Where Are You on Your Employer Brand Journey?

According to the 2023 hiring trends report from Indeed’s Hiring Lab and sibling company Glassdoor, demographic shifts and aging populations mean hiring will remain challenging for years. And as always, how a company is perceived matters in the competition to attract and retain talent. Glassdoor research finds that 50% of candidates won’t work for a company with a bad reputation, and 92% of the current workforce says they’d change jobs to go to a company with an “excellent” reputation.

Employer branding is how an organization cultivates company culture and then presents its value to prospective employees through marketing, social media, career websites, job postings and other external communications.

“It’s not about just putting a new face on your brand,” says Jennifer Warren, vice president of Global Brand Marketing at Indeed. “It really does force all companies to reassess their current culture, get clear on their values and make sure what they offer aligns with what people are looking for now in an employer.”

By leveraging unique industry insights and data from the 300 million job seekers who come to Indeed each month (according to Indeed data, worldwide), Indeed and Glassdoor have identified four categories within a company that represent the employer branding journey: starters, developers, growers and leaders. 

“This continuum represents where different companies are on their employer branding evolution,” says Taylor Meadows, head strategist of Employer Brand and Employee Voice at Glassdoor. “It’s simply a matter of identifying your current position. No stage is better than the other.”

The start of a new year is as good a time as any to assess where you are on your employer branding journey. Here’s a guide to the four employer branding stages. 

Starters

Employers in this phase have undefined employer brands. “It’s typical to see stale job descriptions or nonmobile-friendly application processes when companies are in this first phase,” Meadows says. Job candidates rely solely on reviews or media coverage to form their opinions about these organizations, rather than robust career websites or informative social media pages. These companies may not have stellar reputations, or it may simply be that too few resources are being put toward projecting their value as an employer to an external audience. 

The evolution begins when you recognize the need for employer branding and identify the challenges preventing you from meeting your hiring goals. How might your promises as an employer be going unfulfilled for current employees? How might you improve company culture and worker happiness? The answers to those questions can help you better project your image as an employer to job seekers.

Look to examples of companies that do employer branding well and learn from their successes. During the pandemic, Meadows says, Southwest Airlines surveyed employees about their work experience. When the feedback said that employees didn’t clearly understand their career paths, the airline created a professional mobility team to act as an internal agency, offering resume review, interview prep and guidance. Southwest could then post about employee promotions and success on its social media pages, showing prospective employees what life at Southwest might be like.

Developers

In this early phase, your branding work is getting going and your company may have developed its employer value proposition. This defines what your business does well in the eyes of prospective job applicants. “Understand what you have to offer that is unique and compelling to the workers you want to attract,” Warren says. “It’s got to be in your DNA.” 

Soliciting employee opinions can help answer these questions and also offer an understanding of how current employees feel in their roles. Indeed, for example, performs engagement studies twice a year in which 70%-80% of employees respond — Warren attributes the high participation rates to the fact that the company makes it clear how this data collection benefits employees. “Let your employees know that you’re genuinely asking the questions because you want to create a better work environment for them,” she says. “Tell them how it’s going to benefit them.” 

Ask employees: What attracted them to their jobs during the hiring process? What could be improved to attract others? What helps them thrive in their current roles? What changes would they like to see at the organization?

Once that data comes in, make an action plan and set objectives. “I’ve been at companies where they thank you for the feedback and then you never hear anything about it again,” Warren says. “Make sure employees know you’re genuine, act on it and share out the results, action plans and progress.”

Growers

Growers have begun to scale their employer brand image — but that image may not be consistent with real life employee experience. As Indeed Vice President and Head of Global Brand Advertising and Media Carmen Graf puts it, “Growers are saying, ‘Look, I hear the insights and I need to take action on them.’” Growers have to keep closing the gap by continuing to solicit employee feedback and auditing the progress of change.

At this stage, organizations will position their employer brand through marketing efforts. This might include creating a robust career site or posting videos of employees talking about their real work experiences on Instagram. Tony’s Chocolonely, for example, made a dynamic manifesto video voiced by Idris Elba about the challenges of the chocolate industry and the core mission of Tony’s Chocolonely to end child and slave labor.

Graf pointed to Procter & Gamble as another example. Though it’s a massive conglomerate, some job seekers are attracted specifically to Dove and its “Real Beauty” campaigns, which feature diverse bodies. “People will join this huge company because they share those values,” Graf says, “and that’s what they know that company for.” 

Prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in your hiring practices and showcase that diversity in your branding. Job seekers want to see themselves represented, and hiring diversely is the right thing to do and a smart business decision. Companies with diverse teams produce more balanced work and attract a wider variety of customers.

Define your brand voice — and use one that feels authentic. “Whether you’re more buttoned up or relaxed and casual, ensure your wording, photo content, illustrations and color palettes reflect your culture. It’s about attracting the right candidate,” Meadows says. 

Actively engage job seekers and followers on social media, job sites and reviews. “The standard for employer branding has shifted from static content publishing to dynamic conversations and engagement,” Meadows says. “Publishing a photo [to social media] is great, but what about a response to a review?” In fact, 76% of Glassdoor users said their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review.

Leaders

This is the final stage of the most mature employer brands, which often have employer branding teams working in cooperation with marketing at the highest levels.

“Leading employer brands ensure that the internal employee experience matches the external story being told,” Meadows says. “They have a competitive advantage with both active and passive candidates interested in the brand.”

Leaders have credibility and project their image in everything they do, Graf says. That includes consistent messaging across advertising, emails, the sales team, press coverage and even interview questions for job applicants. “You have to make sure you’re finding talent that is going to align with your values, beliefs and mission,” Graf says. “Every single touchpoint can make an impression.”