Your Best Recruiting Tool Isn't a Job Posting – It's Your Employer Brand

Finding and attracting quality talent remains one of the greatest challenges facing employers today. While unemployment rates and labor market conditions fluctuate, one thing has remained consistent: companies across virtually every industry including the PHCP/PVF industry continue to compete aggressively for skilled employees. It's rare to drive through any city without seeing hiring signs, recruiting advertisements, and businesses actively searching for talent.

Traditional recruiting tactics such as job postings, job fairs, and employee referral programs continue to play an important role. However, as competition for talent has intensified, companies have been forced to rethink their approach. Recruiting and marketing efforts are becoming increasingly linked as organizations seek new ways to reach qualified candidates and communicate what makes their company a great place to work.

As a result, employer branding has become one of the most powerful tools available to companies looking to gain an advantage in recruiting.

What is employer branding?

In traditional corporate branding, a company's brand represents the value it provides to customers. When someone is asked what they think about a particular company, their response reflects that organization's brand—whether positive, negative, or somewhere in between. This is why businesses often invest in brand management and customer experience.

Employer branding follows the same concept but focuses on a company's reputation as an employer rather than as a provider of products or services.

Corporate branding is designed to attract customers. Employer branding is designed to attract employees.

The goal is to communicate a company's culture, values, career opportunities, leadership, work environment, and overall employee experience. A strong employer brand helps current and prospective employees understand what it's like to work for an organization and why they should choose it over other opportunities.

In today's labor market, that distinction matters. Research shows that approximately 75 percent of job seekers research a company's reputation before deciding whether to apply for a position. In many cases, candidates form opinions about an employer long before they ever speak with a recruiter or hiring manager.

Why is employer branding important?

The competition for talent extends far beyond direct competitors. Distributors are not only competing with other distributors. Manufacturers are not only competing with other manufacturers. Every company is competing with every other employer for skilled workers.

Organizations that are winning the war for talent understand this reality and are using employer branding as a strategic advantage.

Studies show that companies with strong employer brands receive up to 50 percent more qualified applicants and can reduce recruiting costs by nearly half compared to organizations with weaker employer reputations. When candidates already have a positive perception of a company, recruiting becomes easier, more efficient, and more effective.

Employer branding also allows businesses to compete on more than compensation alone.

In distribution, it's often said that successful companies don't compete solely on price. They compete on relationships, service, expertise, and value. The same principle applies to recruiting. While compensation remains important, many candidates are equally interested in career growth, company culture, leadership, flexibility, stability, and purpose.

A compelling employer brand helps communicate those advantages.

ASA members that effectively showcase their employee experience are more likely to attract candidates who not only possess the necessary skills and experience but also align with the organization's culture and values. This often leads to stronger employee engagement and better long-term retention.

Employer branding can also improve retention by setting realistic expectations. When organizations accurately portray what it's like to work there and highlight examples of successful employees, new hires are less likely to experience disappointment or feel that they were sold something different than what they received.

Research has shown that companies with strong employer brands experience significantly lower turnover rates, with some studies reporting turnover reductions approaching 30 percent.

The cost of ignoring employer branding

There is also a downside to overlooking employer branding and relying solely on recruiting methods that may have worked years ago.

Consider the familiar question often asked about employee training:

"What happens if I train my employees and they leave?"

The better question is:

"What happens if I don't train them, and they stay?"

The same thinking applies to employer branding.

Today's candidates have access to more information than ever before. They research company websites, social media channels, employee reviews, videos, and online content before deciding where to apply. If an organization isn't actively shaping its employer brand, candidates will form opinions anyway—often based on incomplete or inaccurate information.

In a labor market where talent has choices, failing to communicate your value as an employer can put your organization at a significant disadvantage.

How ASA can help with employer branding

ASA's Project Talent, one of the association's key strategic initiatives, was created to help brand the PHCP/PVF industry as attractive and viable career options while assisting members with their local recruiting efforts.

ASA is working to increase awareness of career opportunities throughout the supply chain while providing members with tools and resources that support local recruiting efforts. Through social media, digital marketing, workforce development initiatives, and the promotion of SupplyIndustryCareers.com, ASA continues to showcase the opportunities available within the industry while connecting interested job seekers with member companies.

In addition, ASA's Recruiter Toolbox provides members with practical resources designed to strengthen recruiting and employer-branding efforts regardless of company size, recruiting expertise, or budget.  These include checklists of best practices, pre-written job description templates, images, webinars, and more.  The Recruiter Toolbox is available exclusively to ASA members via the ASA.net website.

The proper attention and focus on employer branding can help ASA members rise above the competition in their recruiting efforts. Combined with ASA's industry-wide branding initiatives and the tools available through Project Talent’s Recruiter Toolbox, ASA members can better position themselves to attract, hire, and retain the talent needed to succeed in the years ahead.

By Steve Edwards
Recruitment Marketing Director
sedwards@asa.net