Like the vast majority of you, my career path would have been SO different without the booming emphasis on employer branding in the talent industry. I recently celebrated my 2-year anniversary with Kinetix (yay!), which of course, made me stop and reflect on my journey to getting my first position here–the good, the bad, and the SCAMMY.
As an earlier-in-career marketeer, for every 1 legitimate job I found on respected job boards, 3 fake “marketing” jobs would populate with it.
And you know what? Those fake jobs really made me skeptical about the REAL marketing gigs, ultimately leading me to pass up some probably legit postings. And this isn’t just happening in the marketing space– customer service, sales, project management, learning and development, and so many other fields are flooded with heavily advertised, fake positions across multiple experience levels. AKA– a lot of candidates have been burned or have come close to the fire in regards to these hiring schemes.
So as tried-and-true talent industry professionals, how can we build candidates’ confidence in our companies, or our clients’ companies, when hunting for fresh talent? By ensuring we are not only focusing on the higher-level employer branding strategy, but also paying mind to the basics.
These are three seemingly obvious, but underappreciated recruitment marketing assets that we need to put a deliberate focus on pronto:
- Open the Glassdoor – Now I’m not saying you need to map out a quarterly Glassdoor spend and incentivize your employees to post unauthentic reviews. In reality, job seekers just want to see the uncensored views of your interviewees and employees–which if you ARE a real company doing good, honest, hiring you shouldn’t worry about a few negative posts. What can hurt you is neglecting to respond to those reviews or even worse…not having a page at all.
I’m only slightly ashamed to say I have ghosted a few interviews after doing post-screening Glassdoor research and discovering that the marketing roles are really just scams to get you in and convince you to push kitchen knives door-to-door for commission only.
BONUS: Sweeten the deal for talent by posting regular company updates that show off your people in different departments and your awesome culture.
- Construct a killer careers site– Nothing says scam quite like a poorly planned careers site. Sure, the site could be legit, or it could double as a front for funding Nigerian princesses–either way, I know I’m not leaving my personal info there and neither will skeptical talent. Clean employer-branded copy and user-friendly design can go a long way when it comes to gaining candidates’ trust and applications.
Step up your game by publishing real testimonials and stories from your team that hones in on their passion for their role. Oh yeah, and don’t forget the big, shiny “Apply Now!” button. Nothing sells talent like a firm call-to-action!
- Stay up on social – Companies that push fraudulent jobs are afraid to publish too many careers-centric posts because that can spur heated dialogue that exposes their scam to the public. So, destroy doubt by doing the exact opposite–create separate, employer branded social channels on all of the major platforms and post the content from your edgy careers site to encourage open, honest conversations with candidates!
We’re talking industry updates, company job listings, application tips, and original written/video content featuring your team’s all-stars. Keep your updates fresh by posting consistently and engaging with comments and mentions, because unlike the fakers, you have nothing to hide (and talent will dig it)!
Two years later, I still see those fraudulent companies running the same game, but luckily talent is getting smarter. We all know that the job market is tight right now–instead of spurring skepticism, inspire confidence by building up the basics.