For the most part, the current trends in recruiting are centered around the candidate experience. We often ask ourselves are we providing enough communication? Are we answering candidates’ questions? If there are hiccups during the recruitment process, the overall impression that a candidate has of us can influence either an acceptance or rejection of an offer. If a candidate makes it all the way through our process to the point of an offer, we want them to accept it. Maybe they are going to turn it down because they received another offer from a company that has a larger national presence? Maybe another company is offering them more money. There are a lot of things that can influence their decision and some things are just out of our control. So… what can we control? We need to start thinking more about their interactions with and perceptions of our employees during the recruitment process.

When it comes to recruiting, a big factor in company branding that often goes unrecognized is the employee experience. Do employees like to work here? Do they have a flexible work schedule? How is the work-life balance? Salary, benefits, and job description aside, candidates need to understand the company’s culture. The company’s culture consists of what is physically there and what is underlying. It is not only the work environment, the mission and the goals. It is also the values and ethics. Broken down, the company’s culture is the employees. Employees take action and employees are the source of the values. Why aren’t they highlighted more when the company culture is shared with a prospective employee? Exactly what is it that candidates want to know about the employee experience?

Candidates want to see that employees are treated well and that they genuinely enjoy working there. A candidate isn’t always going to trust the opinion of the hiring manager who is just saying what they want to hear. Candidates need to see and hear it for themselves. What value is the company providing its employees?

Here are a few suggestions as to how to incorporate your company’s employee experience in your branding. This can be done through your website web pages as well as posts on your social media outlets:

Meet the Team

Whether you are a five-person team or a 500-person team, share your employees stories. How long have they been at the company? Have they experienced career growth with you? If you hire employees to work on projects as they come up, what happens when their contract ends? If you invest in your current employees, chances are you’ll invest in your future employees and candidates want to see that.

Employee testimonials

Most companies include testimonials from their clients or people who use their products. This helps the company generate more business by providing proof of a positive experience from someone who benefited from their services. These testimonials can increase the image of the company which helps them secure business in the future, but candidates want to see employees giving the company recognition as well. Include employees from all levels and have employees write a paragraph of a quick blurb about their experience working at your company.

Programs

Showcase the value you provide your employees in terms of growth and development. When a new employee starts with you, are they assigned a mentor? Do you provide internship opportunities to students and then if they complete the internship, do they receive an offer once they graduate? Share pictures and more testimonials of employees who benefited from a mentor in the company or received an offer after an internship. If part of your recruitment is geared towards students, what value do you provide them? Why would a student want to intern with you?

Image gallery

Photos are a great way to share what’s going on in your company and candidates like to see companies that are diverse and inclusive. Share pictures from company events, trainings that your employees attend… anything! Candidates like to put faces behind a company brand and they like to see a team that enjoys working together. The impression you want to leave on a prospective candidate is, “Wow, look at this awesome team. I want to be a part of this.”

Benefits

Make sure you highlight what benefits you offer. Companies offer the same things and maybe your benefit package isn’t that great, but benefits are an important consideration for candidates. Frame them in a different light. Have employees discuss how the benefits they get helped them in the past. Create a video. Share more testimonials. Own your benefits and take charge.

There are a lot of opportunities to share your employee experience with prospective employees. I’m sure as some of you read through this list you thought to yourself, “Hey, we have a mentorship program. We have internship opportunities for students. We have monthly company events.” Great! Are you sharing these things with your candidates? The employee experience can tell us a lot about the dedication companies have to their employees and candidates want nothing more than a company that supports them both personally and professionally.