What is talent branding and is it necessary?

Everybody has heard of company branding, but if you are recruiting for a position, you may want to pay attention to your 'Talent Brand'. What is a Talent Brand, and is it really that important? Well...if you want to know what your Talent Brand looks like, ask current and former employees; or better yet, go online and do a search on your company. Websites like Indeed.com and Glassdoor.com can show an employer how they are being perceived by current, and past employees... as well as current job seekers. How do they feel about working for your company? If they were a job seeker, how was their application and interview experience? Remember, with a strong talent brand strategy, you can significantly reduce your cost per hire and lower turnover rates.

Although many people are involved in improving their talent brand, it is marketing and HR that shoulder most of the burden in this area. By investing and creating a talent brand strategy, recruiting leaders can stay ahead of their competition and create more efficiency in the hiring process.

How to prioritize and promote your Talent Brand.

• Candidate Targets – research and locate your desired candidate group.
• Message Broadcast – create the appropriate message that will translate into acquiring and retaining priority candidates.
• Properly define job and company culture – convey long term benefits of working at your company.
• Compensation and benefits - make sure that you communicate your level of commitment in these areas.
• Promoting Talent Brand – Use job postings, online feedback centers i.e. Glassdoor, various social media outlets, and public relations channels to get the message out.
• Leading recruiters and HR departments agree that talent branding is important, and does affect their ability to hire top talent. Although US companies are ahead of most of their foreign counterparts when it comes to managing their talent brand, there is still work to be done.

So, why invest in talent branding? What' the ROI?

• As a result of building the talent brand, you will experience an increased belief in the company brand.
• It helps to prepare for future hiring needs by cultivating and sourcing candidates early.
• It satisfies the need to build general awareness for your company and your recruiting efforts.
• It provides leverage to combat the increased competition level for talent.
• It also helps to overcome the difficulty of hiring quality candidates.
• Like most big-picture projects, it's important to get buy-in from your executive leadership, and of course having the data to back you up. It is becoming clearer that your talent brand is important, and can really enhance your recruiting efforts.

At M4, we are aware of how busy HR is becoming. It is more and more challenging to keep up with technology, and the various forms of communication... both online and offline. We remain committed to you and your efforts to continually seek ways to improve your workforce and recruiting efforts.