Personalized description reputation package relevant role targeted Figure 1 of company message 1 Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is a unique set of offerings, associations | 1 and values that positively influence target candidates and employees. fewer jobs during the last six months) requires more Company websites serve as critical research, brand reputation may be a motivating gateway for candidates factor for this important group as well. Nearly nine out of ten candidates (86 percent) use company websites as a primary source of Job stretching and brand as a motivator information about a company. This includes the Candidates who previously applied for a job they company website overall as well as human were under-qualified for were positively correlated resources/hiring sections of the site. Search with the importance of brand reputation. Such engine results (52 percent) and peers (45 candidates appear to be “stretching” their skills percent) ranked second and third, respectively. and qualifications to fit a posted job description as a gateway into the organization. The practice appears to be even more important for candidates who consider brand a top three Individuals who are attracted to a company’s brand factor in making career decisions: nine out of 10 may be proactively (and prematurely) seeking jobs identified company websites as an important with their preferred employers. This not only points source of information about companies. to the usefulness of screening and assessment in recruiting among companies with strong brands, Company websites are a critical component of but to the opportunity to cultivate talent communities. brand development and represent an organization’s Moreover, it speaks to the importance of creating best opportunity to set the tone for the candidate a positive candidate experience for all applicants experience. Employers should approach the — regardless of their chances to be hired. organization and nature of their content strategically Communicating with such applicants openly, honestly and from a candidate’s perspective. Job seekers and quickly about their qualifications ensures a want to know more about an organization, its culture positive experience and reduces the potential for and available roles before deciding to apply. Job negative repercussions and feedback by applicants descriptions are of special interest: 36 percent of on job search sites and in social media. survey respondents cited more detailed information Company 86% website Search engine 52% results Peers Where do 45% candidates Industry 31% associations seek Social media information 30% networks about News sites jobs and 27% employer Recruiter/ hiring manager brands? 22% 13% Outside recruiter 2% ???? Other Figure 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 2 | IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME: THE NEW ROLE OF EMPLOYER BRAND about the organization, the job opportunity and Employer review sites are part of the mix compensation as the most valuable information Employer review sites (e.g., Glassdoor) were to them. also used by candidates. Based on the survey, Glassdoor was preferred by younger candidates Social media’s influence continues to grow and candidates that would be motivated to apply Nearly one-third of candidates (30 percent) used to a job opportunity based on the industry. social media networking to gather information about an organization or open position. The most popular Technology has enabled new platforms that are websites for this activity included Facebook, Google+ influencers of brand and company reputation: and LinkedIn. Instagram also emerged as a new tool the job review site. These anonymous qualitative among job searchers — especially among those commentaries (positive and negative) live in respondents who were most comfortable with video perpetuity on the Internet and result in a new type technology. Among candidates who listed brand of ratings system that goes far beyond annual as a top three motivating factor in career decisions, ranking lists such as Fortune’s “The 100 Best Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ ranked number Companies to Work For.” Organizations need to one, two and three respectively among social monitor postings about their company and media sites used. proactively use the sites as an opportunity for engaging employees in a dialogue about the Savvy marketers have long recognized the organization and as a means for building brand value of social media in brand building. Similarly, equity with prospective candidates. today’s employer value proposition is strongly influenced by social and professional networking Interviews influence brands sites. Employers should develop strategies for The overwhelming majority of job seekers expressed monitoring and building their brand reputations a preference for in-person and telephone interviews. in authentic ways on social media sites such as Of the respondents 72 percent prefer an in-person relevant content in the form of blog and social interview with a hiring manager. In contrast, only posts and targeted SEO optimization of 2 percent preferred a video-conference or Skype that content. 80 72% 70 60 Top social 50 43% 43% media platforms 40 used to gather information 30 22% about employer 20 brands and 15% 13% 10 10% open positions 0 Other Figure 2 | 3 interview. Although candidates’ comfort level for BEST PRACTICES FOR the video interview was an acceptable 3.3 on a scale of 5.0, with 1 being “not at all comfortable” EMPLOYER BRANDING and 5 being “completely comfortable,” an in-person ManpowerGroup Solutions’ research points to interview with a hiring