Employer Branding is a must for organisations to promote themselves among the candidates. This is the best way to attract maximum talent.

Employer brand is commonly used to describe an organization’s reputation as an employer, in contrast to its more general corporate brand reputation. Employer branding was first introduced by Simon Barrow in year 1990. Employer branding is the process of promoting an organization, as employer of choice to a preferred target group, one which a company wants to recruit and retain. If employer branding is the process then the employer brand is the identity of a company. Employer branding is about effectively communicating your company’s values, culture and personality to create the desired perceptions. Employer branding covers every point the organization has with the employee, starting from the recruitment. In simple terms employer branding is influencing the people to join the company and making sure existing employees to retain.

 

Employer branding can be done in the following steps.

 

Research & Advisory Services:

The organization needs to understand what it is offering to current and prospective employees. Top Management should believe and actively support the employer value proposition. If the company is unaware or unsure of the value it is offering Top Talent, the Employer Brand cannot be effectively promoted.

 

Activation & Talent Sourcing:

The activation phase requires proper communication, talent sourcing and marketing plan to ensure the company is getting the right kind of talent onboard. While the talent sourcing’s role is to make sure company-candidate compatibility, marketing and communications aim is for top talent in establishing the company as the employer of choice.

 

KPI Tracking & Development:

For effective employer brand promotion, constant testing and measuring is required. It is very important for a company to set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and should keep track of performance in order to make continuous improvements.

 

Employer branding can be used as a long-term talent acquisition, management and retention of employers. It is a viral-based awareness program that is intended to raise the organization’s image in the marketplace as a well-managed business, which attracts top quality applicants over a period of time.  Employer branding creates meaningful and durable reasons for employees to remain loyal to their company.  Properly planned and implemented employer branding strategy can deliver high impact and long-term results. Some of the advantages of the employer branding are

 

Researchers have found that having international brand alone is not enough to get the right talent. Unattractive or confusing employer brands are preventing companies from making the most of their recognizable name. Today’s employers are facing great challenge for finding the right talent as the economy is changing from survival to growth mode. Employers have to attract people with talents which the company never designed to attract. A strong employer brand, in most of the cases, is the deciding factor in the success of an organization.

 

Having a cloud recruitment software is another cherry on the cake when organisations are communicating to prospects from recruitment and HR world. Such automation tools are an attractive point for employees that can make their work much faster.

 

“The “true” world – an idea which is no longer good for anything,
not even obligating – an idea which has become useless and
superfluous – consequently, a refuted idea: let us abolish it!”
(Nietzsche)

Postmodern
is a difficult word to define. Some authors refer to as far back as
Nietzsche and his true knowledge derived from the multiplicity of
interpretations. The word “postmodern” is been used virtually in every
sense. The terrorism in a globalised world can be defined as postmodern
and apparently one can be “postmodern in bed” (Melinda and Melinda -
Woody Allen, 2004).

But seriously, one need focus on the impact
of postmodernistic thought on the consumer-behaviour theory. The impact
is so vigorous that you may believe that the consumer behaviour
paradigm has shifted already. A significant influence is exerted by the
interpretivism/postmodernism as opposed to the raditionalism/positivism
in at least three areas: the nature of consumption, the decision-making
process, and the consumer roles and goals.

Consumption = Experience

A
major point of the postmodern thought (Baudrillard) is that we do not
consume products because of their functional features but because we
need symbolic meaning. Consumers do not search for a price, but rather
for a stage where to act. In this sense, we rather consume images.
Considered in branding context, by experiences derived from consumption
of products we create a sense of who we want to be.

Ultimately,
experience is the core of the consumption process of the homo
consumericus of Firat and Shultz II. As such, the postmodern consumer
has adopted altered decision-making patterns.

Consumer Decision-making. Consumer Roles and Goals

Another
area of consumer behaviour where postmodern ideas reverberate is the
decision making process and the new consumer goals and roles. It is
obvious that Internet has decreased the information search costs and
one can find “the best deal” in a matter of clicks. But are we indeed
looking for “the best deal”? Are the price and functional features
prime determinants of our choices? We must say that decision making is
to great extent characterised by the consumers’ loss of commitment. The
new decision making process entangles new consumer roles. The most
obvious one is of co-producer of experiences – an idea of Bernard Cova.
Consumers become brand builders. We become a part of the process.
Simultaneously with the formation of this new role, the balance of
power between consumer and company is tipped in favour of the former.
In extreme cases brands could be hijacked – consumer brand communities
define their own images and symbols of a brand. From mere targets,
technically external to the company, customers become a core
competency. Questions arise: How much control and empowerment to be given to a community over a brand?

Another
role, previously not typical for the consumer, is the one of
researcher. Not only is the involvement of customers recommended, but
in fact in most cases the success of communication depends on
it.Consequently, according to the new roles, consumers have new goals
to be achieved through consumption. Most notable among them are the
Holt’s pursuit of personal sovereignty through brands Holt, and the aim
of re-socialising in new types of communities/tribes.

So, the
postmodern consumer roams and rumbles between these two self-imposed
objectives. What could be a solid reference to the true nature of the
quest of homo consumericus? The answer maybe given by a marketing
stream called experiential marketing.

To be continued…