4 Steps to Developing and Maintaining Your Employer Brand

4 Steps to Developing and Maintaining Your Employer BrandHaving a strong employer brand is critical to notlage only recruiting top talent but attracting and retaining talent which is even mora important. You need to attract the best and keep them once you have them. You dont want the best talent going to your competitor as talent competition is just as important, if not more, than competition in the market.So how can you build and maintain a strong employer brand? Here are 5 tips1. Create a presence on Glassdoor and become an engaged employer.Post pictures of your team, your team having fun, and your office. Give your employees incentive to write positive reviews on Glassdoor by creating a positive culture and providing them with a great place to work.Companies that have great reviews are attracting the best talent companies like Google (4,280 reviews, 4.4 star), Airbnb (320 reviews, 4.4 star), Facebook (1,200 reviews, 4.5 star), and HubSpot (279 reviews, 4.5 star).Candidates are relying on Glassdoor more and more and many check your companys page before even applying or replying to your recruiters.2. Create a careers page. It isnt expensive and it really pays off. Show on one page (dont make candidates click on 10 links to find out why they should work for you) why candidates should want to work for you.Show pictures of your engaged, diverse, and passionate teams. Tell them how they will make an impact. Tell them whats in it for them promote your benefits and other perks. Add videos of your current employees talking about what they love about working at your company.3. Eliminate the long applications. Candidates dont want to spend 45 minutes filling out an application. Many candidates hit the x in the right corner when they see specific applicant tracking systems being used. Especially, when the resume parsing feature doesnt work. It puts all the information in the wrong spots and only creates more frustration and it results in application abandonment.T here are a lot of great applicant tracking systems out there that are efficient and affordable. Theres no reason to make candidates go through an unnecessarily long application process when you can create a positive experience from the start by respecting their time.4. Hire people who fit with your culture. It takes everyone to maintain your positive image. The people you choose to hire represent your brand and are going to be the ones speaking to your customers and many will also speak to your prospective employees (whether its their friends and family, on Glassdoor, on social media, etc.).It is extremely important to ensure you are recruiting the best. Relying solely on job boards alone can be a big mistake as youre relying on active candidates only youre missing out on a market of passive candidates and many of them can be engaged, especially if you have a great employer brand. This allows you to find candidates who not only meet your requirements, but also fit well with your companys culture.Be one of those companies that when recruiters reach out to your employees, they say no thanks I love my current jobYour return from investing in your employer brand will almost always be positive. Invest in your employer brand like you invest in your marketing. After all, your employees are the ones representing your brand and if they arent happy (or you cant attract productive employees), your brand suffers in more than one way.About the authorMarissa Letendre is an accomplished recruiter and Certified People Sourcing Professional. She has worked as a recruiter and resume writer, giving her an understanding of the industry from both the candidate and employer perspective. She is also the owner of Right Recruit.