Career in Employer Branding 2021? You better start learning!

If you are in employer branding thinking of what you can do to shift your career development, you better fasten your seatbelts! There is a change happening in the field you cannot miss…or you will be missed soon. 

The world of work we know has change for sure. Like it or not, but new reality appeared. What has changed for HR/EB?

·      we went digital – the need of adjusting processes, operating model not mentioning new measures is no longer an emergency state but a real stable business need we won’t skip

·      we went home office/virtual – so has the employee engagement, selection processes and keeping values live. We do not only need a new ways of communicating with employees but new ways of managing people

·      we went crisis mode – the pressure on cost-effectiveness is as natural as it has never been for many years. Optimalisation and effectiveness is the king of 2021. Yet, we still have people and their emotions in the center to manage.

What does it mean for employer branding? Do we still need it? Looking at the above it is clear we need it even more. But what we need is different attitude and skills. What skills? Well, you can already see it looking at the freshly published job offers. I reviewed 3 of them looking for patterns and trending competencies. What are they?  

3 must have skills for 2021

1.     Performance marketing

Yep, it is not about communication, it is about effective communication. It is not about using fancy tools. It is about tools that works. It is not about fancy campaigns and reach, it is about leads and cost per recruitment lead. Sorry for those who hates technology but it is time to start liking new words like leads, email marketing, SEO, GA, remarketing, A/B testing, CTA and understanding modern marketing (which apparently has change circa 10 years ago)

Need a prof? See HubSpot requirements for Growth Marketing Specialist, Employer Brand https://www.hubspot.com/careers/jobs/2553189?gh_jid=2553189

• At least 2 years of experience in a data-driven marketing role 
• Fluency in Google Analytics, and familiarity with Looker, Excel, or similar data analysis tools
• Experience managing a paid marketing budget
• An analytical approach to marketing; you can put together recommendations based on findings and results

2.     Data and analytics

To be effective first you have to know how to measure effectiveness. And it is not about measuring employees engagement once a year or making candidates happy during the selection process. It is about predicting who is retention sensitive and where your recruitment funnel has laverage points. It is not about sexy naming your EVP but about measuring if it is effective. As EVP can be measured in real numbers ;)

Ok, RTB needed? Look at the DocPlanner job offer for Global Employer Branding Specialist (Tech) https://apply.workable.com/docplanner/j/E429C47AEE/

On requirements list they have:

·       Have true passion for Employer Branding, A/B testing, and trying out new ways of reaching potential candidates,

·       Have experience in lead generation (HR or Marketing),

·       Know that measuring Employer Branding activities should not be an unpleasant necessity but rather a total must to keep improving as a specialist,

3.     Strategic thinking

Yes, thinking can be strategic, the same as it can be operational. The moment when you stop frustrating on candidates applying with no appropriate skills to your offer and start thinking how to change this, that is the moment when strategic thinking starts. Small moment, but a huge step. The same will be with people leaving the company, underperformance or poor engagement. It all starts with the simple WHY. Then you need to know more J More on business you are in, more on processes you can or cannot change and more on people you pitch to about the changes needed. 

See what is Zalando actually looking at Lead Employer Branding position: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/jobs/2574211?fbclid=IwAR1Gw-3G7dzhdsKSaZ42K59Fz9qYPltj7H94u_d_CRC9dEaicQz-P6BrJoo&gh_src=fd133f501

• You act as a consultant and think strategically. You enjoy to work across multiple departments and work well with various stakeholders on shared timelines
• You have experience implementing online marketing strategies involving different channels catering them to different audiences
• You are data driven with strong analytical skills and have the ability to create the right metrics and implement solutions to drive positive change in order to determine ROI

LET'S DO IT!

Well, we want it or not, the changes are here in employer branding skillset needed. I am happy to see that. Hope you will find an inspiration for future learning! And remember, every journey has its first step. BTW if you look for intensive development in your career, check our job offers: https://ebinstitute.com/career/

If you need audit your brand to redesign your processes to be more effective, let us know, we are here to help with adjusting your employer brand to the new reality. 

ps. Thank you Zalando, DocPlanner and HubSpot for taking employer branding on higher level!