7 mistakes you're making with your employment brand and how to fix them

Today's job market is super competitive. Employees are looking for more than just increased pay and work perks. To a large degree, there has been a change in the dynamics between employers and employees, with the latter demanding more from companies.

In order to stand out from the multitude of other employers and attract top talent, you'll need to have a strong employment brand. Unless you're an employment brand expert, making a mistake (even unknowingly so) can happen all too easily. These mistakes can have devastating impacts on your brand and the ability to recruit top-notch employees. Here are seven employment brand mistakes you may be making and how to fix them.

Not revamping the career site

While your career site is a highly functional part of your website, the look and feel of it is equally, if not more, important. It is often the first experience that potential employees have with your company, so making it a memorable one by keeping it revamped and updated is crucial if you want to leave an impact on employees. Make sure that it reflects the ethos of your brand and gives potential employees a glimpse into what life at your company is about.

Adding a video to your site, perhaps a "Day in the life of...", can help to give prospective employees a better understanding of the work office culture and environment. You may even want to consider changing things up completely and rethinking what a career site should look like and how it should function. This may include an interactive and immersive site as opposed to an ordinary text site.

Forgetting about social media

Social media is another powerful recruitment channel you can use to engage with potential employees. If you've neglected your social media pages, then you may be losing out on candidates without even knowing it. Spend some time on your social media pages so that they correctly reflect your brand. If you're struggling for engagement, one way to boost it is by posting high-quality content regularly. Ensure that your posts are authentic to help capture the attention of potential candidates. When people reply to your posts, try to personalize your responses by addressing them by their names.

Not emphasizing company benefits

While compensation is important to employees, company benefits are arguable just as important. Companies that have policies in place, such as remote or hybrid working and parental policies, give the impression to prospective employees that they care about them and have their best interests at heart. Emphasizing these benefits helps boost your company's employment brand, which can attract top talent.

Failing to listen to your employees

Have you stopped to think about how many of your previous vacancies have been filled by existing employee referrals? If your answer to this is no or not many at all, then you've got a bit of a problem. Employer branding starts within the company, and if your current employees see the brand in a positive light, then you'll likely be flooded with referrals for each job posting.

If this isn't the case, then you may want to consider carrying out an employee audit to identify the problems and get to the bottom of them. Circulate a survey around to all employees (making it anonymous can help you get honest responses) to find out what you're doing well and what could be improved. You can use the survey responses to better your employment branding.

"Employer branding starts within the company, and if your current employees see the brand in a positive light, then you'll likely be flooded with referrals for each job posting."

Avoiding negative reviews

Let's be honest, no company is perfect. Getting a bad review from time to time from a former or current employee is completely normal. Don't worry, the world isn't going to end. What really matters with bad reviews is how you handle them and what you take away from them. Pretending that these reviews don't exist will probably do more harm to your brand than good.

Take time to carefully analyze all your reviews, both good and bad, and try your best to respond to all of them. Remember to remain civil when responding and address as many of the negative points made as possible. Explaining how to resolve the issue at hand can go a long way to readers of the review. Also, don't forget to say thanks for positive reviews.

Posting generic job listings

Be careful not to write boring, bland, or cookie-cutter job postings. Consider the posting as a marketing tool to sell the role and your company to the potential employee. Break free from static black-and-white text and include some graphical content — an image or even a video can be a great addition. This can help give personality to the job description and reiterate the reality of the role to the prospective employee.

Relying on recruiters for employment branding

One of the most common misconceptions is counting on your recruiter to create your employment brand for you. Employment branding comes from within the company, from each and every employee. Encourage your employees to promote your company on any platform they can. This will help to create a strong brand image for your company.

Making a mistake isn't the end of the world. Now that you have a better understanding of the mistake, you can take the correct steps to fix it and boost your employment brand to where it should be.