Joydev discusses the importance of employer branding and some strategies to implement it. Most startups ignore it. An exclusive for Different Truths.  

Startups take birth from a brilliant idea or collaboration of ideas. The idea may be of one single person or a group of people working on a distinct plan. The founder of the startup has a lot of activities to take care of to land the startup idea successfully. Starting from the arrangement of seed funding, looking into operations to pitch a successful marketing campaign and lot more, founder’s go through a rigorous journey, and what they forget or ignore is ‘employer branding’.

Underestimating the ‘employer branding’ process could land the startup miles behind from the point they expected to land. A concrete employer branding and recruitment strategy play a significant role in the startup’s process.

Underestimating the ‘employer branding’ process could land the startup miles behind from the point they expected to land. A concrete employer branding and recruitment strategy play a significant role in the startup’s process. We discuss the importance of employer branding and some strategies to implement it.

Importance of Employer Branding 

Around 23 percent of startups fail because of an amorphous team. A concrete and attractive employer brand helps to attract and hire the best candidates, thus improving the business outcomes. Let us look at some reasons why startups should build an ‘employer brand’.

To Beat The Challenge of Hiring 

So startups need to stand out of the crowd while recruiting or posting a job. Now you might be thinking whether it is possible to be at par with the tech giants while branding? The answer is a big yes.

Startups, as the name suggests, are just start-ups. There is a vast difference between a well-established tech firm and a startup. Assume you are a candidate looking job in software profile, and you come across an opening in Google or IBM. Below that, you find another opportunity from a not-so-known name of a startup. You are more likely to click the vacancy list of reputed firms (if you don’t, you’re an innovative techie). So startups need to stand out of the crowd while recruiting or posting a job. Now you might be thinking whether it is possible to be at par with the tech giants while branding? The answer is a big yes. Just because there are less capital and a startup has less budget for recruitment, that doesn’t mean they can’t hit a six (as tech-giants hit). A startup needs to be a bit more strategic and compare the employer brand and EVP (Employee Value Proposition) to companies that are of similar size of a little larger. This will help to gauge how the employer brand compares to other companies with similar funding and resources. If you are a startup founder, don’t forget to update your information after every round of funding.

To Make Hiring a Team-Effort

Startups are a fun-filled place to work in. Here, at one time, you can be struggling to make the debits and credits equal, and on other, you can be handling client queries. The software developer himself can be a sales guy describing the features of a product or service to the client. The idea is, they have a small team to work. For startups, who have a very small recruiting team (only if they have), the founder or CEO needs to pioneer and lead the hiring process. Eventually, the employer branding process must be shared by everyone present in the team (doesn’t matter how small it is). ‘Employee Referral Program’ can be of very helpful here. Add a talented colleague to the team, take back perks in your pocket (or sometimes, some wrapped gifts). This helps the team to grow, and it is essential to remember that word-of-mouth can be the best way of employer branding.

Startups are a fun-filled place to work in. Here, at one time, you can be struggling to make the debits and credits equal, and on other, you can be handling client queries. The software developer himself can be a sales guy describing the features of a product or service to the client. The idea is, they have a small team to work.

Having discussed the importance of employer branding, let us now look at some ways to create employer branding.

1. Write Blogs – Don’t forget to ask your web developer to keep a blog section on the website. If you’re the CEO and have good hands-on writing, (if you don’t, you can always knock the doors of freelancers) plan an engaged, long-form employer brand content and post it regularly. You can also post employee testimonials or kind-of interviews with some known personalities (ensure they speak positively for your startup). Try to look from a job-seekers point of view and then address all the queries and concerns you’d have asked if applying for the job.

2. Social Media Presence – People tap their social media apps more number of times than tapping ‘Google’ today. If you’re running your startup without any social media presence, stop reading this article, go create a page on Facebook/Insta/LinkedIn/Twitter, etc., and then come back to continue reading. Besides being a cost-effective strategy, social media is an effective platform for employer branding as a vast majority of millennials found their current job through social media. Find out a digital marketing guru (if you have someone in your team, put the cap on his head), ask them to post jobs, and they’ll ensure you get attention (besides page likes).

3. Prioritise Candidate’s Experience – Know about Indeed and Glassdoor? I hope you do. Prioritising candidate’s experience, throughout the application process and beyond (after they join) puts a positive impact on the candidate. There are several online platforms where candidates can share their experiences with a company. If you believe you served them a good experience, ask them to write a review online.

There are several online platforms where candidates can share their experiences with a company. If you believe you served them a good experience, ask them to write a review online.

There are plenty of other options to create and improve the employer brand. While they may not have been a priority before, hopefully, they are now, with the oodles of startup emerging around the globe.

Photo from the Internet