What is employer branding?
Employer branding is the reputation an organisation has as a place to work, and the work done to shape it. It covers what candidates hear from friends, read in reviews, see in job adverts and experience during interviews.
The term was introduced by Tim Ambler and Simon Barrow in a 1996 London Business School paper that applied brand management to the relationship between employers and employees.
Why does employer branding matter for IT recruitment?
Because in a candidate-driven market, people choose between employers before they apply. A developer with several options will look at what a company builds, how it treats its teams and what former employees say about it.
A company with no visible reputation is not neutral. It is unknown, and unknown employers have to work harder at every stage, from sourcing to the offer.
How is employer branding different from the employee value proposition?
The employee value proposition is what the organisation offers in exchange for work: pay, growth, flexibility, the work itself. Employer branding is how that offer is communicated and perceived.
The order matters. Branding without a real proposition is advertising for a product that does not exist, and candidates find out at the interview or in their first months.
What does employer branding reward, and what can go wrong?
Teams measured on visibility, followers or application volume will produce more content and more applications. More applications are not the goal if they are the wrong ones.
The costliest failure is the gap between promise and reality. It shows up as early attrition and in reviews that undo the campaign. The honest test of an employer brand is what employees say when nobody asked them to. Candidates comparing employers can start from the roles Sparagus currently recruits for.
