Why Growth Companies Should Care About Employer Branding

“A company has a reputation in the market for its products and what it sells,” said Jason Seiden. “But companies also have a reputation as employers.” 

Seiden has spent the last several years consulting with major corporations and high-growth companies to better understand and even help shape their employer brand. I sat down recently with Jason to discuss what companies are doing employer branding really well, what tools they’re using, and how companies—large and small—can supercharge their employer brands.

Here’s the interview:

Jason Seiden and co-founder Lisa Cervenka recently launched their Chicago-based startup, Brand Amper. Their web-based software is a branding solution specifically designed to meet the demands of managing and building a brand on LinkedIn and other social platforms, where the voice of the employee trumps the voice of the company.

In developing their technology, the Brand Amper cofounders have gained further insight into employer branding. There are 3 important strategies Seiden points out for companies who want to prioritize their employer brands.

1. Get your employees engaged. “You’re giving them the tools to talk about what’s awesome about where they work to make it easier to attract talent,” says Seiden. This can mean providing software tools that empower employees share their employer brand, but it can also be a set of words or phrases that become a part of the company vernacular. By allowing your employees to become social recruiters, executives and entrepreneurs are freed up to focus on vetting the talent and making sure they are selecting the best fit for the role.
2. Don’t be afraid of having your employees poached. “If you have six employees, and you’re that afraid they’re going to leave, you’re not doing it right,” Seiden jokes. But it’s the truth. There’s no amount of tools, vocabulary, or tactics that can fix a culture that’s truly broken. As best-selling author and researcher Daniel Pink points out in his book Drive, for employees to do their best work, employers must provide three things: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. As long as employers pay fairly and provide these three employee benefits, their employer brand has the nutrients it needs to grow.
3. Give your employees space to share what makes the company important to them. It’s great for founders and executives to share the story of why the business was founded. But employers shouldn’t expect that to be the thing that gets their employees up in the morning. Everyone is unique and employees should be given permission to share those unique qualities in a way that expresses their individuality while supporting the employer brand. So, help your employees craft their story by listening, remaining open, and building on their ideas.

Seiden quotes salon entrepreneur Vidal Sassoon as a way to implore employees to get their employer brand down, “If you don’t look good, I don’t look good.”

This article was written by Matt Hunckler from Forbes and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. SmartRecruiters is the hiring success platform to find and hire great people.