Employer Branding through Social Media: HR’s Role

 Introduction

Organizations worldwide are going through a radical change focusing obsessively on the new concept of an attractive employer allowing them to differentiate themselves. This differentiation is becoming more significant as the unemployment rate is at its minimum in most developed countries. Czech Republic is a country with an unemployment rate of around 2.3% in 2018, the lowest among all EU member states. To attract new employees, organizations are still searching for the best possible solution and that is acquiring the label of "attractive employer." Finding and nurturing the best talent is crucial to the company's survival and growth. Effective branding does not only attract but also retain talented personnel, thus, it is a useful tool for companies to win the competition for the "war for talent." To fix this problem, companies have to find out which attributes are the most important to certain groups of potential employees and they must understand the part of employer branding in this process.

Employer branding stands for the total of psychological, economic, and functional gains related to a job and an employer. Its goal is to communicate to the market that the company is a place where people really want to work. Employer branding is indeed the relationship between the employee and the employer, as well as the human resources and marketing functions. It points out the instrumental and symbolic characteristics of an organization, thus, job seekers are enabled to take the organization’s image as different from competitors in the recruitment market.

Employer attractiveness is a concept closely related to employer branding and it focuses on the positive image an employee- a potential one- has of the benefits of working for a particular company. The perception of a brand is very similar to the reputation of a company, and reputation is one of the most important factors in the recruitment process. Millennials, who make up 35% of the global workforce, are quite known for prioritizing purpose, social responsibility, and alignment with their values. They are attracted to employers that are not just offering good pay, but also development programs, flexible working hours, work/life balance, ethical practices, corporate values, and job security.

Millennials from Czech, like their counterparts from other parts of the world, are security seekers, the friendly work environment is very important for them, also they need development and work/life balance. This, in turn, calls for companies to adjust their marketing endeavors, particularly recruiting marketing, to entice and keep talented employees onboard. They are challenges for employers to get employees that are self-interested, lazy, or disloyal. The millennials generation also greatly respects the things like freedom, home, and family.

The internet has drastically transformed the manner in which people get to know about the companies and job vacancies, making the acquisition and access to the talent pool imperative for the success of the companies. Companies must change along with this new reality and they must use digital tools like social media and recruitment websites to create a strong employer brand. These sources give potential applicants the opportunity to learn about the organization, the job offers, and the company culture, which is very important for Millennials when they are selecting the potential employers they want to work with.

Social media has become very powerful in the today’s world for the employer branding campaigns and recruiting process. It gives access to a huge pool of people who are actively looking for new jobs and careers. Companies are using these platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ to create a strong brand image, source the right talents, and promote their companies to the job candidates. According to the research, the social media and career websites are the two main tools to brand a company, with 76% of companies using social media and 64% using career websites.

(Mičík & Mičudová, 2018)

Conclusion

Companies are targeting being "attractive" or "best" employers more and more to draw the most talented employees from Generation Y, who are to account for 35% of the global workforce in 2020. The Internet has massively raised the level of awareness of Millennials, who know the company, and the companies can improve their brand and image. An investigation with TOP 60 Czech employers in 2016 aimed to find out if these employers can attract Millennials with their career and social media sites. The results confirmed that 78% of employers employ career websites to attract Millennials, whereas only 33% choose social media sites for this purpose. The study also revealed a set of employers with the best career and social media sites in which the main criteria for the Millennials to select a future employer are indicated. These companies are mostly successful and profitable, operating in the automotive, mechanical engineering, ICT, and consumer industries. The research corroborated the connection between organizational culture communicating and a positive image of the organization. The biggest weaknesses were found in the organizational culture communication and positive image creating.

Reference

Mičík, M., & Mičudová, K. (2018). Employer brand building: Using social media and career websites to attract Generation Y. Economics & Sociology, 11(3), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.14254/2071-789X.2018/11-3/11