16 PTI 3/2014

What, in a nutshell, is employer branding? It’s branding applied to companies as employers, as opposed to branding of corporations and their consumer goods. It’s the identity-based development and positioning of a company as a credible and attractive employer.

What is happening in the labour market right now that is driving the development of employer branding?Employer branding emerged about a decade ago with economic development in many western countries. There was a shortage of skilled labour because of a decrease in the number of young people entering the labour market and it became necessary to learn how to attract employees, but also to retain them. We are also seeing a lot more global companies competing for our talent.

So it’s a buyer’s market for employees?Yes. Employer branding is most popular in countries that are experiencing a shift of power from employer to jobseeker, such as what we are experiencing here in Germany.

That’s the origin of most marketing efforts – when you experience a situation where you cannot sell your goods easily because you have a lot of competitors. Suddenly, you have to start differentiating yourself and selling yourself.

At what stage do companies seek help with their employer brand?Employer branding makes most sense to people who are struggling to attract and retain talent. Many companies have attractive attributes, but they’re just not very close to the surface. Those companies find it easier to engage in the process of employer branding. It’s not difficult to convince people of the value of what we do.

However, we also get calls from companies who receive thousands of applications a year. They really have a whole different problem, which is that they generate too many applications that do not fit their criteria and corporate culture. Maybe they have a very popular reputation in the consumer market, for example consumer car brands; everybody wants to work at Porsche or BMW. So they really drown in applications. Their problem is not visibility or attracting applications – increasing, it’s the quality and the fit.

So we create a profile that sets the employer apart and that tells a story about the employer, and then they attract people who fit and drive away the ones who don’t. The more you talk about what you can give and what you expect, the easier it becomes for people to find out for themselves if they are a good match for you.

Does it only apply for attracting top-tier talent? Or is it applicable for jobs that are in larger supply, such as driver jobs, for example?Communicating what you are about as an employer will mean that the whole company becomes visible on the

HR & Business Management

Employer Branding: Why should I work here?

Employer branding is, in its most simple form, the application of brand management techniques to human resources management. With severe skills shortages in many sectors and big competition for the best potential recruits, how can companies stand out from the crowd? Paula Thieme, consultant with DEBA (Deutsche Employer Branding Akademie) explains why employer branding is taking off.

Culture

Who suits this

organisation (and who doesn’t?)

Differentiators

Employer value proposition (EVP)

Central questions of employer positioning

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Identity Objectives Values

What makes me special?

Where do i want to go?

What do i stand

for as an employer?

Identification potential

17PTI 3/2014

labour market. It’s not just used in order to attract the much sought-after talent. It’s also for those who might be in larger supply. It’s important for the employer to create a profile that reflects the identity of the company. This will work for all kinds of recruits.

Jobs in the public transport sector tend to be viewed as not terribly attractive. Can these principals be applied in this case?It’s not about specific jobs and company perks and benefits. You need to do your homework about what makes yours a good place to work and then you need to put it into words and start communicating about it. However, we can’t help to gloss over problematic work situations. If a company has problems with being an attractive employer, then branding will not help.

What kinds of keywords do companies want attached to their brands?It’s too difficult to generalise. Brands, by definition, are very different from each other and that’s their purpose; differentiation. The point is to find out what makes

you unique as an employer, your authentic flavor and identity, and put it into words.

Is it aspirational for employers? Do they describe how they would like to be?It’s a future-orient perspective, so you could say it’s a mix of what’s already there and what needs to be incorporated to master the future. We talk to management about what needs to change about their corporate culture in order for them to meet their strategic goals.

Often we need to be able to attract talent that we don’t already have. For example, very often in industries that are very technology-driven, companies are used to attracting a certain type of applicant. But if you are just entering into a new market and adopting new technologies, you may have to attract a different type of applicant, to add attributes to your corporate culture that are not already there.

How does it work in practice?Firstly, we usually send psychologists in to the company to conduct focus groups and figure out what employees like about coming to work every day, even though the salary might be better somewhere else. We also talk to management, and then we extract he components of corporate culture that are suitable for differentiation from a brand perspective.

It’s a process of clustering topics. We verbalise who would fit the culture and who wouldn’t. Once we have that strategic positioning done, we plan the implementation, both on the inside and on the labour market. External implementation involves the whole instrument set of personnel marketing, so we use classic channels and digital channels.

What happens after you’ve left?Then they have to live what they promise, show employees and potential employees that it’s not just marketing. It’s the development and the strengthening of a culture.

HR & Business Management

Paula Thieme, Consultant at DEBA GmbH, Berlin

Contact: thieme@employerbranding.org copying editor@uitp.org

> Overall satisfaction> no dissatisfaction

Rational employer benefits

> better applicants‘ fit> increased employee

retention> higher identification> more motivation

Emotional employer benefits

Hygiene factors

Differentiators

Identification potential

Factors ofemployer quality

Factors creatingan employer brand

Employer branding

Factors of employer branding

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