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They say that good help is hard to find, and perhaps no one understands this better than business owners and HR recruiters. Undisputedly, the labor shortage is real and it is worsening. That doesn’t mean, however, that recruiters must abandon all hope of attracting the best talent to their organizations.

Chances are, you already have an extremely powerful recruiting tool at your fingertips and you don’t even know it. That potent recruiting tool is your company brand and, when used properly, it can draw the most coveted candidates like iron to a magnet.

As such, let’s look into the best ways you can leverage your brand identity to recruit and retain the most in-demand talent in your industry.

1.   Promote Your Company Values

Once upon a time, the employer/employee relationship was pretty simple and quite circumscribed. Employers offered a living wage, a reasonable benefits package, and a safe and productive work environment. In exchange, employees contributed their skills in a set number of ways, for a set number of hours, and on a set number of days. The relationship was largely transactional and quite formal. 

Workers today, however, are often looking for something more. They want to be a part of an organization that is about more than the pursuit of profit. They want to align themselves with enterprises whose values they feel sync with their own.

This is why developing a clear, consistent, and cohesive set of company values is so important — not only to your company’s brand identity but also to your recruiting efforts. Younger employees today are increasingly moving towards companies that hold values like sustainability, inclusion, and equality. However, it’s important to pick values that actually mean something to your company — anything deemed inauthentic may scare away future potential employees.

Boosting brand awareness by defining your core corporate mission and central operating principles is an essential first step in branding your company as an employer of choice among your target labor pool.

2.   Develop an Employee-centric Brand

Given how tight the labor market is today, candidates often have their pick of job offers. And, of course, the more qualified the candidate, the larger and more attractive the recruitment packages tend to be.

So if you want to draw the best prospects in the field to your organization, then you will want to cultivate a corporate brand that underscores the company’s employee-first orientation. For instance, offering flexible and hybrid work schedules is an ideal way to brand your company as responsive to workers’ needs and preferences, including the increasing preference for work-from-home opportunities.

This can be a particularly effective selling point for talented candidates who may need flexible schedules to accommodate child or elder care needs or who are managing their own health concerns.

Flexible scheduling opportunities are by no means the only way to cultivate an employee-first brand.

You can also leverage the employee-centric brand by offering recruitment incentives that align with employees’ specific personal and professional priorities. You may, for instance, offer tuition reimbursement and professional development opportunities for candidates who are aspiring to higher-level positions.

Likewise, for employees seeking to cultivate a healthier work/life balance, you may offer benefits such as discounted gym and spa memberships and corporate retreats. The key, ultimately, is to attract candidates by building a brand that underscores the company’s commitment to and concern for its employees.

3.   Develop Your Remote Work Culture

As suggested above, workers today are increasingly interested in remote or hybrid schedules. The reality, though, is that not all virtual workplaces are created equal. So if you want to leverage your brand identity as an ideal employer for remote and hybrid workers, then you will want to take pains to address the particular challenges and concerns of remote employees.

For example, you will want to ensure that you have the tech infrastructure in place to ensure that your remote employees can do their work seamlessly and securely.

This should include providing the equipment they need to set up their remote office, as well as instituting technical support services so that established and prospective employees alike don’t have to feel anxious about their technical proficiency.

In addition to attending to the technical logistics of a strong remote work environment, you will also want to cultivate a virtual work culture that ensures that remote employees feel as valued and as integrated as on-campus workers.

This might include conducting daily meetings with remote and onsite staff via video conferencing. It should also include ample opportunities for remote workers to socialize with one another and with their on-campus peers.

You may, for instance, set up a company softball team or simply offer bi-monthly events for workers and their families, from company picnics to bowling nights.

In addition to the fun and friendship such activities offer, they can also be integrated into your recruitment strategy, appealing to prospective workers who desire remote opportunities but fear isolation and lack of support.

4. Develop Your Recruitment Marketing Strategy 

Of all the tools discussed for leveraging your brand identity in recruitment, perhaps the most important is the development of a recruitment marketing strategy. This simply involves putting as much effort into recruiting as you would with product or brand marketing.

You want to promote your company as a preferred employer using many of the same marketing tools you use to grow your customer base. So leverage the power of the digital domain by doing the following:

  • Build a robust website — If your company has barely any digital presence, you’ll have very little chances of drawing in employees. They won’t have any knowledge base on your authenticity or legitimacy and may pass off on your postings — no matter how great they are in the first. So before you start any recruiting, it’s important to make sure the company’s website is functional and transparent to everyone.
  • Update your blog — Your blog can be more than simply an area clients go for more information. It can be an informative hub for future employees to learn more about your company’s work, what you stand for, and other essential items. By regularly posting company updates and job opportunities, you’ll have more traffic come naturally.
  • Post on social media— With more recruiters using social media like LinkedIn to find employees and maintain their company’s presence online, there’s virtually no excuse to stay offline. More employees are using it for all business purposes — networking, big career changes, applying to new jobs, and even standard posting.

All of these actions will help prospective employees learn about your company, your brand, and why they, the job seekers, need to be a part of your organization!

The Takeaway

The competition to secure top talent is fierce and increasing, but your company’s brand identity may well be its most valuable asset in the battle to build a stellar workforce. By leveraging your brand, you can demonstrate to top candidates why your business is the employer of choice in your field.

You can illuminate the employee-centric culture of your workplace. In addition, you can underscore the various ways your organization is uniquely qualified to serve the prospect’s personal and professional goals across both the immediate and long term.