This article was originally published by Scout Talent and reproduced here with permission.
A report from KPMG has found that 77 per cent of business leaders have cited talent as their biggest challenge in 2023. The specific talent challenges being faced will range from attracting the right candidates, candidate drop off, and quick quitting. Creating a strategy to address these challenges is key to retaining your people, and growing your business. One facet of this strategy should be Employer Branding.
In this article, we’ll explore how organisations that prioritise Employer Branding can address the common talent acquisition problems mentioned above:
- Quick quitting
- Candidate drop off
- Building a talent pipeline
Scout Talent’s Employer Branding service and talent pool management software module, :Engage, are designed to help create a long-term Employer Branding strategy, and articulate your EVP. Scout Talent works with you to help you understand your “why” – why should someone work for you and not someone else? What makes you different? What makes you better? When you have articulated answers to these questions, it will help candidates understand your “why”, too.
Employer Branding: a TA technique that solves problems
How does Employer Branding solve quick quitting?
Quick quitting is a phenomenon where a candidate takes a job, only to quit within the first year. Recruiting to replace the new hire can be a time-consuming and expensive process – plus, the gap they leave behind in your team can affect productivity and morale. So how do organisations tackle this phenomenon?
Many employers believe that quick quitting is the result of something negative about the candidate (for example, they do not want to do hard work or they found a higher paying job elsewhere). However, it is often related to a poor candidate experience during the talent acquisition process, which can lead to a lack of connection between a person and their organisation.
Employer Branding addresses quick quitting by building a great candidate experience from before the person applies, to long after they have accepted the job.
Once an organisation is able to articulate its Employer Brand (with the help of Scout Talent’s Employer Branding specialists perhaps), they are able to incorporate key elements of it throughout the entire application process. From the job ad, through the interview process, and right up to when an offer is made, organisations should be communicating their unique values and benefits to applicants. This ensures candidates are aware of the “why”, and are actively connected with the organisation’s purpose and values.
An organisation can continue to build the connection that new hires have with them as part of their onboarding process. By showcasing the organisation’s Employer Brand that was spoken about as part of the attraction stage, new hires will start to feel like they are part of the team. Now is the time for them to see the organisation’s purpose, values, and benefits come to life!
New hires who have received a positive candidate experience, and who have been onboarded with care, are not going to be immediately looking for a new role. Quitting within a year comes from a lack of connection between an employee and their organisation. Strong employer branding addresses this throughout the entire talent acquisition process.
Want to learn more about articulating your EVP? Get in touch with Scout Talent’s Employer Branding specialists here.
How does Employer Branding reduce candidate dropoff and ghosting?
Some employers find that candidates start to disappear during the application and interview process. They may have expressed initial interest but at some point became disinterested or preferred their prospects elsewhere and moved on. In many cases, these applicants “ghost” the organisation altogether, disappearing without giving feedback.
Why does this happen? Often, it’s because the candidate applied for the role with no excitement or passion. They weren’t interested in working for that specific organisation – they just wanted a job. Then, something else came along and they moved on.
Employer Branding can help to prevent this issue. When organisations clearly showcase their benefits and values that set them apart, the applicants they attract are more likely to be connected to the organisation and stay invested in the application and interview process.
In the event that a promising candidate does take another job, having a strong Employer Brand is still a benefit as it will make the candidate more likely to communicate rather than disappear – ghosting an organisation would mean possibly burning the bridge for future opportunities.
The great news is that Scout Talent has tools to reduce dropoff and support various candidate journeys. Alongside their Employer Branding services, their software module :Engage allows you to build and nurture talent pools, so that you can stay in touch with previous candidates for future vacancies.
How can Employer Branding support your talent pipeline?
Another issue that many organisations face is losing out on highly skilled candidates who did not get hired simply because there was only one vacancy. This issue worsens when these candidates do not receive feedback on their application; if they feel they had a bad experience, unsuccessful candidates may not speak positively about an organisation, which could affect its ability to draw in future candidates.
In this current competitive talent climate, organisations can stay proactive by responding to every candidate and adding them to their talent pool through software modules such as :Engage. By building a talent pipeline and engaging with promising candidates about new opportunities, organisations will be more prepared to address future talent acquisition needs.
Scout Talent’s platform is a Circle Back Initiative certified provider. This means that their technology empowers organisations to provide quick and branded feedback to every candidate, regardless of whether or not they were successful in their application. From an Employer Branding perspective, this helps an organisation to build a reputation as an employer that is communicative and treats people as more than just a number.
From the applicant’s perspective, they are receiving a better candidate experience and are more likely to want to stay engaged with an organisation. This sets your organisation up for success as it provides a future pipeline for your talent acquisition needs.
If you’d like to explore how Employer Branding can help your organisation solve quick quitting, reduce candidate dropoff, and build a talent pool, contact Scout Talent’s Employer Branding specialists today.