The Key to Becoming a Buzzworthy Employer

Last week, I was fortunate enough to moderate a Glassdoor panel focused on employer branding and recruiting that included some of the world’s leading experts from companies ranging from Pinterest to CARFAX. There was a wide variety of tips, tricks, and insights shared (which I’ll talk more about shortly), but one observation really struck me on my train ride home: not a single person talked about who you need to rub elbows with to get on notable lists, or mentioned the laundry list of reporters they call to share stories about their company. Each of the panelists talk about how absolutely critical it is to understanding what your employees love about your company and what they’d like to see improved and doubling down on the response. It got me thinking: they key to creating jobs people love is listening to the people who make your organization tick every day. No shortcuts. No hacks. Just an unmatched commitment to listening to, learning from, and innovating on behalf of the candidates, employees, and alumni who comprise your organization’s most precious resource. Recognizing this insight made one thing very clear about how we can all grow as marketers in the recruiting world: keep people at the core of your strategies. When creating a piece of content, planning an event, or launching a new campaign, we should ask ourselves if it’s inspired by our employees. If it isn’t, back to the drawing board. At the end of the day, great people attract other great people. So listening to employees and letting them be our compass is a start for staying on the right track. There were a few insights that stuck out to me on the panel because of how on-track these companies are with doing just that in their employment brand strategies. 1. Embrace imperfection. Pinterest, Docusign, CARFAX, Lithium, and Glassdoor represent some of the most highly respected employment brands and companies in the world, yet every panelist was quick to acknowledge a time, team, interaction, or review that was decidedly imperfect. At HubSpot, we’re big fans of the Louis Brandeis quote “sunlight is the best disinfectant,” and all of our panelists agreed. Candidates aren’t looking for perfection; they are looking for companies highly focused and engaged in getting it right even if they aren’t there yet. So if you’re a business with a team, hiring manager, or leadership challenge that you know needs improving, you’re not alone. Create a game plan to address your internal challenges and be honest with candidates and employees that you’re invested in getting it right. 2. Tell your unique story. Ann from DocuSign talked about a unique campaign DocuSign developed entitled “We Are DocuSign” focused on sharing photos and narratives about what it’s actually like to work on various teams at the company globally. Similarly, Pinterest has invested heavily in video to show candidates what it’s like day to day to ship code at Pinterest. Both companies use both their career sites and Glassdoor to share that content with candidates, and each organization has seen an uptick in both quantity and quality of candidates as a result. Your employment brand story is being shaped every day on Glassdoor, social media, and on the internet, so taking the time to allow your employees to meaningfully tell it on your own channels is a worthwhile investment in your brand and business long-term. 3. Be bold enough to take risks. Transparency for many companies can be scary, but Britt Ryan from Lithium noted that employment branding provides unique opportunities to take risks. Their organization has experimented with high bonuses for engineering referrals and jam sessions for employee referrals, and she and her fellow panelists were quick to note that unlike other elements of your business, trying a new technique or tactic to attract and engage candidates is relatively low-risk in the grand scheme of things. So try something different, break out of your mold, attend an event you might not otherwise or run a social media campaign that might not work--the best companies aren’t afraid to stick out from the pack to get a candidate’s attention. People spend countless hours researching cars to buy or houses to live in, but for years relied upon outdated brochures or word of mouth to make decisions on where they work. Now, with the growth of Glassdoor and more context than ever on what it’s like to work at a given company, the world of recruiting has fundamentally changed. The bad news: there’s no shortcut to truly being a best place to work and to earning your employees’ trust and loyalty. The best news: your candidate, employees, and alumni hold the keys to unlocking your brand’s potential. You just need to invest accordingly. Watch the full Glassdoor panel recap now.