Tips on employer branding with Emily Wheeldon

Having worked within recruitment for over fifteen years in the UK, Australia and NZ, I have been fortunate to have had clients from a myriad of industries in different phases from start-up and SME to enterprise. What I have witnessed along the way is how different businesses approach recruitment and what their outcomes are, both good and bad.

One of the things that all of my clients have in common is that they want to attract and retain top talent for their businesses.  You see, it doesn’t matter whether you are a start-up finding your feet or an established brand; without good people, a company can’t function.

As the late Steve jobs once said “Hiring the best, is your most difficult task”

It’s true, it is challenging for a business to find good quality talent but there are some simple ways of making it less painful and it isn’t rocket science. Lets have a look at Timely as an example.

I have been helping Timely find top talent for their business over the past few months and what I have witnessed is a business that has seen the benefits of putting in time and effort to building a positive Employer Brand.

What I mean by Employer Branding is “how your business is perceived by potential employees.”

Most recruiters will tell you that recruiting for a client with a poor employer brand, reputation, or inefficient hiring process is like pulling teeth, so working with Timely has been an incredibly rewarding experience. The outcome – we have seen three new hires in three months and three more are in the pipeline for this month alone.

What are they doing differently you might ask? Timely’s approach to recruitment starts internally and flows outwards.

What I mean by this is that they listen to their existing staff and talk about where they fit into the bigger picture and where the company is going. They involve staff in almost everything they do. New hires even have an opportunity to own shares in the business, which really encourages ownership of their job and the future of the business.

They then share the news. They talk about what they are doing and why Timely is a great place to work on social platforms, blogs and forums, and they encourage their staff to talk about Timely and refer likeminded people to the business. Take the #timelylife Twitter account, for example. Before you know it word of mouth takes over and the positive vibes about the business spread.

So by simply listening, talking, involving, and sharing, the talent comes knocking on the door and from here, applicants are treated to a really simple recruitment process that is focused on putting the right people in the right jobs, not just right technically but right culturally.

The lesson I can share about the Timely approach to recruitment is to “listen, talk, involve, share and keep recruitment real” and if you aren’t a recruitment expert don’t be afraid to reach out get help from those who are.

You can connect with Emily on LinkedIn or contact her by email at [email protected].