Adria Bulpitt founder of HR Works, a resourceful HR vehicle created to promote and foster networking in the HR community in Cape Town, invited Employer Branding South Africa as keynote speaker to one of her most recent networking breakfasts, held on the 8^th of June. The topic attracted a full house of attendees consisting of a great mixed group of in-house talent acquisition specialists and HR service providers spanning employee wellness, online media service providers, brand communication strategists, social media, change management and organisational psychologists.

Inside Out

The objective was to enlighten attendees on the profound impact and influence employer branding is having within progressive companies across the globe, with a view to bringing this emerging trend and opportunities closer to home. The attendees found great value in hearing how important it is to begin building your employer brand and value proposition from within first, with assurance to involving employees every length of the way.

In addition to this, the need to ensuring that companies personalise the employee experience, through attending to each and every employee’s unique requirements throughout their life cycle, was highlighted. In this way organisations can leverage off a favourable employer brand reputation where brand ambassadors utilize social media to further build and promote the brand on behalf of their organisations.

We discussed the necessity of promoting company visibility through the positioning of one’s EVP (employer value proposition), ensuring that candidates are well informed and educated when making career decisions.  Coupled with this, I emphasised the need for HR leaders to work closely with their marketing departments in leveraging support, aligning the employer brand to their consumer brand and jointly working towards building an even stronger, more unified brand.

Whist we looked at how companies needed to embrace social media to drive employer brand awareness, I cautioned leaders to take heed of the fact that one has little control over one’s brand, therefore closer brand management needs to be looked at on an ongoing basis.

Human Intervention is still your Differentiator

It is still evident that online application processes/systems are presenting a degree of frustration for both candidate users, having to populate duplicate online requests and recruiters, who are becoming quite disheartened to the loss of applicants, through this laborious process.

Again it boils down to companies having to redefine the ideal candidate experience through achieving the right balance between the utilisation of technology (the enabler) and the human touch (your differentiator).

Concluding on a lighter note, I confirmed that no matter how big or small one’s organisation is, there is always a need to create a positive heart beat through an engaged workforce, as they are the ones that make it happen!

To hear more about how employer branding can impact on attracting, Inspiring and retaining your most important asset, your people, contact Celeste on 021 466 8900.