How to Build an Employer Brand That Elevates Your Recruitment Strategy

Employer brand refers to an organisation’s reputation as an employer, encompassing its values, culture, and work environment. It can have a huge impact on how successfully you attract new talent.

75% of candidates research an employer’s reputation before applying and businesses with positive reputations find 50% more qualified candidates, saving you significant time when filling a role.

There are other benefits too. Good branding can reduce your cost-per-hire by up to 50% and help with your high volume hiring, making it easier to find new candidates.

Your branding also impacts how well you retain high-calibre talent. Part of your employer branding is your Employee value proposition (EVP). This is the unique set of benefits you offer employees in exchange for their skills, capabilities, and contributions.

Good branding and strong EVPs make people want to stick around. Some businesses have found their branding reduced turnover by 30%.

5 strategies to elevate your employer brand

With your employer brand so crucial to the success of your recruitment strategy and business outcomes its important to look for new ways to elevate it. Here are some approaches you can try:

1. Ensure you offer opportunities for career development

Career development is a key requirement for many job seekers. 87% of Millennials say professional development opportunities are something they consider when applying for a role. Financial services professionals are no different. They want opportunities for career advancement, including training and development programs, mentorship, and clear paths for promotion.

Career development helps employees feel valued, empowered, and engaged, all factors that contribute to how they see you as an employer and can affect retention rates. 70% of employees say they would leave their jobs for a role with more development opportunities.  Offering training and development programs can benefit your business too, helping you upskill workers, train leaders, address critical skills gaps in your business and reduce hiring costs.

 2. Make applying a seamless experience

Your candidate experience is a crucial piece of how candidates, both those who are successful and those who are unsuccessful, perceive you as an employer. A positive candidate experience should include a user friendly careers website, a quick and easy application process and regular communication throughout the process.

Doing so improves candidate perceptions and makes it more likely that candidates will choose your offer over another, recommend you to friends, or consider applying again in future.

 3. Access new talent pools by expanding your brand reach

Many employers tend to stick to what they know when it comes to marketing their job roles. That means they can miss out on accessing new talent pools and extending their reach as an employer. The average candidate uses 18 separate resources to locate roles during their search with 79% using some form of social media.

Go beyond job boards by diversifying where you market your job roles. Social media and other online content can be a great way to reach talent, but you can also build connections through local community groups and charities, jobs fairs, partnering with universities and professional bodies. Always do your research before posting to ensure you are sharing content in the right places for the candidates you want to attract.

 4. Use your internal employee network

Review sites where current and former employees and candidates can leave ratings and share their experiences are becoming more popular. It’s important to be proactive when it comes to your presence on these sites. Leverage your existing employees and ask them to leave reviews. You can also encourage employees to recommend potential candidates within their own networks.

Your internal network can be powerful in other ways. Embed stories of your employee experiences on your career’s sites and other recruitment marketing to showcase your development programmes, diversity and inclusion and innovation.

5. Adjust your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) based on candidate expectations

Financial services professionals typically look for a combination of factors when considering an employer. While compensation is the traditional means of attracting talent, financial services professionals are looking for employers that can offer a compelling mix of financial stability, career development, work-life balance, and a sense of purpose beyond just the bottom line.

Your employer branding should emphasise how you can meet these expectations and shouldn’t be static. As employee expectations change so should your branding. Here are some of the key qualities financial services and insurance professionals are looking for right now:

 – Reputation

Financial professionals want to work for companies with a strong reputation for financial stability, ethical behaviour, and long-term success.

 – Work-life balance

Many financial professionals place a high value on work-life balance, including flexible schedules, remote work options, and generous time off policies.

 – Technology and innovation

In a fast-changing industry, financial professionals are drawn to employers that invest in the latest technology and innovation, including cutting-edge software and hardware, and data analytics.

 – Diversity and inclusion

Increasingly, financial professionals are looking for employers that prioritise diversity and inclusion, including diverse hiring practices, workplace policies, and support for underrepresented groups.

 – Corporate social responsibility

Many financial services professionals are passionate about social and environmental causes and look for employers that share their values and engage in meaningful corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Investing in employer branding initiatives like these can help attract, retain, and engage top talent, and elevate your organization’s reputation as an employer of choice.

Davies can help you attract and retain talented financial services and insurance professionals

At Davies, we understand that attracting and retaining the right talent requires building a strong employer brand. If you’re finding it difficult to attract and retain top talent in the financial services industry, we can provide the support you need to take bold steps and achieve results.

Contact us today to learn more about how Davies can assist you in developing a hiring strategy that resonates with financial services professionals and helps you build a compelling employer brand.