Job Branding: Getting Beyond Blah

• Author: Anna Kassulke
• Posted: June 5, 2007
• Category: Recruitment Communications, Employment Branding
• Tags: Employment Branding, Profiling
• Comments:

Completing a two part series:
 
In Beyond Ads, Postings and Job Descriptions we started by suggesting that employer branding is at the core of all recruitment communications with a call to action for realistic, accurate branding that will give your organization an edge when it comes to attracting the right talent for your organization. Building on that then…
 
Employer branding communication travels along three conduits: one, from management to all employees; two, from employees to their informal networks; and three from the organization to the outside world (including the talent it seeks to attract).
 
Your employment branding travels along each of these communication pipelines, so the messages that reflect job branding at a tactical level must be crystal clear.
 
Management must speak honestly to its employees, who will in turn speak honestly to people they know. Your branding should be honest and fresh, and appeal to the right people outside. Honesty is critical, as critical as the communication itself.
 
Just how honed are your branding and communication strategies? If you have uncovered your employer brand, then it is up to you to ensure that it is disseminated internally and externally so that your organization is the first on everyone’s lips as an employer of choice.

How? Break out of the traditional molds.

Let us consider job branding. There are many people out there who are well aware that we are not utilizing job branding effectively. One commentator maintains that we need to put an end to those processes that he calls ‘dumb’ if we are to eliminate most of our hiring shortfalls. Three main suggestions are:

• Stop using traditional job descriptions

• Stop writing traditional boring ads

• Stop demeaning candidates

So let’s explore these further. An exciting profile is more effective than a traditional job description, particularly if you want to hook the best fish for your organization - not just qualified candidates. Deborah Stremmel warns us that ‘if you were looking to hire a telephone sales person, and you place an ad that reads: “Must have good telephone voice, and type 25 words per minute,” you’d be pressed to get a result.’ Why? Well, ‘if all you do is list your own requirements, you’ll turn off the stars and get only the most desperate.

So what to do? Strike up a dialogue with potential applicants, ask them questions, appeal to their sense of self and their values, add a sprinkle of humor if appropriate, and maybe even show them the people that work for you. Several organizations feature biographies of ‘our people,’ who speak about the organization and what it means to them, and what they feel they take from the organizational experience.