The Wolf of Wall Street, precursor of Employer Marketing?
If you don’t think there’s a link between Martin Scorses’s last blockbuster and employer marketing, well, then you might get a little surprised. Let me prove my point to you!
On February 14th, it’s Valentine’s Day. Don’t even try to forget it, it’s mission impossible. However, THIS 14th of February was also a morning at UBA, Union Belge des Annonceurs, for me. Alpsquare was invited to give a little presentation on employer marketing.
Employer what? Don’t panic, you will understand in just a few lines. That morning was full of exchanges of ideas and opinions between Timoté Geimer, Product & Digital Strategist at Alpsquare and the professionals there. Most of them were HR directors. They wanted to understand why, nowadays, one must apply marketing principles such as seduction, engagement and retention in their recruitment processes. A pattern that assimilates candidates to consumers.
This pattern, Jordan Belfort, THE Wolf of Wall Street, had it right. His employees admired and adored Stratton Oakmont, his company. Basically, they’d have quit their job for nothing on this earth. Candidates jostled at Belfort’s door. How did he do that? Easy. One, he cherished his employees offering them an amazing work sphere that answered their expectations. Two, he held an impressive internal communication technique. Don’t get me wrong, I do not recommend you to put into practice the extreme activities that took place in that office, but you must admit that Belfort had a hell of an employer marketing strategy there, back in the beginning of the 90’s.
So, why exactly should you work on your employer brand?
First of all, it’s all about creating a long-term strategy. This strategy aims at making your company look attractive, at delivering a message as clear and transparent as possible to your future and current employees, and last but not least, at providing a vision of what you’re expecting from employees. In other words, working on your employer brand is anticipating. Thanks to this strategy, you’ll guarantee yourself a flow of applications all year long and you’ll improve the quality of your candidates. The better you communicate on your expectations and your company culture, the more chances you have to attract profile-matching candidates. Plus, your strategy will also allow you to reduce the turnover and better face difficulties and emergency.
What does it imply?
This strategy implies, of course, a permanent management of the applications flow. Try to answer to all of them, to organize interviews all year long and to track candidates with an interesting profile. Who knows, you might need them sometime soon. It is also important to always provide feedback and to take into account the candidates’ feedback as well. Lastly, use recruitment tools at your disposal. Nowadays, recruiters can proceed to video interviews and online evaluations. They can also use social media, ATS and jobboards.
Who are the actors of employer marketing?
First comes the leader, because they inspire. Then come the employees. Their opinion and comments have a huge impact on the company’s image. DO NOT underestimate the power of word of mouth. Lastly, let’s not forget the recruitment people, who establish the first contact with candidates. They play a major role in the employer marketing process. Timoté Geimer reminds us: “Be sure you call your candidates back after the interview. Follow up their impressions, ask them how they felt during the interview, and what they think about how they were received. This is added value to your recruitment process. Also, don’t hesitate to ask them if they have other questions in mind.”
To work one’s employer brand is also:
- To focus on the user experiment. Let me explain, the button “career” or “apply here” must be visible on the homepage of your website. Applying for your company has to be “user-friendly”. The more positive the user’s experiment is, the more conversion rate you’ll have. On social media, provide content that matches your company culture and the type of candidates you are looking for.
- Make sure you reply to all comments and questions about your company, whether they are positive or negative.
- Don’t forget that besides social media, there are other channels to communicate on. Press releases, commercials, blogs, podcasts, workshops, job fairs, meetings and word of mouth are channels to exploit.
Alright! Now, you’re ready to rock you employer brand. Why have I introduced this topic with a movie? Not that I intended to promote it, they obviously don’t need me for that, but it all made sense when, in the same day, I connected the meeting I had assisted to in the morning to the movie I watched at night.
Just as Steve Jobs says in his Commencement Speech at Satandford University in 2005: “It’s all about connecting the dots.”. In other words, those links we make allow us to understand how our experiences and everything we do make sense and are useful someday.
Photo credit: Orange Post
