In an increasingly competitive talent market, where there is a persistent talent shortage, despite the recent pandemic and the recession, employer branding has risen in importance. Where companies have already tried to sell their workplaces to candidates like a consumer brand would, the pandemic has changed the mindset of many employees and candidates to wellbeing as an essential value. As the pandemic unfolds, employers must answer questions about employee support, diversity and inclusion goals, and flexible working options.
Now, it is not just enough to write a job description. Employer branding and employee value propositions are fast becoming the competitive tools in this race to find talent. The question is, what exactly is this employer branding, and how does it contribute to recruitment?
Hirect recently held a webinar #ThroughFoundersLens, which shed some light on the importance of employer branding in hiring for startups. This blog will summarize key takeaways from the discussion held by Himanshu Arora, the Co-Founder of Social Panga and Yellow Shutter, and Yogesh Shinde, the Founder of Bamboo India.
Must read: How Your Personal Branding Efforts can Help Your Company?
Hiring Candidates for StartupYogesh begins the webinar by sharing his journey as an entrepreneur. He went on to add that they started their journey about 6 years ago when the startup culture or funding was not as popular. He adds that the company that began with 100 Bamboo brushes per day now produces 55,000 brushes per day. This has helped them save more than 40.1 kg of plastic waste and has involved more than 4000 farmers across India.
He also adds that given that he is into manufacturing, his approach to hiring candidates for this industry is to look for the candidate's approach, attitude and compatibility. He believes that anyone, if given the proper guidance, will be able to learn the technical aspects. However, the candidate should be open to criticism and a team player.
On Talent Acquisition and Employer BrandingMeanwhile, the second speaker, Himanshu, elaborates on his Journey with Social Panga, which he conceptualized 7.5 years ago. His interest in Social and Digital Marketing sparked the idea for Social Panga. He also gives his views on employer branding and how important it is to attract talent.
"There's been a massive paradigm shift in India in recent times. It is an employee's market versus an employer's market. There are multiple opportunities for people to choose from because of the new roles opening up. Assuming a person is currently working in an organization and gets a unique opportunity to work somewhere else, the jobseeker will choose the more appealing and closer to their personality. Without working there, they can determine whether a company's personality fits their own by analyzing the significant initiatives or communications that the company has done to highlight how they treat their employees," says Himanshu.
"How you brand your Human Resource offline, or online is Employer Branding. So you would need to make sure that you find the right kind of talent that goes well with your organization. Portraying your organization's personality and culture is essential. Similar personalities attract similar people. Hence, It's important to talk about that culture and personality to attract the right audience, " he adds.
He also believes that having a great work culture is conducive to retaining the existing employees and attracting new talent to the Organization. For him, culture isn't about having a beanbag office or having a cool day at the office. "Culture is what you all believe in as an organization and how everybody is aligned to that vision. Culture is where all the employees think in a unified direction and are aligned with a single vision. The means through which they achieve it may be different and very person-driven," he explains. He also evolves as a staunch supporter of the dialogue from the movie Rocket Singh that says, "Numbers do not run business, People run business."
At the end of the webinar, he discussed his views on employee value propositions integral to employer branding. The employee value proposition is identifying what excites an employee about working at an organization and packaging it to attract them.
Related blog: How can Employer Branding Grow Your Business?"I believe that if somebody wants to go from A to B in a personal career, can an organization be a catalyst? If yes, both of them will grow. If not, they need to figure out something else", concludes Himanshu.
