It isn’t just about the benefits package, hours and location anymore.  Attracting top talent relies on having a brand that people want to work for.  After all, your brand is what sets you apart from other employers and defines you as company where people want to be. Similar to marketing a product, marketing your company’s brand is a crucial part of attracting the top-notch applicants, particularly in the technology sector, as candidates are scarce and job options are plentiful.

What can you do to make your company more attractive to the best and the brightest?  These 5 tips from our expert consultants are a good place to start.

Think like a candidate when writing the job description

When you write the job description, it is important that it isn’t simply a laundry list of responsibilities. In addition to earning a competitive wage, what else would entice you to take this job? Highlight intangibles which are often equally important as salary:

•       exceptional benefits

•       atmosphere & ethos

•       awards won

•       opportunities for learning and advancement

•       convenient location

•       flexible work options

•       early or frequent performance reviews

•       childcare, training or travel reimbursement

•       mentoring opportunities

Build your brand on YouTube

Let candidates hear for themselves what it is like to work for your company—directly from employees themselves. Showcase your corporate culture by creating a series of videos in which you interview star employees.  Let them talk about your company’s cultures, values and what their day is like.

You can complement these interviews with videos that highlight company events (for example holiday parties, community involvement, etc.). Upload the clips to your YouTube channel and link to them from your website, social media pages, blog, job postings or anywhere else you connect with talent.

Treat your job applicants as customers

According to entrepreneur.com, 6 in 10 professionals agree that no follow-up or communication by the company after applying is the most harmful thing to an employer’s brand. Even if you think you found your ideal candidate, don’t rule all the others out. Treat each and every applicant as if they may one day work for your organisation.

Engage with a recruitment firm you trust to sell your brand for you

Even if you have a great employer brand, company culture and benefits package, it may not be easy attracting top talent. Finding the right people is incredibly hard work, and often an experienced specialist recruitment firm is the best option.  Not only can they draw upon a pool of candidates they already have relationships with, but they will be able to sell your company’s brand for you. As a third party who is familiar with your company and the market as a whole, candidates usually appreciate the bird’s eye view a good recruitment consultant can offer.

Monitor your reputation on the internet

You wouldn’t expect someone to eat at a restaurant with bad reviews. Why would you expect someone to work for an employer with negative ratings?

Potential job candidates today have access to a vast amount of online information about your company before they even step foot in the door for interviews. You want to make sure this information reflects as positively as possible on your company.

With sites like Glassdoor, an online forum where former employees can describe their experiences with your company, you want to make sure you are defending your employer brand by telling your side of the story too.

Also, consider setting up Google Alerts to keep tabs on how your brand is represented online. Every time your company name is mentioned online, Google will send you an email alert.

About Oliver Parks

Oliver Parks Consulting offers search-based recruitment solutions to the technology sector, specialising in the ERP, CRM, CMS, ECM, BI and Open Source Technology spaces. The firm’s multilingual consultants operate in narrowly-defined niche market segments, enabling them to gain extensive knowledge of the people and companies operating in each technology.  Oliver Parks has a proven track-record with more than 100,000 candidates worldwide and more than 300 clients globally.