Our recent employer branding event held at The Sanctum Soho Hotel was a resounding success. Speakers from TMP Worldwide and ITV took us through their own employer branding journeys and our own David Johnston, Director of the HR Division explained how we act as brand ambassadors for our clients.
Neil Harrison, Head of Employer Branding & Insight, TMP Worldwide opened up the event with some great examples of Employer Brand best practice, demonstrating what has been achieved in some of his Client organisations. It was clear, with the correct resources and budget in place, the Employer Brand message can be incredibly powerful, permeating throughout all communications and processes both internally and externally.
Catherine Schlieben, Head of Recruitment at ITV then guided us through the realities of entering a business with very limited Employer Brand presence and walked us through her approach. What she has achieved in her initial 18 months is incredible. She has transformed the internal recruitment model and has created an Employee offering that has dramatically increased the pool of relevant Talent applying to ITV. Now she will be working closely with HR to ensure the message is consistent across other people processes to ensure maximum Employee engagement and on-going retention.
The messages from both parties were very clear:
Your Employer Brand is absolutely integral to business strategy – resonating well beyond the doors of the HR department. It is a promise you make to all potential, would-be, existing and might-be-again employees and therefore must be consistently communicated at all levels and throughout all people processes.
Finally David reminded everyone that recruitment partners must be chosen very carefully. They are often the first ‘direct’ conversation between a client and their future talent and so must understand the value of a strong employer brand – and the importance of how it is communicated. The recruitment consultant will not only represent your Employer Brand authentically, but will also be able to guide the right talent to your door.
The top tips from the day:
- The involvement and endorsement of senior leaders is critical
- The research supporting your brand should be topical and relevant
- Your employer brand does not exist in isolation but should engage with your consumer brand and your business objectives
- Ideally, your messaging should work internally as well as externally – candidates should land in the organisation they thought they were joining
- If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it
- A great Employer Brand will engage and retain your staff
- You will attract higher calibre staff for less salary if you are true to a best practice Employee Value Proposition
- It will save you money, but it does require investment to do that
- And finally, if you’re not doing it...
And what did our guests have to say ….
"Thank you for organizing such a great event, amazing venue, great speakers and superb company". Cecile Pineau, Yahoo
"Thanks so much for inviting me this evening. I had a really informative and entertaining night". Daniel Ely, Jamie Oliver
"Just a quick note to say thanks for last night – great speakers, very interesting topic and rather too much wine"! Jo Bolding, Sony Music
What’s your experience – were you at the event? What did you think of the presentations – and how do you work with recruiters to ensure that your employer brand is represented well?