While your customer-facing brand speaks to the external audience and distinguishes your brands from those of competitors, the employer brand is how you differentiate your company in the job market — and how you reinforce the decision current employees have made to work here.
Having tons of job applicants is great, but attracting the right applicants is better. The cost of bad hires is high. An employer brand will help you interest the sort of job applicants who will thrive in your culture and are more likely to stay because the company offers them the work style and environment that’s right for them.
If new employees find a disconnect between what they experienced in the hiring process and what it’s really like when they show up for work, that won’t bode well for them sticking around for the long term. An employer brand that is authentic and true to the culture helps confirm new hires’ decision to join your company.
A strong employer brand can also reinforce the decision employees made when they chose this company in the first place. In today’s job market, employees generally have other options for employment, so it’s important to reinforce the reasons your company is a better place to work than others might be.
An employer brand often speaks to employees’ roles in driving the vision of the company. Help employees feel the power of being part of this collective effort towards a meaningful goal. Employee engagement is high when employees are excited about how their individual roles and personal contributions support the success of that vision.
The external brand promise is what your company offers your customers. The employer brand promise is what your company offers employees. These two promises are two sides of the same coin. The employees are the ones who deliver on that customer brand promise — or not.
