12 measures for employer branding and employer attractiveness

In times of a shortage of skilled workers, a strong and authentic employer brand is more important than ever. With a clear employer brand, more qualified candidates apply, employees are more motivated and retention decreases.

In this article, I present various ideas for supporting measures for employer branding. The spectrum ranges from simple, cost-effective measures to cross-media approaches. The common thread in all employer branding activities should be authenticity – because this is the key to successful and long-term positioning as an attractive employer to the outside world.

Here is another helpful introductory article: Employer Branding Explained

12 personnel marketing measures for employer brand visibility

Internal communication

Internal communication plays a central role in employer branding. This involves keeping one’s own employees informed about the company’s values, goals and developments and actively involving them in the employer branding process in advance.
The employer brand and the corresponding values can, for example, be integrated into the onboarding process, intranet and e-mail communication.

Benefits of internal communication in employer branding:

• Strengthening employee loyalty: well-informed employees identify more strongly with the company.
• Better understanding of the corporate culture: Clear communication of values promotes understanding of the corporate culture, has an effect on employee satisfaction, retention and motivation.

Employer branding on employer platforms such as kununu, Glassdor, etc.

Present yourself as an attractive and authentic employer on kununu. Offer meaningful insights on corporate culture, salary, benefits and career opportunities in your employer branding profile. This increases the cultural fit of applicants and at the same time makes the employer brand more visible.

The benefits of active employer branding on channels like kununu:

• Higher reach: the platforms are used by millions of job seekers – the visibility of the employer brand is increased enormously.
• More suitable applications: Interested parties can get a realistic picture. The cultural fit between applicants and companies is increased.
• Authentic presentation: Self-image and external image complement each other. Employee evaluations underline the credibility.

It is advisable to put your own employees in the foreground on kununu, e.g. in videos and authentic pictures. This is the only way to make the special culture tangible. A multimedia presentation with videos, picture galleries, etc. instead of simple texts is also important.

Organize hackathons & meetups

The organization of hackathons and meetups makes it possible to deal with a current issue, technology or innovation. In addition, there is the opportunity to meet young people at the company location in person.

Advantages of hackathons & meetups in employer branding:

• Technology and innovation image: your company can be perceived as progressive and technology-oriented.
• Networking opportunities: Provides a platform to meet talented potential employees.
• Creative solutions: Hackathons promote innovative ideas and approaches to solutions that can also help your company.

Use corporate influencers.

As a company, integrate suitable employees of your own specifically into employer communications as “corporate influencers.” These brand ambassadors can report authentically about the employer brand and share their experiences – internally and externally.

The advantages of using employees as corporate influencers:

• High credibility: employees as “real people” are trusted more than corporate accounts.
• New target groups: Employees’ private channels can be used to reach groups that the corporate account does not address.
• Realistic presentation: Employees tell from their own experience what their work is really like. This creates trust.

Ideally, influencers should be trained in workshops to ensure the desired communication. Freedom of action promotes authenticity. Intelligent dovetailing with communication via company channels is also important.

Score points with local engagement

Get involved as a local player – whether by sponsoring regional clubs, events or even school visits. As an active part of the region, you score points as an employer in the local perception.

The benefits of regional presence for employer branding:

• Addressing significant target groups: Local skilled workers can be enthused in this way.
• Social commitment is well received: The region appreciates support for important initiatives and a long-term cooperation develops
• Networking offline and online: Combine local presence with online reach. That absolutely means using social media and company/career sites to document the events.

Optimize job ads

Designing appealing job ads is an important part of conveying the employer brand. By creating clear, appealing ads, you can not only attract potential applicants, but also effectively communicate your employer brand.

Benefits of attractive job ads in employer branding:

• Transparent communication of corporate culture: by using the right language, images and graphics, you can communicate your corporate culture and values.
• Positive Candidate Experience: Well-structured ads with clear requirements and information contribute to a positive candidate experience.
• Convey authenticity: Honest and transparent ads encourage candidates to trust your brand.
• You will receive high-quality applications: Clearly outlining requirements helps ensure you receive applications from candidates who are a better fit for the job.
• Differentiate yourself from your competitors: Unique and creative job ads set your company apart from other employers.

By highlighting your company culture, professional development opportunities and work environment in your job ads, you can build a stronger connection with those who identify with your values and goals. Job ads are thus a direct way to establish and strengthen your employer brand in the job market.

Success stories (internal and external)

Make special achievements and successes of teams, employees and departments public – both internally via the workforce and externally via your employer brand communication channels. This promotes identification within the company and creates valuable reach at the same time.

The advantages of joint success communication:

• Authenticity by connecting company and employees: Successes become tangible- Increase in motivation within the company: Public appreciation ensures pride and cohesion
• Easy to implement measure with great effect: Requires few resources

By involving all departments and employees from production, to trainees, to CEO, the entire bandwidth of the company can be seen. The personal level is also important here: employees should be mentioned by name. This creates a sustainable external impact via social media and other channels.

Building a 360° career site

Design your career page as a professional and informative point of contact for all questions about your employer brand – with culture insights, employee stories, benefits, open positions and more. It becomes a showcase to the outside world.

The benefits of a comprehensive 360° career site:

• Convert interest into applications: With information and easy application process
• Central content platform: articles, stories, etc. can be bundled and distributed here
• Important touchpoint: Positive candidate experience on key contact point

An appealing career site follows clearly defined goals such as applications. It authentically focuses on employees – no stock photos. And it facilitates the path from prospect to employee with a smart application process.

Employer Branding Visual

Create a design with a meaningful slogan for the employer brand, which you place on all portals. This creates maximum recognition and reach in a short time.

The advantages of a visual:

• High attention & visibility: Transporting the employer brand with a picture remains in the memory.

A good visual can be created with the help of a designer. It is also important to involve and motivate your own workforce. Thus, photos of employees should ideally be used.

University marketing & trade fair visits

University marketing aims to address students or graduates as potential future employees. The aim here is to make internships, final theses or the start of a career attractive.

Advantages of university marketing in employer branding:

• Early talent retention: creates a relationship with potential employees while they are still in college.
• Access to qualified candidates: Provides access to graduates with relevant skills.
• Promotion of the employer brand: Supports the positioning of the company as an attractive employer.

Social Advertising

Social advertising uses platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to target advertising for your employer brand. This enables precise targeting.

Advantages of social advertising in employer branding:

• Targeting: Reaches targeted individuals with relevant interests and qualifications.
• Visibility and reach: Increases the presence of your employer brand on social media.
• Measurable results: Enables monitoring and analysis of advertising campaign performance.

Social Recruiting

Social recruiting refers to the use of social media platforms to actively search for and reach out to potential candidates. Social recruiting should also convey the employer brand.

Advantages of social recruiting in employer branding:

• Direct candidate approach: Enables interaction with candidate:s on a more personal level.
• Expanded talent pool: Opens up a broader range of candidates who may not be found on traditional platforms.
• Speed in the recruitment process: Accelerates the process by reaching candidates directly.

Conclusion

There are many ways to spread the employer brand. It is important that an analysis and development of the employer brand precedes the measures mentioned above in order to achieve maximum success. In particular, the dovetailing of internal and external activities as well as on and offline creates synergies for the purpose of employer visibility and reputation. However, authenticity remains the decisive factor. Only those who do not disguise themselves as employers can build a strong employer brand in the long term.

Johanna Ehses

I am Johanna Ehses, I am an expert in employer branding. My focus is on supporting SMEs in attracting and retaining talent and strengthening the corporate culture. With my clients, mainly from IT and consulting, I work both internally on the development of the corporate culture and EVP - and externally on aspects such as the career site and social media. My approach is strategic and data-driven in order to use resources effectively and optimally. As I am passionate about Employer Branding, I also want to share my knowledge and promote the topic in Europe and beyond.