Employee branding is always a trending term in recruitment. Essentially, your employer brand is the image you portray to your potential job candidates, who are in this case your “target audience." And the candidate experience you provide exposes the truth of your brand.

For example, if part of your employer brand is an open door communication policy, poor communication quickly reveals to a candidate that your recruitment team is not on brand. And just like a customer who has a negative experience will tell ten (or more in the digital age) of their friends about their experience, job candidates will do the same.

What does the correlation between candidate experience and employer branding look like? And how do, and should recruitment teams manage it?

Open, Clear, and Personable Communication

First, the candidate experience will tell them a lot about your company culture and what it might be like to work for you. Open, clear communication during the hiring process will illustrate to the candidate that you will do the same once they are employed by your company.

This is important whether you end up hiring the candidate or not. Even if you don’t hire them for this position, it is always a good idea to keep your eyes open for other positions they might fit in. Ask if they are open to remaining in your candidate pool.

And that person can become a brand ambassador for you, referring you candidates even if they are not qualified for the position themselves. Job searches are very personal for the candidate, and if they become “friends” of your brand, you can gain a lot of social proof and trust by communicating in a personable way.

Eliminate Pain Points in the Hiring Process

No matter how great the job you are offering might be, the candidate will likely not endure a painful process to get hired. Not only do you need to be clear in your communication process, but you also need to be transparent about how the hiring process will go. Require a drug test? Tell them from the start. Need a credit check or fingerprints as part of the hiring process? Let the candidate know from the start, ideally in the job posting.

Many candidates complain about common issues in the hiring process:

• It takes too long.
• There are too many interviews.
• The role they are interviewing for is unclear.
• There are too many “hoops” to jump through.

Want to both hire faster and improve your employer brand? Eliminate these common pain points.

Define Roles and Responsibilities from the Start

The definition of roles should start with the job posting process. Because many companies in a single industry may define a role in different ways, be sure you are clear about the job title and what the roles and responsibilities of that job will be once the candidate is hired.

The candidate does not want surprises when they are in the interview process, or worse after they are hired. The job offer they accept may depend in large part on what kind of work they do and don’t want to do. Also, this can impact the salary they would ask for (more on that in a moment).

This creates a negative impression of your employer brand as one that is at best disorganized, at worst deceptive. This leads us to the next aspect of your employer brand.

Reveal Salary, Benefits, and Perks Early in the Process

The days of a wide salary range in a job posting or a vague idea of what a salary might be followed by the dreaded DOE acronym are long over. More and more companies are being transparent about salaries, some going as far as posting them online.

It’s only fair to a job candidate to let them know the salary range of your open position from the start. This can help them decide whether leaving their current job to even entertain this possibility is worth their time. Don’t waste their time and yours only to have your salary offer land way below their expectations.

Along that line, be sure that your salary aligns with national averages for similar jobs regardless of where you are located. If you live in a high-cost housing area, you can always offer locally tiered housing assistance as a benefit. But with all the remote positions now available, it's seen as unfair to offer a person living in a lower-cost area a lower salary as a result. In today’s competitive job market, salary transparency is at the top of many candidates’ lists.

The same is true of benefits and perks. In a recent survey, 43% of Gen Z job candidates believe companies should be clear about what perks they offer employees, and 30% would not pursue a job if the perks offered were not clear ahead of time.

The truth is, the experience a candidate has with your company, from the job listing to the hiring process, will define your employer brand. A solid brand will result in applications by the type and quality of candidates you are seeking. A poor brand experience means you’ll likely get applications from candidates who are not a good fit for your company.

Just like commercial branding, employer branding is vital to your company success. Make candidate experience a priority, and you’ll find the right branding will follow.

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