Employer branding - Definition and Overview

In an era of dwindling demographics, companies and organisations are trying to attract people and to convince them to become employees. They tend to use many Human Resources Marketing techniques to do so.

Employer Branding is a central concept in HR Marketing. It defines the personality of a company as a preferred employer. This process is similar to managing a brand in product or services marketing. It usually answers one basic question : why should anyone join the company (instead of any other company). It provides potential employees with information on business, culture and benefits of working for this company.

The concept of employer branding has been expanding. Not only it is used to steer the recruiting effort, it is also leading in generating strategies for retention and motivation. The branding during the recruitment period needs to be confirmed once the candidate becomes an employee. When the employee however notices too much divergence between what he was told and what he experiences, the so-called psychological contract is disrupted. Consistency between the experiences throughout the process will support and strengthen the employer brand.

Examples of companies that have successfully invested in Employer Branding are :

Europe - Henkel (http://www.henkel.com) (Consumer Goods) - L'Oréal (http://www.loreal.com) (Consumer Goods) - Deutsche Bank (http://www.db.com) (Banking)

USA - Accenture (http://www.accenture.com) (Consultancy) - McKinsey (http://www.mckinsey.com) (Consultancy) - IBM (http://www.ibm.com) (IT)