What is a Staffing Employment Brand?
Recruiting and staffing firms have a difficult tightrope to walk. They need to simultaneously maintain two very different, but very similar, brands.
The first is their employer brand; the image that they project about the sort of work environment they provide to their own staff. Think of how Google or Pixar present a strong employer brand by letting their workers Segway throughout the office, or have a ping-pong table to employee ratio of 1:1.
These companies have built employer brands so strong that they are the modern day yardsticks over which every other employer is trying to leap. The follow-on effects that come from being an ‘employer of choice’ are obvious.
The second (and perhaps more difficult) perception to develop is that of the employment brand.
‘That sort of sounds exactly the same though’ I hear you sigh. Oh but it’s not.
An employment brand is something unique to the recruitment industry. It’s a reputation that’s built less around the outcome of a job search, and more around the process.
Regardless of your recruiting firm’s size, scope or specialty, developing an employment brand could be the single most important long-term investment your company makes.
What is a Recruitment Brand?
There is one simple question that gets to the crux of what an employment brand is all about: How do people outside of your recruiting or staffing firm perceive the experience of working with your firm?
Your employment brand is exactly that. How outsiders perceive the quality and effectiveness of your recruiting services.
Unfortunately, as celebrities, politicians and anyone in the public eye will tell you, the reality of a situation isn’t always reflected in people’s perception of that situation. While this can obviously be a bad thing, it also means that these perceptions, however negative, can be molded and changed. It just requires some investment on your end.
A strong employment brand is one that clearly communicates your company culture and values to outsiders, or more specifically, to potential candidates. It should give these candidates a sense of what makes your firm stand out from the rest, and provide compelling reasons for them to choose you for their job search.
Recruiting and staffing firms that have built successful employment brands are those that have recognized jobseekers as one of their most important assets, and have worked hard to display this recognition to the outside world. Over time this turns a firm’s reputation into one that is synonymous with quality and effectiveness.
Whether you like it or not, every recruiting and staffing firm has an employment brand, including yours. But not every firm actively tends to it. By devoting resources to your firm’s employment brand you could be positioning yourself as a market leader, and be enjoying all that such a position entails.
