1. YOUR
BRAND
MATTERS
TO TALENT!
A GUIDE TO
EMPLOYMENT
BRANDING
PHILLIP SCIRO
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2. 2 | TALENT NEED BRAND! AN EMPLOYER BRANDING GUIDE
INTRODUCTION Of course your brand matters,
not only to consumers!
You already know the basics about branding: it is not simply an image you create to display to the
PHILLIP SCIRO
world; it is also the emotional experience your customers associate with a product or service. It is
common sense that your corporate branding strategy will be successful if your voice is heard and
remembered above the cacophony of your competitors’ voices.
But tell me, why is employer branding becoming such a hot topic for HR professionals and
candidates over the last few months? Is it a true differentiator, or is this just buzzy and fuzzy
trend-hopping without any substance?
Today, popular opinion says that a strong employment brand can provide important competitive
advantage, and employers who reflect their brand to talented job seekers can enjoy a true
competitive differentiator.
Is this really true?
I wrote this e-book to give you both: An overview about the latest discussions, and some new insights
that may have not been discussed in other publications about employer branding!
Read, learn, and enjoy. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me
directly at sciropa@kellyservices.com
PHILLIP SCIRO
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HOME INTRODUCTION 01 GET IT 02 DOES BRAND 03 SPEAK TO 04 PREVENT 05 POSITION CONCLUSION GET THE FULL REPORT
STRAIGHT GET TALENT THE WORLD ONLINE DAMAGE YOURSELF

3. 3 | TALENT NEED BRAND! AN EMPLOYER BRANDING GUIDE
01
GET IT Obviously, companies must be focused
on selling a product or service in
Yes, there are benefits for companies
with a strong employment brand, if
REMEMBER: Anyone could be a job
candidate or a customer in the future,
STRAIGHT – order to be competitive and prepare they want to attract top talent: so your brand should mean the same
for future growth. Competitive
IT’S ABOUT strength,however, always depends
• Greater success in attracting and
hiring top-quality passive (sought-
thing to everyone who experiences it.
Your hiring strategies should include
YOU! on the ability to attract and retain after) candidates processes to help determine whether
top talent, so employers need to be
• More referrals from satisfied current a job candidate is going to be a good
constantly focused on attracting the
employees and lower rates of offer fit with your company culture and
cream of the crop, regardless of the
rejection, which translates into better corporate strategy. If you try to fill
economy. Employers are engaged in
talent and a lower cost-per-hire in the holes during the on-boarding
a war for talent that demands them
• Higher levels of employee
to continually rethink recruitment process, it is too late for both you and
engagement, lower turnover, and
strategies. your employee.
greater morale
Developing an engaged, committed, and talented workforce
needs to start from the very beginning of the recruitment
process. Job applicants and employees alike want to know what
advantages they will realize from committing to your organization
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HOME INTRODUCTION 01 GET IT 02 DOES BRAND 03 SPEAK TO 04 PREVENT 05 POSITION CONCLUSION GET THE FULL REPORT
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4. 4 | TALENT NEED BRAND! AN EMPLOYER BRANDING GUIDE
02
DOES BRAND Latest studies have shown that
candidates consider an organization’s
attract the type of talent who will
enable your corporate strategy. You
• Your sourcing strategies need to
acknowledge that some cultural
GET TALENT? reputation to be very important, and as HR leader, responsible for human elements of your brand are not
YES!
one of the most influential factors in capital development and acquisition, negotiable, because they’re part of
their decision to accept employment. should be sitting at the table during the the brand
Clearly, a staffing strategy will be development of a corporate strategy,
more successful in attracting top not simply engaged after the fact. KEEP IN MIND: If your candidates
talent if hiring managers recognize don’t experience from the very
Remember, when courting top talent: beginning what they’re going to
how a strong employment brand can
• You should target places where you experience culturally while working
motivate and engage job seekers.
can recruit specific skill sets and types with you, then they may look
From an internal perspective, your of employees who are more likely to elsewhere—or when they come on
corporate strategy may look good, thrive in your culture and be aligned board and the culture is very different
but you need to have an effective with corporate values and missions from their expectations, they won’t feel
acquisition strategy as well— • Global assimilation is more important encouraged to stay.
messaging, resources, branding, than ever now, because the world is
advertising, and reputation that will your marketplace
To be effective in attracting top talent, an employer
brand should be compelling and credible, and should
connect with applicants in their own voice.
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HOME INTRODUCTION 01 GET IT 02 DOES BRAND 03 SPEAK TO 04 PREVENT 05 POSITION CONCLUSION GET THE FULL REPORT
STRAIGHT GET TALENT THE WORLD ONLINE DAMAGE YOURSELF

5. 5 | TALENT NEED BRAND! AN EMPLOYER BRANDING GUIDE
03
SPEAK TO THE Contrary to what companies may
believe, in large part, employees
• Listen to social conversations and
actively contribute thought leadership
• Tag product images with specific
brand names and descriptions, so
WORLD! NOW have always owned the employer content to target audiences, so your job seekers can learn more about
brand. They just haven’t had the tools name and corporate brand become your company
to spread their opinions as widely familiar and recognizable
and quickly as they can today. Social • Share links and useful information As these social platforms are
networking (LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo, with other network users growing exponentially, the rapid-fire
Facebook, Twitter, etc.) has made brand • Create polls and surveys to learn effectiveness of social media in getting
exposure faster and more cost-effective. more about your target audience the word out can be a double-edged
Take advantage of these benefits, or and community sword. If your organization doesn’t
they could take advantage of you! have a voice in this channel, your
How? employment brand is being left behind.
No matter which social media/networking sites you participate
in, interacting with and involving users can be a great way to
position your employer brand as an attractive one.
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HOME INTRODUCTION 01 GET IT 02 DOES BRAND 03 SPEAK TO 04 PREVENT 05 POSITION CONCLUSION GET THE FULL REPORT
STRAIGHT GET TALENT THE WORLD ONLINE DAMAGE YOURSELF

6. 6 | TALENT NEED BRAND! AN EMPLOYER BRANDING GUIDE
04
OUCH! No doubt, social media is a huge
chance to get the word out about your
media to improve the reputations and
best practices of their company.
not be able to counter any negative
attention you may receive. If you
PREVENT ONLINE brand and to build reputation. But you
Key to succeeding is being proactive
aren’t already actively involved in the
need to do it right! conversation, your reputation will be
DAMAGE TO and getting involved with social left in the hands of what other people
YOUR BRAND Some companies have learned the hard
way about how social media can deal
media, so you can spot trends and
potential issues to address them
are saying about it.
a harsh blow to their corporate brand before they become a problem for A negative reputation online can
and ultimately their employer brand. your company. You can’t just listen to seriously hamper your success in
Yet, for every social media nightmare what other people are saying, though; attracting top talent.
story, there are numerous examples of your business must have some kind of
employees and companies using social online presence of its own, or you will
Peer-to-peer content publishing, blogs, online journals, search
engine managers, industry forums, and online rating services
have shifted much of the power away from organizations in
being able to manage their employment brand. A personal
statement someone makes about their employer is more
trusted as fact than any generic corporate mission statement.
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HOME INTRODUCTION 01 GET IT 02 DOES BRAND 03 SPEAK TO 04 PREVENT 05 POSITION CONCLUSION GET THE FULL REPORT
STRAIGHT GET TALENT THE WORLD ONLINE DAMAGE YOURSELF

7. 7 | TALENT NEED BRAND! AN EMPLOYER BRANDING GUIDE
05
POSITION Yes, it might be a no-brainer for you:
Job seekers today are shifting away
TO BE MORE CONCRETE: You should
bring them to an informative, engaging
day. Smaller companies shouldn’t try to
compete with Google’s approach, but
YOURSELF! from traditional media and going to recruitment section on your company’s they can set out to be the top brand in
more online and social platforms to website, to strengthen their perception their vertical.
USE YOUR network, conduct specific searches, of your brand and influence them
WEBSITE and find jobs. to want to work for you. Innovative If you have to pay to advertise your
branding strategies, such as videos, can employer brand, you run the risk of
But if you want purposeful employment make candidates feel excited about the losing credibility with passive job
branding online, it should bring possibility of working for you. A perfect seekers. But “word on the street” (e.g.,
candidates to a place that clearly example of how successful this strategy online) will excite potential candidates
identifies the company’s culture, can be is the fact that “An Inside Look to seek out your company as an
mission, values, benefits information, at Google” has been viewed more than employer, and it will be easier to attract
and job listings. You should bring them 500,000 times online—and Google and engage top talent.
to YOUR website! receives more than 3,000 applications a
A viral-based approach using social media can be the most
economical and successful branding strategy.
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HOME INTRODUCTION 01 GET IT 02 DOES BRAND 03 SPEAK TO 04 PREVENT 05 POSITION CONCLUSION GET THE FULL REPORT
STRAIGHT GET TALENT THE WORLD ONLINE DAMAGE YOURSELF

8. 8 | TALENT NEED BRAND! AN EMPLOYER BRANDING GUIDE
CONCLUSION As I have asked in the introduction:
Can a good employer brand be a true
differentiator for companies, or is it
just buzzy and fuzzy trend-hopping
without any substance??
For me it is a true differentiator, if you do some things right (see the points above).
It requires important value propositions that everyone in the organization is responsible for developing
and engendering—including top management, Human Resources, Marketing, Finance and others.
A corporate brand can be much more than a tool to achieve customer engagement. It’s equally
important as a powerful tool for talent acquisition and retention. Without alignment and intentional
effort to maintain a competitive position with your employment brand, attracting today’s pivotal talent
is nearly impossible.
Employees today are behaving more like consumers when choosing to join a company or stay with an
employer. A positive employer brand can help differentiate your company from others while creating
an attractive identity that job seekers can align with their own values and ideals.
Never forget: Your employer brand is only as good as an employee’s experience of that brand promise.
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HOME INTRODUCTION 01 GET IT 02 DOES BRAND 03 SPEAK TO 04 PREVENT 05 POSITION CONCLUSION GET THE FULL REPORT
STRAIGHT GET TALENT THE WORLD ONLINE DAMAGE YOURSELF

9. This ebook is extracted from Your Brand Matters
to Talent! A Guide to Employment Branding
DOWNLOAD YOUR
FREE COPY TODAY.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PHILLIP SCIRO has spent the last twenty years in Sales, Sales Management and
Executive Leadership roles with some of the very best in the staffing industry
whom entrusted in him the responsibility of launching, growing, and managing
multi-discipline practices in Asia, United Kingdom and the Americas.
Phillip holds a Bachelors Degree in Business administration.
ABOUT KELLY
Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: KELYA, KELYB) is a leader in providing workforce solutions.
Kelly® offers a comprehensive array of outsourcing and consulting services as well as world-class
staffing on a temporary, temporary-to-hire, and direct-hire basis. Serving clients around the globe,
Kelly provides employment to 480,000 employees annually. Revenue in 2010 was $5 billion.
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