I recently had the opportunity to meet with Brett Minchington, Chairman & CEO of Employer Brand International and a global authority in employer branding. Mr. Minchington will deliver the keynote address at World Employer Branding Day to be held in Prague from 28-29 April so I took some time out to propose some questions.

1. Last decade too many companies showcased their employer brand by using basic career websites, stockphoto images and scripted testimonials. Do they need to change their approach to better attract talent today?

Content is everywhere in 2016 and candidates are hungry for more. Leaders should develop and implement an employer branding content marketing program that adopts a long term approach to showcasing what it’s like to work at their company. Consider you are scripting a TV show you want to run for many years by keeping the content relevant, fresh and interesting instead of creating a short run mini-series!

Your communications need to part of an integrated approach to how the company communicates its employer brand and employer value propositions (EVP) to the target audiences. One off approaches seldom work effectively. Take a longer term approach to content marketing as it is here to stay and candidates will quickly move on to their next target if the content you serve up is dry, boring, scripted and full of stockphoto images or video.

2. Is there standard advice you could give to everybody such as how to get quick wins in employer branding?

If only it was that easy! The reality is whilst many companies seek quick wins in employer branding, there are seldom any. There is a tendency to want to rush into employer branding without a clear direction, this is how most projects usually get started. However, be aware, the path of least resistance can end up costing you more in the long term. Most companies adopt a project based approach to employer branding with a focus on talent acquisition. However our global research at Employer Brand International over the past seven years shows the role of the employer brand leader is becoming more strategic.

The best practice companies such as Adidas Group, Ferrero, Sodexo USA, IKEA, Volvo Cars, L’Oreal and UnitedHealth Group adopt a strategic approach to employer branding across the employment lifecycle from hire to retire. They have all made significant progress in the past few years by clearly defining the scope of their strategy and establishing metrics to measure return on investment and demonstrate how a strong employer brand creates value.

These companies have also developed dedicated employer brand leadership functions to manage the strategy at a time when most companies still see employer branding as an add-on role to an already overstretched HR or marketing function. Before you begin your employer branding journey be clear on the scope of your strategy. Questions to consider include:

• Will the focus be global, national or regional?
• Are we looking at an employer branding project or a holistic employer brand strategy?
• How does employer branding fit in to our strategy alongside consumer marketing, HR and communications?
• What resources do we have available to invest?
• How engaged are our leadership in employer branding?
• How will we measure success?

Just like governance, education and natural resources are keys to developing a successful country, organisations with competent leadership, effective communication and fair reward and recognition practices will be in the best position to navigate their way through the challenges of 2016 and beyond.

3. What do you think about classic corporate videos such as this TNT video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDruG0lz9Go )

I actually like the TNT employer branding video. It is very informative and if I was looking to work at TNT, it provides some really good insights into what it would be like to work there, the size and scope of the organisation and the type of people who work there. Whilst it may not win an academy award for screenplay, I like that it is authentic, includes real employees, doesn’t aim to promise what it can’t deliver and with more than 15,000 views it has had some good distribution.

4. What advice would you give to leaders developing their employer branding videos?

It would depend on the objectives of the video and the target audience. Some of the key rules to consider when producing employer branding videos include:

• Make it emotional, it is more likely to get shared
• Keep it short (unless you can keep the audience engaged) or a series of videos that can build on the story – Starbucks do this very well
• Include employees, it will help to engage them and encourage them to share it.
• It must be authentic, the world doesn’t need another 100,000 highly scripted videos that no-one watches or shares.
• Align the video with your strategy
• Establish metrics so you know if it is working for you.

Some of the employer branding videos which I find interesting include:

Starbucks

Adidas Group

Heineken

(the official video, since removed had more than 4 million views)

Reckitt Benckiser

Twitter

5. Last year, you conducted an International Employer Branding Masterclass in Bratislava. What did you learn about our market?

One word, AMAZING! It really exceeded all my expectations. I had a fantastic team in Slovakia including Slavik&Stell, Adwork, Stell & ERP and the employer brand leader at Adidas Group who coordinated the event We also had the support of HRCOMM which was another key to its success. I arrived on a Sunday and had a Bratislavian welcome at the airport by Dalibor Slavik, he made me feel like royalty! I spent the afternoon walking the city and meeting many of the locals.

The architecture is beautiful as are the stories about the city. The city has a really nice feel to it, not too busy, not too quiet. We had more than 130 leaders at the event and I was impressed with their awareness of employer branding about the value it can deliver to their company. Most were there to learn the steps to building a strong employer brand and to learn from best practice companies. Whilst speaking with leaders during the day it was also evident that many are struggling to engage executive leadership in employer branding which is common in countries where employer brand management is in its early stages. Some of the companies present already have a global employer brand strategy.

However they are in the very early stages of implementing this into regions such as Slovakia – this will occur over the next 3 years so we should see a big uptake in employer branding in the country in the coming years. I have trained leaders in more than 50 cities around the world over the past 10 years and Slovakian companies are in the early stages of employer brand management competency. However they will accelerate quicker than companies in other regions as Slovakian leaders have the benefit of learning from companies around the world who have been on their journey for the past 3-5 years.

6. We all know your company will co-host with BrandBakers another terrific employer branding event, Prague on World Employer Branding Day to be held in Prague from 28-29 April 2016. Could you provide some information about the event?

The global employer branding industry’s key players and leaders from 30 countries will come together for World Employer Branding Day 2016 in Prague on 28-29 April to celebrate employer brand excellence around the world. We chose Prague as the host city as we believe Czech Republic and Slovakia are the two most exciting countries for the next phase of employer branding growth around the world.

I was also impressed by the culture and the people from the region during my visits to the cities in 2015. Prague is also a popular city amongst foreigners, many who will visit it for the first time for World Employer Branding Day 2016.

The key themes to be addressed at the event include:

• Strategic employer branding
• Employment lifecycle management
• Integrated candidate, employee & customer experience
• Measuring ROI & engaging leadership
• Employee ambassador programs
• Social media & digital strategy
• Diversity & inclusion
• Employer brand leadership certification
• Localization of global strategy
• Future trends in employer branding

Delegates will benefit from participating by:

• Learning the key trends in employer branding and people management from the companies that are driving best practice so they can adapt them to their own company
• Connecting, networking and learning from the world’s leading employer branding specialists from more than 30 countries who will be in the same place at the same time
• Learning how to develop a strategic approach to employer branding – this will save you time, money and resources in the long term
• Understand how to measure ROI of your strategy in order to engage senior leadership and grow your talent
• Develop strong employer branding connections from around the world that will assist you with your future strategy – the future is not only about your skills and experience, but also about the strength of your network
• Delegates will participate in a world class event over two days learning from the diversity of approaches in employer branding around the world
• It will be a structured, social and fun learning environment.

Full details about World Employer Branding Day can be found at www.worldemployerbrandingday.community.

We would like to welcome you onboard during World employer branding day in Prague, held on 28th and 29th of April.

Chceli by sme Vás všetkých pozvať do Prahy už 28. a 29. apríla, aby ste sa s významným odborníkom na značku zamestnávateľa mohli stretnúť aj naživo.

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