If you ask people where they would love to work, they'll often say Google, Amazon, Twitter and all the rest. How have these companies made themselves so attractive to prospective employees? How can you foster this image for your own company?
THE BARE ESSENTIALS, THE SHORT ANSWER: BRANDING.
The importance of employer branding cannot be underestimated, particularly in times of a skills shortage. Clever branding gives your company the freedom to do more with less, and communication of this is crucial.
Attracting top talent isn't going to be easy. To achieve a highly desirable brand image, you have to undertake extensive research both in the marketplace and internally. Here's some ideas:
EXTERNAL RESEARCH
What does the company need and want? What do employees need and want? What does the crème de la crème expect from their career? Where is your company positioned in the marketplace? How is it seen by your target group? How are your competition doing?
INTERNAL RESEARCH
What makes your company unique? What is your special value proposition? How do you think you're going to put this together - how will you market yourself? When you are ready to market yourself, what key performance indicators are you going to focus on?
BRANDING IN REAL LIFE
So you can see now that the process of branding a business in order to attract top talent means combining
- Market Research • Strategy development
- Communications
- Marketing.
We've mentioned some things that make your workspace attractive to employees but it's time for you now to think outside the box and figure out your unique value proposition. Just answer this one question: why would these people want to work with you?
