Measuring the Mystery Analytic - Your Employer Brand - Part II

Bradley Savoy January 1, 2008

Part II in the series on measuring your employer brand.
Here are some key areas to consider when measuring your employer brand.

You must measure it. You can’t manage what you can’t measure, and you can’t improve what you can’t measure. If an organization wants to maintain and consistently improve on the performance of its employer brand it must have a meaningful analytical philosophy that seeks to apply a quantitative and objective view to its brand. Without this, there can be no analysis and comparison for improvement.

Source effectiveness – The lifecycle of your employer brand begins with the first contact, which is typically an organization’s careers Web site and subsequent sourcing stage. At this stage an organization should measure the effectiveness of the methods they have relied upon to attract candidates. This can allow the organization to view the most effective sources of attraction and consistently return to those sources based on the ROI achieved.

The recruiting process – This is a series of measurements at each stage in the life-cycle of the candidate’s experience during the entire recruiting process. The recruiting process is one of the most critical aspects in making the decision to join an organization, and often the most overlooked. An organization should measure the effectiveness of every single step a candidate attains in the recruiting process. Each touch point the candidate makes with your organization should be considered beginning with the online application, assessment, interviews, the offer, and orientation. If there is a negative impression that occurs during the initial online application stage of the recruiting process, then there may be a dramatic decrease in the candidate pool. In the initial discussion with a candidate, another negative impression may cause a candidate to withdraw from the process, and tell others about their negative experiences. Negative impressions at any stage of the recruiting process can dramatically reduce the candidate pool, and may provide fuel to create a significant gap for an organization that must meet their hiring needs.

Fit – How a candidate perceives their fit within your organization, the culture, and the position you are offering are critical elements in the messaging of your employer brand. Organizations should measure the effectiveness of the messaging in all elements of the employment brand through various media channels. These channels could be print or interactive media marketing and can also extend to the communication with the candidates recruited and interviewed by your company. Analyze the effectiveness of the messaging communicated about the culture within your company to improve the long term impact that fit can have on the attraction of your needed talent.

Posted in Human Resources Analytics, Hodes QTrac, Employer Branding