Attracting top talent to your organisation – why employer brand matters even more than ever

Due to the impact of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, today’s job market is highly volatile. Some industries face crippling labour shortages whilst others face numerous applications to a select numbers of roles. As a result of this, it is more important than ever for charities to focus on their employer brand to ensure they are able to recruit effectively.

Focus on working conditions

The pandemic has highlighted this in particular, as it has shone a light on working conditions created by employers, especially with regard to providing a safe environment in which to work. Employers risk damage to their reputation if they are found to have any failings in this respect, which could have an impact on future candidates’ perception of the organisation.

Recent statistics show that 50% of job candidates have said that they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation, even for a pay increase, whilst 86% of HR professionals say recruitment is becoming more like marketing. These figures show that potential employees value the state of their place of work highly, even when compared to other key incentives, such as their pay.

Charities that don’t focus any of their resources on this often end up paying higher salaries than other charities as they need the extra incentive to attract the top candidates in the market. Therefore, charities can potentially save money whilst chasing the top talent for their available roles, just by paying attention to and utilising their employer brand.

Here are some key points to focus on.

1. Use social media to your advantage.

Active social media pages highlight continued attention to the employer brand. Additionally, being active on platforms such as LinkedIn and Glassdoor will help to engage jobseekers and build the charity’s reputation. 

Respond to both positive and negative reviews. Through responding to reviews, the employer can show that they are active and are working to maintain a good employer brand. By responding to negative reviews, they can show that they are addressing concerns and working to fix them. Potential employees will see this when researching the charity and applying for roles and will see that the charity is engaging with its employees and any issues.

2 Reflect the actual experience of employees.

Use current employees as advocates for your employer brand. Charities must not just repeat their values and their rhetoric, as jobseekers would have heard most of the points before from other charities. Through creating a positive work environment and looking after current employees, the employer brand will grow as happy employees talk about it. 

3. Ensure consistency across the business marketing strategy and the recruitment marketing.

Many comparisons are drawn between marketing your charity as a business to customers and marketing to potential employees. Both are vital to a charity’s success and should go hand in hand, but recruitment is often less supported because it is unseen to the customer.

However, the employees you recruit form the core of your business and affect the end product, so it is of utmost importance that attention is paid to your employer brand, so you can attract the best talent available. 

The growing attraction of WFH

Since the pandemic began, charities have witnessed a seismic shift as many workers were forced to work from home. As charities look to move out of the pandemic, many find themselves with a workforce who are content now working from home and are reluctant to return to the office.

Businesses have been highly scrutinised in how they are dealing with this shift. Many have promised that employees can continue working from home; others have proposed a hybrid arrangement involving a balance of both office and home. The main discussion is that the pandemic has proven that many jobs can be done from home and many people have grown accustomed to that style of life.

Moving forwards, working from home, or a combination of both, will become a highly attractive pull to prospective workers and your charity’s stance on the issue will undoubtedly have a large impact on your employer brand.

Attracting talent isn’t just about the salary and benefits. Prospective employees want to know that they’ll be happy and fulfilled working for your organisation and that’s where employer brand an be so valuable. Invest in it constantly.