In a candidate's market, even the best companies need a strong employment brand to win the war for talent. Just as a product brand is defined by the customer experience, your employment brand is defined by the employee experience at your company.

How To Create A Better Employment Brand

Most visitors to your website may not be actively looking for a job but would be open to new opportunities. A great employment brand works in the background to keep the career opportunities at your company top of mind for all website visitors, slowly converting them from visitors to candidates or referrers. Do they come away feeling positive or neutral about your company? Can they easily find good reviews from your current employees online? If someone walked into a bar and said your company name out loud, would people immediately think of it as a place to grow their career or "just some company"?. There a few ways to easily boost your credibility with (especially) passive job seekers.

1. Create a quick video showcasing your company. Include your office, your employees, and your work. Job posts that contain a video are viewed 12% more than those without and receive a 34% greater application rate.
2. Create a space on your careers page that has employee testimonials and pictures of the team. You can include perks like free coffee, but try to make it really easy for someone to understand why employees love going to work every day (hint: it's not just the coffee).
3. Encourage employees to write good reviews on Glassdoor. According to ERE Media, about half of job seekers use Glassdoor at some point in their job search or consulted reviews to find top employers before they even thought about applying at a company.
4. Showcase growth opportunities and career paths. According to a Job Seeker National Study, half of the currently employed individuals see their position as temporary. Showcase growth opportunities and career paths on your website so that candidates don't look at your company as just another stepping stone.
5. Engage your audience on social media. Social media has intertwined company reputation with the customer experience.
6. Highlight the accomplishments of your current employees. This makes them stand out in their micro-communities as an ambassador for your employment brand.

Great Employment Brands Generate Referrals

Good companies are marked by employees who speak positively about their experience. Teammates who are vocal about positive experiences create credibility for your employment brand message and are more likely to refer their friends for openings at the company.

Great employment brands are marked by something magical - even people who aren't employees start referring their friends to your company, simply because they have heard so many positive things about it. Don't sleep on external referrals when it comes to employment branding.