Employment Branding: What is it and how do you start?

For the first post on my blog, I am going to discuss the topic of Employment Branding as a quick overview. When I first had the title of Employment Brand Manager, the question I most often received was, "What does that even mean? What do you do?" 5 years later, companies are behind the times if they aren't thinking of Employment Branding. 

Wikipedia is always a great way to start a discussion in securing a definition: The term employer brand was first used in the early 1990s to denote an organisation’s reputation as an employer. Since then, it has become widely adopted by the global management community. Minchington (2005) defines your employer brand as “the image of your organisation as a ‘great place to work’ in the mind of current employees and key stakeholders in the external market (active and passive candidates, clients, customers and other key stakeholders). The art and science of employer branding is therefore concerned with the attraction, engagement and retention initiatives targeted at enhancing your company's employer brand.". See the whole deal at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_branding

Okay, we have a fancy well defined employment brand definition. That's great. Now we all know what it is. But, what do you do to build one? It's never too late to start!

Starting or expanding your current plan, is where I can start to help in providing some ideas on building your plan, getting buy-in from senior team members, extending your plan to recruiting efforts (online & offline) and then building a Talent Management strategy. I don't have all the answers but I have built some great employment strategies in Canada, the USA, and 10 other countries around the world including working with clients in China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea & Western Europe. I won't be giving away trade secrets but can give some great places to start and then how to expand your plan to become an employeer of choice!

What are your main pain centers and wishes when it comes to Employment Branding & building a great Talent Management plan!?  Join the conversation here so I can build posts that mean something to you!