Communicating your culture

This may appear obvious, but we wouldn’t be listing it here if it wasn’t (again) important. Here’s a simple enough exercise to get you started: get a piece of paper or even a blank Word document and list down the words that come to your head when you think about your company. If this seems a bit difficult, here’s a handy list of things you can consider with regards to your company:

• Its achievements
• Its products/services
• Its purpose
• What it offers employees (both future and current)
• What your employees value about the company

Follow the above and you will have come up with a rather long list of attributes. The next step is to narrow this list down to the important ones, which should be rather simpler. Done that? Good, you now have the list of points with which to brand your company’s culture.

Employees first

Behold: the single greatest asset in your employee branding strategy! Your employees, as you may have figured out by now, are effectively the face of your organisation to the world at large – a fact that becomes rather obvious once you consider that competing job seekers often ask candidates to detail their experiences at their previous company. It’s hence of paramount importance for you, as an employer, to ensure that your employees have a positive enough experience at your organisation.

While the necessary transformation will not happen overnight, it will happen once you consider carefully (within reason) the needs of your employees. Here are some of many ways in which you can bring the changes about:

• Conducting exit interviews with leaving employees
• Offering comment cards for them to jot their thoughts down
• Checking your company’s reviews on websites like Glassdoor

Use all of the above to create a positive work environment for your employees, thus ensuring that they have little to nothing to complain about. However – and we do feel the need to repeat this yet again from our write-up on recruitment strategizing – it is very important that you walk the walk instead of merely talking the talk on your branding promises, because it will otherwise backfire badly. Trust us.

Be recognisable

In a way, one could argue that this is most basic form of branding imaginable. Think about it: what catches a consumer’s eye when they’re out shopping in a supermarket or even online? Those are the very same things you need to do in order for your own employer brand to stand out to potential candidates scrolling through hundreds upon hundreds of other brands as well. Some of what you need to keep in mind whilst crafting the visual aspect of your brand – be it on your website or any other form of external communication (especially on career sites) – include:

• Catchy logos which make use of simple, bold colours (red, blue, black etc.) and clear type fonts like Sans Serif.
• A style of writing that is simple, direct, friendly and intelligent.
• The image you wish to present of your organisation. For instance, you could be an “experienced veteran” organisation or a “risky and innovative” one, or perhaps even a “diverse and progressive” one.

Content is important

At this point, you’ve most likely created a very specific vibe for your company through your employee branding. Now, it’s time to capitalise on that vibe by creating content: the kind of engaging content that makes your organisation seem more than just yet another organisation. Here are some of the ways in which you can utilise online spaces (aside from the obvious job boards) to your advantage:

• Blogs: If used right, this can easily be the most effective channel for recruitment marketing. Write about your hiring process, offer useful information about your company and, most importantly, find relevant spots in your write-up to link back to job openings.
• Social media: Highly effective for both consumer and recruitment marketing, this is where you communicate your company’s culture. Make sure to utilise each platform’s unique features – for example, Instagram’s reels or Twitter’s 140-character limit – to your advantage. Take photos and videos of your team at various events such as fundraisers or even ones of them at work.
• PR: This is crucial if you want to maintain a high Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) score when aspirants look up similar businesses on Google. The most effective way to ensure this is by reaching out to well-known influencers in your field and by publishing white papers that are relevant to the target audience.

In concluding this (hopefully helpful) write-up, we’d like to remind our readers that employer brands are built constantly. Employee and candidate mores may just change sometime in the future; in fact, even your own organisational goals may evolve significantly. So, make sure you have your ear to the ground in order to stay ahead of your competition!