Leverage Your Company Brand for Better Talent Management

Finding the best talent for any organization’s workforce is one of the principal challenges facing those responsible for workforce management initiatives. While best practices for traditional talent sourcing and management are still effective, there are recent innovations that help supercharge these efforts. 

There is a convergence occurring between the traditional practices used to source qualified talent and the burgeoning influence of social media across virtually every facet of modern living. Sourcing top talent relies on many of the same strategies employed by brands seeking to engage customers.

The old paradigm – for both brands and hiring managers – employed an “outbound” model wherein marketing messages were developed internally and broadcast to the relevant communities (for advertisers that’s prospective customers and for hiring managers that’s talent).  The goal was that attractive messages would draw the interest of customers and talent, respectively. 

Any social media marketer will tell you that the new wave is based on engagement.  Brands create a community fueled by relevant content and information to create trust in the brand and subsequently what the brand offers.  For example, a traditional online job posting site does not allow the potential candidate to interact with other candidates, discuss the merits (or flaws) of the hiring organization, get unbiased perspectives on the company/work environment/management, etc. Nor does it permit the advertiser the ability to answer concerns or questions in real time. 

Hiring has, in effect, become another beneficiary of robust brand management.  A strong brand identity offers recognition among candidates. In addition to this, social platforms such as LinkedIn allow candidate to engage with and about the brand in ways traditional sourcing methods cannot.

Savvy organizations with strong brand awareness are extending this new media strategy to address their workforce management challenges. These organizations are able to capitalize on their brand reputation when seeking to source top quality talent on a contingent basis. They’re leveraging the recruitment infrastructure of Managed Service Providers while capitalizing on their established brands across new and past employees, referred candidates, and candidates’ networks, spawning talent communities that enhance their recruitment contractor reach. 

New interactive environments allow candidates to immerse themselves in a company’s brand, culture, and community before they even apply for a position.  This helps ensure the candidates who apply for contract work are already comfortable with the organization and are thus less prone to turnover.  Going further, these channels provide an exceptional opportunity for hiring organizations to gain access to the pools of talent that already exist in communities online, using their respective brands as attractors. This really doesn’t need to be in here as it discusses what it does for the candidates and not for the company using the brand to attract talent.