OK, what do we do after a lousy year?
We just saw some survey results that were encouraging, yet depressing. The topic was outsourcing, specifically, contractor optimization. What it suggested was that phenomenon statisticians call “reversion to the mean,” which in common English means, “back to normal.” Unfortunately, there will never be a back to normal for staffing. There hasn’t been any normal to revert to for some time now.
Staffing.org report: Mastering Internet Recruiting - Job Seeker Attitudes and Behaviors
When I review our files on the job market and candidate attitudes, two things stand out. First is the turmoil in today’s corporate life: commonplace events these days involving outsourcing, offshoring, downsizing, rightsizing, mergers, acquisitions, and bankruptcies. Second are the changes in employee attitudes in response to these facts of business life. Decades of hard knocks have had their effect. Trust is pretty much gone. However many workers may still want to trust their employers and say they do, few actually do. They are wary, self-protective and alert to possibilities in the job market. 2009 was just one more disappointment. Employers can’t afford to be loyal any more, and employees know it.
So let’s talk about 2010. That survey we reviewed suggested hope for better times, which is good. It also suggested a return to “normal” staffing practice, which is not. Here’s our take on 2010:
The economy will gradually rebalance and hiring will gradually uptick. Staffing departments and external recruiters will sigh with relief; gratefully dusting off the old pre-recession, 2007 operations playbook, they will begin to think about rebuilding. For 80% of them, this will be a mistake. The smarter course would be to leave that manual on the shelf and try to understand the new definitions of staffing best practice and the new meaning of normal. This new normal begins with employer rebranding.
We’ve talked about corporate branding over time. Here’s the summary: It’s what you represent to candidates in the job marketplace, in other words, the sum of your official PR plus your financials and social media score. It’s your word of mouth squared. And it’s probably not as lofty as you think.
A vintage 2007 branding effort is not what you want for 2010. Too much has changed in the job marketplace. Not too long ago, SHRM conducted a poll of staffing professionals, The Employer Brand: A Strategic Tool to Attract, Recruit and Retain Talent. Here’s what it reported:
- 81% of HR professionals said their organizations have either a formal or informal HR strategy to use their employer brand to attract talent. 69% use this strategy to retain talent.
- 97% of HR professionals said their employer brand was aligned with the company’s mission and vision, and 95% also considered it aligned with the company’s business strategy.
- To better communicate the employer brand to prospective candidates:
- 67% of employers updated the company website;
- 58% highlighted company initiatives such as community service projects on the Web;
- 56% developed an organizational tagline;
- 52% communicated about the organization’s brand in a way that is understandable to everyone;
- 47% established and/or updated core values;
- 41% updated the company mission and vision statements;
- 40% developed and implemented various communication strategies such as letters from the CEO, in-house meetings, recognition and rewards.
If all that is true (and SHRM does conduct good polls), why are so many jobsites still non-compelling? Why are so many employer brands muddy or bland? Why are so many candidates disappointed with their Internet search experiences?
Most company employer brands need a rethink for 2010. However much business prospects improve, they will not return us to the good old days. Globalization, increased competition and the demand for efficiency and productivity are not going away. Candidate wariness and mistrust will not evaporate. The world has changed.
Employment brands are fragile. If your business suffered in 2009, so did your employment brand. If you announced layoffs, or dividend suspensions, or division sell-offs, or lower profits, or a divestiture or a plant closing or a product recall, your employment brand also suffered. You may not be aware of it yet because you weren’t in the job market much or at all. But your employees noticed, and now at least half of them are receptive to a better job offer. Outside candidates also noticed because they know how to vet prospective employers on the Internet, where there are no secrets. It’s when you start hiring again, and your employees begin receiving recruiters’ calls again, that you will begin to feel the difference.
The best piece of practical branding advice we can give you from our observation throughout 2009 is to focus on your jobsite. Over the last year it has become the center of employer brand expression, the communications hub where all Internet roads converge. It has become the corporate foyer, the place that says “Hi there, let’s talk,” the place of engagement, shared experience, possibility and potential. Today, it is the café environment where the great company and the great prospect meet to discuss their mutually great future.
One more thing: It’s also the only place these days where you have complete control of your branding message.
So we wish you successful rebranding for 2010. If you need help on how to approach it, what to put on the website and how to say it, read our report, Mastering Internet Recruiting: Job Seeker Attitudes and Behaviors. This may seem self-serving, but it’s the best present we can give you.
And Happy Holidays!
RELATED READING
Employer Branding: Staffing Basics Review (Part 1)
Employer Brand
Employment Branding: the Only Long-Term Recruiting Strategy
Revelation - Your Employer Band is No Longer Owned by Your Firm
Brand vs. Employer - Judy Ordioni's blog
Employer Branding (Wall Street Journal)
6 Steps to an Employer Brand Strategy (ere.net)
Before you Waste Your Time and Money on So-Called Employer Branding |
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