Financial companies spend a lot of time building brands that win over their customers. However, many organisations fall short when creating a reputation to appeal to current talent.
Employer branding is becoming an essential part of the recruitment process. In a time pervaded by skill shortages, the right brand can make or break your chances of attracting key candidates. According to a Glassdoor study, up to 84% of participants would leave their current employer to join someone with an excellent reputation. Another 69% said they would decline a job offer from someone with a poor reputation.
The question is, how do you create a presence that attracts, engages and retains the right talent? Rebus Recruitment is here to help.
Step 1: Start with a Plan
First, you need to understand what an employer brand is, and what you hope to accomplish with it. Today, more than half of all employers struggle to find qualified candidates to fill the gaps in their teams. A compelling employer brand can draw attention from countless professionals – including passive candidates.
To determine where your employer brand needs to improve, start by gathering information about what people see when they view your business. Use methods like:
- Stakeholder interviews to see how crucial people would describe you to others.
- Surveys for existing employers – ask them to define your business in a handful of keywords.
- Questionnaires for people who reject your job offers, or don’t get accepted for a role – find out what drew them to your company, and what they didn’t like about it.
Step 2: Show Off Your Company Culture
Today’s top talent isn’t just searching for the right remuneration. The people capable of transforming your organisation want a role that delivers opportunities for growth, education, and cultural fit.
To target the right people and improve your chances of appealing to as many candidates as possible, you’ll need to define your company culture. Remember, 41% of people start their job search by looking for information about a business’s culture. Consider what your style of working says about you. For instance:
- The ability to complete simple financial jobs from home shows that you trust your employees, and you’re willing to provide better work/life flexibility.
- Weekly lunches and group bonding sessions indicate that you’re dedicated to improving friendships and connections in your workforce.
- Training and mentorship programmes show that you’re committed to helping your team members grow and reach their goals.
Step 3: Use your “EVP” To Stand Out
Skill gaps for excellent accountants, financial controllers, and other crucial candidates are growing. Businesses that want to effectively compete for superstar talent need to do more than simply be a good employer. They need to prove that they have something unique to offer.
What sets your organisation apart from the countless others searching for the same talent? You can figure this out by coming up with an “Employer Value Proposition“. This highlights the qualities that make you particularly compelling to your employees. For instance, Adidas shares their “six qualities and beliefs” that inform their hiring practices, including diversity, and collaboration.
Think about which values and behaviours are most important to you. It’s worth taking the feedback you get from your employees, shareholders, and candidates into account here too. What already convinces people to choose you over your competitors? Maybe you offer free tickets to financial networking events or an incredible mentorship program.
Step 4: Invest in Brand Advocates and Ambassadors
As you strive to become the best financial employer around, it’s important to remember the value of connecting with your existing employees. If you can delight and satisfy the team members you already have, then you’ll be able to convince them to advocate on behalf of your brand. Remember, only 12% of employees put significant trust in what employers say about themselves. Having your staff sing your praises will make you more credible.
There are plenty of ways to make the most of brand advocates. For instance, Cisco Systems, the communications company, regularly gives employees access to its corporate Snapchat account and shares stories on a career site. Ask your team to support your growth by:
- Posting about your work in a positive way on LinkedIn profiles, forums, and other social media pages.
- Sharing their latest stories of growth and accomplishment on a blog page. You can also consider videos and podcasts too.
- Showing behind-the-scenes glimpses of company culture. Cisco’s “Snapchat takeovers” led to a 600% increase in followers only a week after its launch.
Step 5: Deliver on Your Promises
It’s one thing to tell your candidates that you’re the best employer around through your job descriptions. However, it’s something else entirely to deliver what your people are looking for.
For instance, one of the most essential elements of a great job for many modern candidates is the ability to access growth and development opportunities. People want a chance to learn and accomplish new things in their financial role. If you promise to be an innovative company that invests in its staff, prove yourself. Make sure that you pay attention to processes like career planning and performance management reviews.
Google, for example, makes sure that everyone in their team has the opportunity to work on the things that matter most to them. Software engineers can use 20% of their professional time on projects that they choose. This leads to better engagement and innovation.
Find out what your financial employees need during your onboarding interview and come up with strategies to help them achieve their goals. The result will be a better brand, and more advocates to advertise for you.
Step 6: Listen to Feedback
Finally, making sure that people consistently get the best experiences from your company means listening to whatever they have to say. When you’re busy building a business, it’s often easy to let the voices of candidates and employees fade into the background.
However, assessing the needs of your new hires, long-term employees and even the people who don’t make it onto your team can teach you a lot about your organisation’s reputation. Research from Deloitte shows that companies with the most mature analytics strategies are twice as likely to improve their recruitment efforts. Gather feedback from:
- Stay interviews with candidates who consider leaving and exit interviews from people who move to a different role.
- Conversations with clients who reject your job offers, or don’t get the role they applied for.
- Surveys sent to long-term employees asking for anonymous feedback.
- One-on-one discussions during career planning and development meetings with staff.
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, which historically range from a wide variety of organisations including SME’s to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs; and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly. To get in touch call us on 01282 930930.
