When you enlist a recruiter to find new talent for your team, you are entrusting them to represent your company in the right way.
It is therefore vital that your chosen talent acquisition partner is one who really understands the importance of employer branding at every stage of the recruitment process.
So what is employer branding and more importantly, what should you watch out for, when you work with an external recruiter?
Employer branding is essentially promoting your company as the employer of choice to both current and future employees.
Elements such as your company’s values, workplace culture and mission all play a part in employer branding. Contrary to how it may sound, employer branding is not about misleading people or glossing things over. It’s about ensuring you effectively communicate your strengths and package them up in a way which is both attractive and easy to comprehend.
In a competitive recruitment market, employer branding is crucial. So, how do you know if your recruiter is representing your brand effectively?
- The recruiter asks all the right questions
Your chosen recruiter should behave as if they are an extension of your own team. They will be ambassadors for the brand. But in order to get to this point, they have to know your business intimately. That’s not just a question of understanding what the company does and how it operates. A good recruiter will want to get under the skin of your organisation. They will do their research, devour your website, follow your social media and crucially, ask questions about the culture and be hungry for that ‘inside scoop’ on what it is like to work for your company. If they aren’t asking any questions, either you have done a flawless job of briefing them, or….they haven’t done their homework.
- You have confidence in the details of their working practices
Even though they are not directly employed by you, recruiters are representing you. The candidates will, by association, feel greater loyalty to an employer’s brand if they have a positive experience with their recruiter. For example, do you know:
- What your recruiter is telling candidates about your organisation, its people and culture?
- How well your recruiter understands reporting lines and how the final hiring decision will be made?
- How recruiters follow up with unsuccessful candidates? If they are ‘ghosting’ them and not delivering feedback in a timely manner, this does not reflect well on you, the hiring company.
If the answer to any of the above is ‘no’, then this needs to be addressed.
Your employer brand is an asset. You want to make sure it’s in safe hands when you work with a third party recruiter. Always expect transparency, honesty and consistent communication throughout the talent acquisition process. You will not only have a far more pleasant experience, but you will feel reassured that the candidates who have entered this process are being treated with the same level of respect and fairness by the recruiter who is representing you.