Remember the Pepsi Challenge back in the eighties? It saw members of the public taking part in a blind taste test, comparing Pepsi to Coca Cola. Even though Pepsi generally won on taste, Coke continued to win the cola wars – and it still dominates the soft drinks market today. After all, do you know anyone that drinks Pepsi?

The fact is, people don’t just buy Coke for the taste, they buy it for what the soda represents. Buy a can of Coke and you’re not just getting ice-cold refreshment, you’re getting fun, happiness and optimism. It’s all about branding – and Coke has the far stronger brand.

Employer branding wields the same power when attracting new recruits. Just as consumers buy into a product they connect with, job seekers are more likely to apply for a job where a company has a strong brand image that they can relate to and trust – or aspire to be a part of.

According to recent research by Madgex, job seekers spend up to two hours per we.... They want to understand the culture of a company and get a real feel for what it’s like to work there before filling in an application form.

That’s a potential 120 minutes with a captive audience that could – and should – be spent on your job board. But you will only hold job seekers’ attention if employers and recruiters understand how to make the most of their job post.

A job board provides the perfect opportunity to showcase what an employer can offer new recruits and, with the right tools, it can be an extension of their brand. Chances are they spent thousands curating their employer brand, but if they are not utilising the add-ons available on a job board they are missing a trick.

If an advert doesn‘t create an instant impact, job seekers will quickly move onto the next job – particularly if it’s with a company they haven’t seen before.

As a job board owner it is your responsibility to educate recruiters as to how they can flaunt their employer brand. Get this right, and they’re on their way to winning the recruitment war.

So how can you help employers make an impact when recruiting?

Building the brand

The first thing job board owners need to establish is whether their customers have an employer brand. If not, why not? A company won’t attract the right applicants if they’re not clear about what they offer.

According to Helen Rosethorn, author of The Employer Brand: Keeping Faith with the Deal, job seekers want to know what they are buying into. However, she warns branding shouldn’t be used as a fast fix to freshen up recruitment advertising.

“Your own people are the biggest consumers of your employer value proposition and employers will be found wanting if they create something just for a recruitment fix,” she states. “Employer branding is not a project, it’s a way of business life. It needs to be something that supports the whole organisation, because it’s cultural.”

There are three crucial steps to building an employer brand:

• Speak to employees - Your clients need to find out what their staff love – and loathe – about working for them.
• Do their research - Employers need to determine what job seekers expect/want from a position.
• Know their competition - Look at what their competitors are doing to find out their employer brand strengths and weaknesses, and do it better.

Get the basics right

Advise your clients to follow a few simple rules when writing a job post, to ensure every advert on your job board works hard for its money:

• Get the tone right - Help employers use language job seekers can relate to. Don’t just cut and paste – every advert should be personalised to attract the right people.
• Perks of the job - As well as details about the job and salary, employers need to flag up the benefits of working at their company.
• Build a profile - Creating a company profile will bring their brand to life, with information about company culture and why it’s such a great place to work. Recruiter profile pages are customisable, enabling employers to showcase images, video and banners to clearly convey their employer brand.

Visual branding

Madgex’s platform offers a plethora of upsells for job boards, so encourage your employers to utilise them to big up their brand.

• Customise their advert - Make a strong first impression by using HTML customisation, so their job post reflects the company’s brand logo and identity.
• Eye-catching banners - A branded message at the top of a job listing, or on the front page of a job board will attract immediate attention.
• Build a mini-site - Creating their own site within a job board provides job seekers with key information about their employer brand, along with all their vacancies. It’s a great way for your clients to clearly communicate their voice, values and vision.
• Vlog it - A recent report found employers achieve a 34% higher application rate when they use a video with their job postings. Recruitment videos can capture the energy of a workplace, with office tours and employee and management vox pops. It’s an easy, but effective way to engage with job seekers.

Make it a no-brainer

Ultimately employers and recruiters want to fill their jobs, as swiftly and easily as possible – so offer them quick, effective solutions. Job done.

• Job post packages - Create a range of packages, with a compelling set of branded tools, to suit their budget and their audience. For example, a ‘Social Media’ package is ideal for graduate recruitment, while a ‘Targeted Job Post’ enables employers to sponsor the key word most relevant to their vacancy.
• Use your data - Job board analytics provide vital information about which upsells make the biggest impact, which you can pass on to your clients. Do HTML branded ads perform better than a standard listing, which keywords do job seekers use, and how does video influence conversion rates? 

If you would like to find out more about the extensive sales inventory available on the Madgex job board platform, contact us today to speak with a member of our team.