Would you work for an organization whose employer brand is described as “deceptive, unethical, poorly managed, and directionless?”

Many enterprise leaders would be terrified to hear their organization described in this manner. However, this is a genuine company review on Glassdoor, and there are numerous others just like it.

Glassdoor warns: “A company’s employment brand is now owned by its employees, job seekers, and former employees, not by its HR or marketing team.” Glassdoor, indeed, and similar websites are public forums where current employees, former employees, and even interviewees can discuss their positive or negative experiences with your company. These reviews are an integral part of your online presence, and they play a crucial role in your recruiting efficacy.

What Is the Brand of Your Employer?

Employer branding refers to the means by which organizations distinguish themselves from rivals in the labour market. What is the reputation of your company among your employees? How is it as a place of employment? Your employees’ sense of care? Tendered to? Would they suggest you to their peers? All of these questions are important and contribute to your employer’s brand.

Before applying, more than three-quarters of job seekers research the company’s employer brand. This indicates that the majority of candidates you interact with will already have an impression of your company, particularly those with multiple employment options. They are also likely to leave a review after interacting with your company during the interviewing and selection process. What effect does your online presence have on business? Here are your options:

It affects both the number and quality of applicants

Positive reviews will attract applicants to your company, easing your recruitment efforts and assisting you in attracting top talent. Negative reviews will have the opposite effect: they will deter applicants from seeking better employment opportunities and work environments.

It affects customer perception

Prospective customers are also evaluating your company’s values based on your online presence. Therefore, while a positive online brand will encourage customer loyalty, negative reviews are likely to undermine their trust in your organization.

It affects the satisfaction of both current and future employees.

Even if a current employee has a predominantly positive outlook on their experience, negative reviews or discussions about them at work can be detrimental to productivity, concentration, and retention. Negative impressions of how you hire their coworkers (and how it affects the quality of their coworkers) can reduce work performance by as much as 30%. Therefore, the sooner they are addressed and resolved, the better.

We can all agree that your employer brand has a significant impact. However, the greatest challenge for the majority of leadership teams is how to improve their candidate experience and, consequently, their online reviews. Here are three approaches to establishing your employer brand online to attract top talent.

Conduct Research

Now is the time to uncover online reviews, evaluate your online presence, and determine what is being said, whether positive or negative. Fortunately, according to Glassdoor, the majority of their reviews are positive. This could be an insightful way to discover your company’s strengths as an employer, and you’ll be better prepared to leverage them when attempting to attract top talent.

1) Assess What Aligns and Does Not Align with Your Brand

What is your online presence communicating about your employer brand? Is it the intended message, or has it been slightly altered? This process may only require a minor adjustment to align with your brand’s objectives, or it may involve a more in-depth discussion internally. Regardless, the significance of this step cannot be overstated.

Consider highlighting this in your conversations with candidates if they assert that leadership tends to micromanage, whereas you grant your team creative freedom or flexibility.

2) Respond with deliberate intent

Thank the Considerate Reviewer

Thank those who took the time to provide positive feedback. This reinforces your employer brand’s positive reputation and encourages others to leave positive feedback as well.

Notate the Valid Criticisms and Suggestions

Respond with humility and thanks for the review. Mention how you’ll investigate their concerns or recommendations and then follow through.

Exhibit Caution When Facing Negative Reviews

Negative reviews are inevitable, but candidates will place greater importance on a company’s response than on the review itself. The three essential steps for responding to a negative review are:

• Sincerely thank the reviewer for their comments.

• Indicate the importance you place on their concerns and suggestions.

• Make the offer to continue the conversation via a private channel.

Example: “We appreciate your time in leaving a review. We take all feedback seriously and are interested in learning more about your experience. If you’d like to continue the conversation, please email me at [insert company email address here].”

3) Establish a Culture of Adaptive Communication

Improve the candidate experiencetoo to prevent candidate complaints. Communication is essential when seeking to create positive candidate experiences.

Keep Candidates Fully Informed at All Times

Sadly, too many recruiters and employers view the hiring process as a one-way street, requiring prompt responses and updates from candidates without providing the same in return.

Services such as candidate texting and automated intelligent messaging make it easier to provide candidates with timely, beneficial feedback. Fewer unanswered questions and less room for the competition are created when applicants are informed of the next steps they must take or are merely notified that their application has been received and reviewed.

Inform Your Candidates of What to Anticipate

Keeping candidates informed throughout the hiring process is equally as important as informing them of what to expect if they are hired. This requires providing them with a clear and comprehensive overview of their new role’s responsibilities and the company’s culture.

More than 88% of job seekers surveyed believe that a positive company culture is crucial to a company’s success. Demonstrate what distinguishes your company’s culture, and you will be ahead of the competition.

Maintain connections with Candidates

When will your candidate experience come to an end? After you decide not to hire a candidate, correct? Wrong. A candidate’s unsuitability for the position you currently need to fill does not preclude them from being suitable for a different role in the future.

Keeping in contact with all high-quality candidates, not just the ones you hire, is an effective way to enhance the candidate experience. Rather than starting from scratch, you may already have dozens of qualified applicants in your recruitment pipeline.

Proceed toOnboardg

After the candidate accepts an offer, communication should not cease. To ensure a seamless onboarding procedure, consider the following question:

• Is your onboarding process seamlessly integrated with your hiring process?
• Are all of your new hire forms digital, eliminating the need for new hires to fill out paper forms?
• Do you have a portal thatprioritizess all of a new employee’s tasks for onboarding?
• Is your onboarding portal mobile-friendly?
• Do you facilitate pre-boarding? In other words, is your onboarding portal accessible to candidatesbeforeo their start date, allowing them to jumpstart the process?

Concentrate on the Minor Details

Candidates are made to feel valued, respected, and appreciated through small interactions and personal touches. And these are the details they will recall long after the recruitment process has concluded.

Honor Your Pledges

Whether it’s sending a follow-up note after an interview or providing timely feedback, follow through on your commitments.

Be Human

Job seekers are also people, so treat them accordingly. Demonstrate empathy and comprehension, and be sincere in your interactions.

Explore How to Attract Candidates with a Strong Employer Brand in Greater Detail

Learn how to improve the candidate experience with a step-by-step approach to enhancing your employer brand by downloading our most recent eBook. Learn how to improve the quality of hire with a better candidate experience by gaining valuable insights into auditing your employer brand.

Read More: 10 Tips for Disguising Candidates to Reduce Bias

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