Brett Minchington explains the importance of promoting a consistent employment brand message across all touch points

With the increasing fragmentation of communication channels used to express, ‘What it’s like to work for this organisation,’ and ‘What’s in it for you,’ it pays to ensure the employment experience you promote to potential employees through a job board is matched by what you can realistically deliver upon in the employment experience – and in many cases this experience starts at a job board.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from job seekers is that job boards are too static, boring, impersonal and it’s like finding a needle (job!) in a haystack. The successful job boards will be those which clearly understand their client and customers needs and strategically evolve their service offering to connect them. Where many job boards have become irrelevant is in attempting to innovate and grow revenues and margin they have simply bolted on additional offerings. Along the way they have lost touch with their core business offering – matching candidates to jobs.

A central focus of your job board strategy should be the accurate reflection of your company’s employer value proposition (EVP). In its simplest form, the EVP is a set of associations and offerings provided by the organisation in return for the skills, capabilities and experiences an employee brings to the organisation. It sits at the heart of your employer brand strategy. Unfortunately not enough organisations have taken a strategic view with their EVP and it shows. Just visit a job board and take a look at the company profiles section. The moment of truth for companies is to ask, “Does this authentically reflect what it’s like to work for our company?

The key is to ensure your EVP messaging is consistent across online touch points such as the job boards you use. It should adapt to the particular role but should always reflect your brand essence. If I’m viewing openings at Microsoft or Deloitte my perception of what it is like to work at these companies should be endorsed or enhanced through my interaction at the job boards, not diminished.

A job board is not the only part of a company’s communication mix, so the company’s presence here needs to be considered as part of their overall employer brand strategy.

In the online space size does matter but the trend is towards integration, customisation and openness and this is where companies who understand the benefits of employer branding will leverage their job board investment. Companies like Starbucks have a global community of over 6 million on Facebook that can support their job board strategy! When their target candidates visit their job board postings it is likely they have already linked positive brand associations in forming a positive brand image of working for Starbucks. You can hear them say, “If I’m looking for a job in a coffee house, Starbucks is the one I want to work for!” The same can be said for Zappos, Goggle, FedEx and Electronic Arts (EA).

The challenge ahead lies in the ability for HR and recruiting managers to drive the strategic agenda to ensure collaboration with the marketing and communication functions to arrive at a coordinated brand strategy that builds competitive advantage over time and which is felt in places at a granular level such as when job seekers visits a job board.

Brett Minchington MBA, Chairman/CEO of Employer Brand International is an International employer brand strategist, author and educator. Brett has delivered employer branding key note addresses, executive briefings, masterclass events and chaired Summits in more than 30 cities in 20 countries. He has consulted to Global and National brands and has been published globally in HR, Marketing and Management magazines including ‘The Economist’ and ‘Business Week’. His most recent book is ‘Employer Brand Leadership.’

(PS: The above is an excerpt from the upcoming Job Board Report 2010. Register to get your free copy here)

Adam Shay, Managing Director of  The Face answered our query – how relevant are advertising agencies in a rapidly evolving recruitment landscape?.

When I first read this question from Destination Talent I took immediate umbrage to the fact my craft of 15 odd years was seemingly under threat, that its value was being questioned! By the time I’d calmed down and re-read the question I could see its validity (excuse me for seeming dramatic but running an ad agency during a recession is tough, running an ad agency focused on recruitment, during a recession is well, challenging.)

Given the significantly reduced number of column centimetres taken up by recruitment ads in all major Australian press titles and the recent failure of one of the biggest agencies (and recruitment brands) in Australia, I can see why people may be questioning the value of what it is we do. In fact, in the aftermath of TMP’s demise, I saw many an article and tweet expressing condolences for those working in the recruitment advertising industry.

So, in a market of online migration, social media, increased levels of networking and a drive towards referrals where do agencies like The Face add value, and has our role changed? The answer to the latter is a resounding no – the issue is one of appearance. The role of a (good) employer marketing agency is to help our clients attract and retain great talent by distilling what’s great about working for them then delivering the message to the right audience (internal and external) in a creative and compelling manner. The problem of appearances lies in the fact that many agency Directors (myself included) were blinded by one dimensional revenue streams during the good times. We were hitting budgets by doing the basics right, getting ads in the papers and online for a good price and a consistent manner. Those who didn’t make the decision to evolve their offering 3 years ago were destined to fail.

At The Face it wasn’t just about extending our service offering (which we rightly did); it was also about reasserting to ourselves what our position was. We decided two years ago that we needed to stand for something and have a steadfast focus on it. We trademarked the term, ‘Ideas Move People’ and to this day it drives everything we do. At our heart we’re a creative business filled with creative people. Ideas are our currency. We don’t see a brief as simply a job requisition, we see it as an opportunity to build the right perception in the mind of a candidate or employee, a perception that we believe has a greater long term effect on career decisions.

The HR industry has a raft of suppliers offering increasingly conflicting services. Like many of those suppliers, recruitment advertising/employer marketing agencies need to reassert what they stand for and focus on building value in the minds of their clients. There will always be a need for agencies to place ads but it probably won’t sustain an industry. The role of a good ad agency is changing, but only in the sense that we need to become less reliant on placing ads and more focused on building employer brands and adding value to our clients’ recruitment and retention needs. When you choose an ad agency you’re buying into creative thinking and good creative thinking will always add value.

Adam Shay is Managing Director of The Face.

Adam has a particular interest in the role internal and external communications play in employee and candidate engagement. He has worked on multiple projects defining and communicating the vision and values and employer brand of multiple businesses in Australia and abroad.  Recently, The Face launched a new brand called Euro RSCG Engage. Engage is focused solely on helping organisations engage and retain their own talent by ensuring they are communicated to in an effective and engaging manner.

What makes a good employer? According to Hewitt – keep your promises.

Details here. 

Some good news from the manufacturing front. According to the latest Australian PMI (Performance of Manufacturing Index) employment in the manufacturing sector rose for the first time in 23 months. The index grew from 44.6 points in October to 53.7 in November. Average wages in the sector also grew, with the wage index increasing by 3.3 points.

It’s heartening news for the overall economy when one of the most vulnerable sectors shows signs of recovery. 

The whole PMI series is available here.

The difference between a good and a not so good employer – reputation worth spreading.

One of the five criteria used by Hewitt to chose a winner for its annual ‘Best Employers’ award is the likelihood that an employee would willingly recommend her employer to someone else. No surprises, best employers have happy employees keen to spread the good news.

Would current or former employees recommend your company to someone else. Should you care?

Good and bad news gets amplified easily in a connected world. You really have no choice but to build a workplace that is worth recommending. It’s one of the surest way to attract talent.

Note: Hewitt is changing the format of its annual ‘Best Employers’ award to an accreditation system