Recruitment MarketingA Boring Checklist to Audit Your Talent Brand in 10 Minutes
Recruitment Marketing

A Boring Checklist to Audit Your Talent Brand in 10 Minutes

You’ve hired the best people, you have an amazing office space, and your employer brand is top-notch. But how do candidates know all of these things? In this article, we outline the steps we take to audit any talent brand to discover how close a candidate’s perception aligns with reality.

The difference between an employer brand and talent brand is that candidates  need to rely on what they see in their digital world: your social media accounts, your career site or even their friends in other companies who may have worked for you before.

And if any of those channels are inaccurate or outdated, it could cost you a great hire. 

Table of Contents

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    How do you audit your talent brand?

    1. Define the objective of the exercise – to see if there is a gap between your employer brand and talent brand
    2. Identify the metrics you want to measure (refer to the section below for some key KPIs)
    3. Baseline your metrics
    4. Draw up a list of sources that will be part of the audit
    5. Identify your audience 
    6. Outline the process of measuring
    7. Review your findings and draw up an action plan

    1. Listen: Do employees love working at your company as much as you think they do?

    We’re sure that you’ve been told that it’s important to listen from your employees and candidates, but what exactly does this mean?

    First and foremost, it means listening to how your team feels about the company culture. They can tell you what they think, what they don’t like, or even where there is room for improvement.

    Another way of getting feedback from your employees is by asking them what would make them happier in their role and how their experience could be improved overall.

    Employee needs change depending on their stage in life (and career). For example: Someone who recently graduated might need mentorship opportunities within their department while someone who has been with the organization for years may need guidance around career development options within the company itself. It’s also important not just to understand these needs but also take action based on them so that employees feel supported wherever they are in their journey! 

    Does the organization offer growth opportunities as the EVP says it does?

    Tip: Validate your talent's perception. Listen. Walk in your employees shoes / spend a day with them if they live the values the company says it does.

    2. Audit your existing materials

    How current and consistent is your employer brand content?

    Your employer brand content is a critical part of the hiring process. It can be used to attract candidates, drive engagement, and build trust with current employees.

    The first step in a talent brand audit is to ensure that your employer content is accurate and up-to-date. This includes:

    • your job descriptions
    • employee benefits information
    • company culture overviews (if you have one)
    • career site content like profiles and videos—and even things like pay rates if relevant.

    If you’re already using an applicant tracking system or messaging platform like BambooHR or Slackbot but haven’t updated the information in some time then now may be a good time to do so!

    Does your career site reflect the real you?

    While your career site may be the first thing that potential candidates see, it’s not a one-way street.

    Candidates are looking for more than just a job description. They want to know what it’s like to work at your company. They observe the conversations on LinkedIn and other social mentions.

    In short, they want to know if there’s a culture fit between themselves and your employer brand—and that starts by reflecting who you really are! If you haven’t done it already, it’s about time to double check that your career page/microsite is up-to-date with current job listings (not just those posted six months ago) and make sure there are no grammatical errors.

    Also be sure that the information on your career site is consistent with everything else in your employer brand. Do all of these channels tell a cohesive story about who you are? If not, how can we make them more consistent?

    Does your employer brand accurately represent the company culture?

     This is a crucial question to be asking yourself over and over again. When interviewing candidates and potential hires, be sure to ask them about their experience with your employer brand in all its forms. Then listen carefully to what they have to say. If they’re excited about it, that’s great! But if they seem disappointed or confused by any of the messaging around your employer brand materials, then it’s clear that there is something wrong with how you are communicating what it means to work at [your company].

    Ask for feedback from current employees about how well their own experiences align with the messages being put out there by other members of your talent acquisition team or marketing department—and then take action on what you hear.*

    What’s the pulse on career review sites / slack channels/ communities? 

    Sites like Glassdoor, AmbitionBox offer an objective insight into what it is like to work at a company. What is your rating on these sites? Many employees and candidates share their experiences anonymously too. Do they reflect the truth? Are there negative stories? 

    How relevant is the digital content you are creating? 

    Let’s take a look at some examples of content that could be relevant.

    • A marketing agency creates an infographic on the state of marketing today. This is useful for everyone in their industry, but it doesn’t speak to potential employees as much as it does prospects and clients.
    • The same marketing agency creates an article about the best way to build trust with your audience, which helps them reach out to people who want to work for them in order to build trust with those audiences. 
    • They also create a series of blog posts about what their team has learned from working with clients and how they can apply those lessons when working directly with candidates, which speaks directly to potential employees and candidates
    Are your employees narrating their stories on social platforms? 

    Audit your presence on social channels. You’ll often find employees at companies with good talent brand (Dell, Zoho) often talking about their experiences, policies on LinkedIn either as posts or videos. A concerted effort amplifies the talent brand. How many mentions are you getting from your employees?     

    3. Checklist of channels for your audit

    Here’s a comprehensive checklist of the channels to cover in your audit.

    Owned Online Sources:

    1. Website
    2. Career microsite
    3. Recruitment materials like job descriptions
    4. Recruitment marketing materials
    5. Official social pages on LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram etc

    Owned Offline sources:

    1. Print coverage
    2. Billboards
    3. Offline events, sponsorships

    Paid Sources:

    1. PR
    2. Advertising

    Earned Online Sources:

    1. Employee mentions on LinkedIn & other social channels
    2. Candidate mentions on LinkedIn & other social channels
    3. Reviews on Glassdoor, Ambition Box
    4. Conversations on LinkedIn Groups, Slack communities
    5. LinkedIn profiles of employees, leadership

    Other Sources:

    1. Employee exit interviews
    2. Candidate feedback on the process
    3. Internal communication with employees
    4. Onboarding process 
    5. Employee engagement (satisfaction) survey / platforms
    6. Performance appraisal

    4. Measure your talent brand (where you stand) today

    Identify the metrics that matters to your organization. Baseline them today and set a goal for where you want to be.

    Some sample metrics could be:

    1. External survey to measure your talent brand awareness
    2. The number of employees present on LinkedIn or other relevant social platforms
    3. Your time to hire
    4. Your offer acceptance rate
    5.  Traffic to your career page and website
    6. Video views of your employee stories
    7. Followers of your company page on LinkedIn
    8. Number of applications you receive
    9. Candidate quality
    Conclusion

    The most important thing to remember when auditing your talent brand is to stay focused on the big picture. Everything you do should be a reflection of your company culture and values, so make sure that nothing slips through the cracks. You’ll want to begin by looking at what kind of content is being created by each department and ensuring that it aligns with their goals as well as those outlined in your overall strategy. Next up? 

    Make sure your website reflects the true nature of who you are as an organization; no more hiding behind corporate buzzwords or new pictures of the team on the career site!

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