I wrote and posted this blog some weeks ago and got a lot of feedback. But that feedback got me thinking about the whole topic and after 10 years in a Uk HR Comms agency and 6 years building job board business I felt a wder debate woud be interesting.

So tomorrow at 12.30 GMT at www.jobsiteadvisor.com I will stream a panel debate on the topic is Employer Branding still Relevant in 2009. The panel includes leading EB practitioners; Sue Redden - Peer Group, Nick Price - WorkingFilms, Martin Cerullo Alexander Mann Solutions and Janet Davies - Newlifenetworks.

Some real insights into What Is EB, It's influence on "recruitment" or not!, plus it can apply to big or small firms. PLUS Where does HR fit in and is it an HR issue or Board one.?

The post this was based on;

This is the headline from a piece written by Dr.John Sullivan at ERE In it, he admits that "Despite many successes, it's time to admit that a major employer branding principle is no longer true: that corporations can own or control their employer brand image".

He adds "the premise was that corporations could proactively put together a plan to win awards as excellent places to work, secure mention in news pieces and editorials, participate in case studies, and be talked about at industry events. Because corporations were coordinating nearly all of the information that made them visible, it was possible to heavily influence how they were perceived".

At the heart of his article he suggests "it was a practice that made firms like Google, Starbucks, GE, IBM, Microsoft, and HP famous as great places to work. However, that was then and this is now."

Dr Sullivan's article focuses on the issue that technology is now empowering/allowing all of us to comment on all things relating work, employment, job seeking etc . With "opinion sharing sites" like Glassdoor.com, Vault and others whose business model is to encourage us to post comments about the organisations/people we work for and they allow others to see our reviews is it hardly surprising that the company has lost control of the message.

In addition we have seen the boom of social and business networks and these allow us to comment or share our opinions, negative or positive, with an ever widening audience.

Today we no longer control the message in the way we used to; today we have to learn to listen to what is being said about "us" and have strategies in place to comment and manage negativity. BUT and it's a big but, surely the best way to avoid negatively in the recruiting arena is to ensure we deliver a great candidate experience. We can only control what we can control and if you are a recruiter we have to start with "recruitment".

In another article on ERE, Kevin Wheeler said "We should be ashamed" This followed the theme of the poor candidate experiences that this recession seems to be delivering to job seekers.

Back in 2004 Totaljobs undertook a survey of Job Seeker attitudes to a poor hiring experience and the top line results show that if you deliver bad experience job seekers were;

76% less likely to take the job

82%less likely to refer a friend to that job or company.

64% less likely to buy that companies product or service.

Bad recruiting practices hit the bottom line and yet we have seen a "slash and burn" as recruiters lose their jobs. "They are a cost" and "we are not recruiting" is the common feedback, However, at the same time, companies are getting more applications, have less people to handle these responses and are undoubtedly (according to job seekers) delivering a poor experience.

So, if you have fewer recruiters handling more job seekers you are losing revenue with poor customer service.

Don't forget: a job seeker is also a consumer and they still have 'money' to spend (their career choice) but maybe this will not be with you because of the way you treat them. Today they also have extended networks and share these feeling quickly and easily.

Recruiters are at the forefront of customer service. Don't ever forget that Brands are defined by the experience given, not by the glossy ads.