Attracting top tier employees to your team without an understanding or strategy for your employer brand will be like trying to herd cats.
And with staff turnover accounting for one of the largest costs to businesses – developing an employer branding strategy to attract and retain quality employees should be a priority. A bad hire costs you money and time. Both are commodities you can’t afford to lose when growing a business.
Queensland’s construction market is also in the midst of a downturn in project work. As a result, we’re seeing an upturn in perceived risk among employees about leaving secure roles for new ones. So it’s more important than ever for SME’s to gain a competitive advantage in the battle for talent!
Brand building is something I’ve been fortunate to assist many small businesses with over the years. So I thought I would pass on some of the knowledge and ideas I’ve collected over this time –
Develop your EVP & understand the employee benefits you can provide
An employee value proposition (or EVP) is an essential component of a strong employer brand. It communicates the set of attributes, often intangible that your business can provide to create a positive employment experience.
As a small business, this is one of the most critical components to attracting talent to your team.
So I would suggest you start your employee branding journey by understanding the selling points your company can provide to its employees.
What makes your employee experience unique?
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- Can you be bespoke in your employment arrangements?
- Is flexibility in the workplace a priority/option?
- Will employees have the opportunity to take on greater scopes of work?
- Do you have a method laid out for the development and growth of staff?
Employees value these things when choosing an employer. Hence they can attract like-minded, quality staff to your team.
They also give you significant attraction advantage over larger organisations who have less ability to tailor their employment offering to their employee’s individual needs.
Utilise Social Media to Build Awareness for your Employer Brand
Social media truly is the Holy Grail for small business branding.
It’s a cost-effective and simple way for you to promote your values and what you believe makes you an employer of choice.
So, once you’ve established your EVP and have a clear understanding of your business culture – leverage the power of social media to communicate it to potential employees!
With many SME’s having minimal to no budget delegated to marketing – social media provides a relatively level playing field for businesses large and small to achieve their objectives.
Reach out to your network
If you’re serious about attracting quality employees to your organisation – don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Take an integrated approach to employee attraction and engage with resources in and out of your business to help drive your strategy.
This includes reaching out to your network to let them know you’re growing and looking to bring on new people. Word-of-mouth is a powerful tool to utilise. And employees will often seek information from their peers to help them make decisions about an employer.
It also provides you an opportunity to reach candidates who may be in the early stages of their job search and not yet actively looking.
Partner with a specialist recruitment agency
Partnering with a specialist recruitment agency is another way to leverage external resources to drive your employer branding strategy.
Our job is to reach the hard to find talent – the crème de la crème of employees.
Unfortunately, more often than not, these people aren’t floating around on job boards looking for their next opportunity. Which means we’re always on the lookout to understand where the industries talent is, what intangible and tangible qualities they possess and what it is they value in an employer.
Needless to say, most agencies will have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the market they’re operating in and a strong network within them. Allowing your business to piggyback off their existing brand awareness, network, trust and knowledge of the employment market.
By taking a dedicated approach to understanding your business and its culture an agency can become a very valuable advocate for your business. Assisting you to overcome the barriers small businesses often face in the employment process when trying to attract top tier employees to their team.
And the power of this should not be underestimated!
If you would like to speak to our team further about building your employer brand or any resourcing needs you may have call 07 3103 7777 or email getstarted@constructionpeople.com.au.
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