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Your nonprofit’s reputation means everything to recruitment and talent acquisition success. Cultivating your standing as a great workplace will draw new applicants to your organization. In fact, studies show that:
- 86% of job seekers read company reviews before applying for a job.
- Companies with strong employer branding receive 1.5x more applicants.
- Strong employer branding can increase retention by as much as 28%.
Creating a strong employer brand requires more than putting together talking points in a brochure. The most successful employer brands are built up by a targeted marketing strategy that consistently delivers the right message.
In this guide, let’s review the importance of employer branding and how to integrate it into your recruitment marketing approach.
Why Employer Branding Matters
Your employer brand is shaped by everything from leadership style and candidate interactions to your online reviews and community involvement. Even small details, like the design of your hiring posters or the first impressions you make at recruitment events, affect how your brand is perceived.
Prioritizing your employer branding is crucial for nonprofits of all sizes and niches. By doing so, you:
- Improve your recruitment strategy’s efficiency by identifying what a great candidate looks like.
- Entice more candidates to apply to your organization and join your hiring funnel.
- Increase employee retention by reaching the most qualified fit for each role.
- Spread awareness of your organization to the community, including potential funders or beneficiaries.
- Gain an edge to attract top talent.
Now that you understand what a robust employer brand can help you achieve, let’s review how to create one from the ground up.
How to Build an Employer Brand
1. Assess your current brand perception.
The first step in revamping your employer brand is understanding its current state. That way, you can accurately determine key performance metrics, strengths, and weaknesses in your current strategy. Assess your current reputation by:
- Surveying employees and candidates. Go straight to the source by asking past and current employees for feedback on their experience working with your nonprofit. Also, ask candidates who are either currently interviewing or who voluntarily leave your hiring funnel what they think of your organization.
- Checking job review sites. Sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, and LinkedIn have rating systems where employees can review their experience with an employer. Look for overarching trends highlighting what you’re doing well and what you could improve.
- Reviewing other employer brands in your field. For instance, if you’re a small nonprofit focused on local animal welfare, look at other local groups and large organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, as they likely compete for the same talent.
Don’t strictly rely on qualitative data during this stage. Lever suggests analyzing quantitative metrics like employee retention rates, offer acceptance rates, and candidate feedback scores to understand other facets of your employer brand.
As you brainstorm these details, you might find additional weaknesses that may harm the perception of your employer brand. However, don’t try to hide your faults—actively work to improve them. For instance, if you notice employees are consistently disgruntled by your lack of PTO, work with them to see if you can find a compromise. Remember, word of mouth is an important element of building your employer brand—having satisfied employees will go a long way for your reputation.
2. Define your core message.
Much like other marketing efforts, you need a core message as the foundation of your employer brand. These guiding principles should embody your organization’s mission, vision, values, and workplace culture.
The best core messages are nuanced, so you might need to approach the brainstorming process from multiple angles. Start with these questions:
- What sets our workplace apart from others?
- How does our mission shape our workplace?
- What do employees love about working here?
- What impact do we want to make on the community, world, and our employees?
- What employee benefits do we offer?
- What approach do we take to work-life balance?
- How do we support our employees’ professional development?
Add any other questions that address unique aspects of your workplace, such as whether you expect employees to participate in an annual team bonding retreat. Combine your answers to establish your core message and give it dimension.
Here’s an example of a nonprofit’s core message for their employer brand:
“Our nonprofit is committed to cultivating a purpose-driven workplace where employees feel challenged and supported along their professional journey. Our culture relies on preserving work-life balance, competitive benefits, and a collaborative work environment. Together, through supporting our beneficiaries, we aim to support each other as a team.”
3. Build your employer brand guide.
After determining the big-picture aspects of your brand, hone the more minor details in your employer brand guide. Add the following information to your guide:
- Recruitment marketing channels, such as in-person job fairs or direct-mail flyers.
- Tone and voice guidelines, like preferred terminology and slogans.
- Visual elements and design standards, such as your brand’s typography, logo, and colors.
- Key employee value propositions, such as opportunities for advancement or professional development.
- Diversity and inclusion commitments, like targeted recruitment efforts to underrepresented communities.
Once your employer brand guide has been completed, it’s time to use the details inside it to complement your hiring and talent acquisition activities. During this process, treat the guide as a source of truth to ensure you represent your employer brand consistently across your team. For example, use the same language to describe your key employee value propositions across all channels and printed materials.
Once you’ve revamped your employer brand, it’s important to consistently monitor its reception. Track the aforementioned recruitment analytics and compare them with your pre-release numbers. Send letters and feedback cards to current employees and colleagues in the space, asking for their advice.
That being said, your employer brand should be dynamic. You want to keep up with changing employee priorities and pivot if they impact your nonprofit. For instance, more employees today are interested in corporate social responsibility (CSR) than ever before. To meet this need, highlight your CSR initiatives in your upcoming recruitment cycle.
Ultimately, if you consider employee perspectives and keep a pulse on workplace trends, you can build a versatile brand identity that attracts the highest-quality candidates to your nonprofit.
