This document discusses employer branding and the role of social media in recruitment. It defines employer branding as a company's reputation as an employer and discusses how developing a strong employer value proposition (EVP) can help attract talent. It also explores how social media has become crucial for employer branding and recruiting, allowing companies to showcase their culture and values. The document provides advice on leveraging social media for recruitment effectively, including promoting a human face, monitoring sentiment, and utilizing networks like LinkedIn and Glassdoor.

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
INTERNAL ASSIGNMENT-SEM 3
TERM PAPER
The role of Employer Branding in Recruitment and
efficient utilization of Social Media for the same
Aakriti Agarwal
Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies
Delhi University

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Contents
Introduction 3
Objectives 4
Research Methodology 4
Analysis
Employer Branding 5-7
The Role of Social Media 8
The Right Way to go about Social Media Recruitment 9-11
Conclusion 12
Bibliography 13

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Introduction
Traditionally, consumers used the Internet to simply expend content: they read it, they
watched it, and they used it to buy products and services. Increasingly, however,
consumers are utilizing platforms—such as content sharing sites, blogs, social networking,
and wikis—to create, modify, share, and discuss Internet content. This represents the social
media phenomenon, which can now significantly impact a firm's reputation, sales, and even
survival.
Social media plays a crucial role in contemporary recruiting, especially with respect to
employer branding. According to Employer Branding International, 76 percent of
companies use social media to solidify and promote their employer brands. Organizations
broadcast their cultures, their values, and their beliefs by making strategic moves on social
media, hoping they’ll strike a chord with people who will fit in as employees.
For effective employer brand promotion, however, the company can only attract current
and future employees if it has an identity that is true, credible, relevant, distinctive and
aspirational.

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Objectives
To understand the concept of Employer Branding and study its relevance in today’s terms
To analyse Social Media Recruitment and understand its role in getting better recruits
To understand why is it that these phenomenons are trending so much
To suggest effective ways to recruit through social media while creating a strong employer
brand at the same time.
Research Methodology
Secondary sources of data have been used for this paper like blogs, scholarly articles, etc.
Firstly, each term was understood, then its relevance was put into perspective to
understand how they fit into the objectives that the paper seeks to fulfil.

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Employer Branding
Employer brand is an organisation's reputation as an employer. The term was first used in
the early 1990s by Simon Barrow, chairman of People in Business, and Tim Ambler, Senior
Fellow of London Business School, in the Journal of Brand Management, and has since
become widely adopted by the global management community.
This academic paper was the first published attempt to "test the application of brand
management techniques to human resource management". Within this paper, Simon
Barrow and Tim Ambler defined the employer brand as "the package of functional,
economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the
employing company"
Minchington (2005) defines employer brand as "the image of your organisation as a 'great
place to work'". The process of employer branding is concerned with talent attraction,
engagement and retention strategies deployed to enhance your company's employer
brand. Factors such as the marquee value of a company’s name, its industry position, and
even its corporate culture all contribute to the brand presence that can influence a job
seeker’s decision.
Organisations understand their consumers, consumer behaviour and research forms a
major part of any company’s R&D concerns, but understanding employees, what drives
them, WHY should they work for the company, how to make them more efficient, ends up
being sidelined and shoddy HR work is done just for formality’s sake. But any true global or
leading company which is successful today spends a considerable amount of time and
effort .
Brand management was largely viewed as a marketing terminology and was the key to
attracting and retaining consumers but organisations are increasingly understanding the
role of brand from the internal point of view as well, that is, for the present and potential
employees.

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Therefore, for every company to truly assess its employee engagement with the company,
it must ask itself the following questions.
● Why do people stay with your company?
● Why do people want to work for your company?
● Who are your stars; what are the common behaviors and traits that your stars
possess?
This would lead the company to come up with its EVP. The employer value proposition
(EVP) is a unique set of offerings, associations and values to positively influence target
candidates and employees.
By analyzing the factors influencing the employer brand, and by defining a strong and true
EVP, the employer will be able to deliver sound and consistent communications during the
communication phase and develop an attractive, as well as unique, employer brand.
The EVP provides attributes and themes to be used as a long-term foundation for your
branding and creative work. It ensures that the communication and branding done by a
company is consistent, unique, true and relevant to important target groups. Employers
that develop their EVP successfully benefit from an increase in their talent pool and
employee engagement.
But why is the need for employer branding increasing in today’s times?
What do BMW, Apple, and Southwest Airlines have in common?
They are all exceptional at linking employment and product brand. Apple hires the most
creative people to make the most creative products. BMW hires people who are driving
enthusiasts to build the ultimate driving machine. Southwest Airlines hires people who
have “fun” in their DNA.
Previously people wished more for physiological and security needs only and social came
in a bit higher up the ladder while actualisation came generally after a certain career stage,
but now in the hyperconnected world, and with the growth of the middle class lines
between personal and professional are blurring and people are connecting like no other.
Also the ubiquity of mobiles, and therefore connectivity to social networks has created
unprecedented hike in social needs and changed the way people communicate altogether.
All major brands have their social network pages, therefore now it has become almost a
prerequisite, something of a comfort factor.

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Today’s young generation brings a brand new set of values to the workplace. The emerging
workforce is not just looking for a high salary, or a successful career; young people want
more. They want purpose. They want to know why: “Why should I work here, how does it
fit into what I want with my life and why does this company do what it does?” Today’s
students and recent graduates do not make the same distinction between work and spare
time as previous generations did. Their careers are an important part of their identity and
consequently an integral part of their life in general. In a recent global Universum study on
career personalities, 85 percent of those surveyed said that their work is part of who they
are, not just a way of making money
Job security isn’t that much of a concern and with increased globalisation as well, the
willingness to move or relocate for work has increased. Turnover rates are also higher.
People leave an organisation without much of a hesitation, in fact its the standard way to
rise up the ranks. This increased mobility of employees therefore forces organisations to
create an environment, a work culture, that would truly make their employees feel good
about their job. This can be done by improving work life balance, increased focused on
corporate social sustainability, supporting volunteer efforts; so that the employees believe
their company has a bigger purpose than just making money.

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The Role of Social Media
Recruiting is (and has always been) a social activity. Social Media Recruiting made internet
recruiting more like recruiting in real life (except that a billion people are now only one
message away).
Companies need to start to engage a candidate in a way they never could with a recruiter
because of (social media's) scalability and the ability to have a two-way dialog. They can
showcase the company with pictures and videos and give candidates an idea of what it feels
like to work there.
Linkedln recruiting tools focus on finding candidates and networking online; while
Facebook and Twitter recruiting tools focus on employer branding- an important part of
engaging candidates. But whether it’s the company LinkedIn or Facebook page or everyone
involved in the interviewing process from the HR manager to the CIO – and even the firm’s
external PR messaging – the brand needs to come though consistently at every touch-point.
Companies that don't embrace social media as a recruitment tool might risk losing quality
candidates to their competition that is focused on such outreach,
The candidates expect the employer to be there, and if they aren’t then the company is
losing out on a sizeable proportion of audience and losing out in terms of quality of the
applicants as well.

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Advising Employers on the Right Way to go about Social
Media Recruitment
❏ Put a human face to social media, have a person managing social media and let
people see who that person is. This would be the social media equivalent of an HR
coordinator who conventionally handles e-mail communication.
❏ Promote social media as a legitimate medium of communication. Conduct online
workshops, presentations, events etc. and request people to contact you through
social media storefronts. It is not enough to add a standardized “Follow Us on
Twitter” button everywhere.
❏ Create a Social Media Policy with clear guidelines on how to use social media
while being an employee at the organization. Make it clear that any social media
bloggers are expressing their own views.
❏ Use the openness of social media to monitor sentiments regarding your company,
both positive and negative. Conventional channels of communication present only
feedback that is explicitly directed towards you. With social media, however, you
can often also monitor feedback about you directed towards peers.
❏ When building your online network, don’t forget your biggest asset: your current
employees. Everyone at your organization can help with the recruiting effort.
Internal recommendations are a great way to find reliable people, and having your
employees help announce job openings in their LinkedIn and Facebook status
updates expands your reach to people who aren’t directly connected to your
company
❏ Consider your current employers as brand advocates for your company. In the
business scheme of things your employees serve three main purposes – (1) to work
with your customers properly, professionally and efficiently; (2) to see that your
company acquires and retains customers; and (3) to help your business grow and
succeed. To do all of this effectively, your employees need to be fully immersed in
your brand. So, it would be beneficial to meet with them once in a while and provide
them with tips on best practices, and strategies for handling their day-to-day
responsibilities properly. Ensure that your employees have a firm grasp and
thorough understanding of who you are as a company and why.
❏ Use real and virtual professional and social networks. For example, in May 2008,
TMP Worldwide recruiters set up Network in World, a “virtual job fair” on Second
Life. Ernst & Young has groups on Twitter and Facebook where it posts job updates.

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❏ Leverage all available social media tools. Examples: John Fluevog Boots & Shoes
uses its Open-Source Footwear Social Network to solicit customers’ shoe designs.
Starbucks gathers consumer ideas on its My Starbucks Idea social network.
❏ Meaningful, cooperative teaching combines mentoring, peer learning, formal
“competency” training and experiential “context-based” learning. Deloitte’s leaders
estimate that its Coaching and Career Connections site has helped save between
$120 million and $150 million through retaining employees.
❏ Consider your company’s recruiter(s) to be the spokespeople for your organization.
They represent your company’s brand each and every time they conduct business
on its behalf. Is their recruiter brand portraying the company culture in a positive
light? Do they make a point to uphold interview and appointment times? Do they go
out of their way to find the perfect fit for a position and prepare them ahead of time?
Individuals committed to excellence in their professional interactions will not only
make lasting impressions but also build and sustain your brand reputation.
❏ Depict very clear ways to contact company. Consumerism has grown leaps and
bounds. People do not hesitate to post reviews regarding products on the social
forums, but there’s still stigma regarding career postings, as it could be viewed in
bad light. If consumer communication can evolve from email newsletters and one
way TV ads then so should the employee communication. Recruiters should be
made more visible and accessible on the social handles.
❏ Make sure to keep your Jobs/Careers page on your company website updated
regularly. Maintain job descriptions and utilize your social media pages to share
current job opportunities. Along with keeping this page current, check all links
regularly to ensure they are working properly. This simple maintenance will show
prospective candidates and recruiters the kind of company you are, representing
your brand in a reputable way.
❏ A professional LinkedIn page for employees should include their education, work
experience, skills and current job positions. Your company’s LinkedIn page can be
a great online marketing tool; it is a great place to showcase information about
your company (products/services), and feature promotions to specific followers
and LinkedIn group members. It will allow you to connect with qualified
individuals in the job market and locate ideal candidates for your company.
❏ In addition to LinkedIn, your company could utilize several other social media
capacities to build the online presence that you want. Facebook, Google+,
Twitter,Klout, Youtube and Slideshare are all networks that when used correctly,
could hugely benefit your company. Through your voice on these networks you can

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find prospects to connect with, and enable them to see the kind of company culture
that they could potential be a part of.
❏ There are plenty of resources for job seekers to utilize to discover nearly everything
they need to know before they express interest in your company. People want to be
a part of a company with a mission; make sure you and your staff know what you
stand for, and how you represent that through the way you conduct business. This
will work to attract people with the qualities and attributes that you want to
represent your brand.
❏ Glassdoor is a free jobs and career review site that provides inside access to jobs
and companies. Monitor the reviews, add photos and create posts of your own –
offering helpful and unique information about your company to users.

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Conclusion
Organisations should focus on hiring employees who possess the same behaviors and traits
as their brand. They should also understand the importance of linking product and
employment brand.
Social media recruiting doesn’t follow the rules of the old standard job posting: publishing
a job ad and waiting for the inbound of resumes won’t work here. In this new environment,
the best approach is to constantly work on building relationships that the company can rely
on when it’s time to hire, accessing a pipeline of candidates that already showed interest in
working for the company, or access trusted influencers that can help connect to the right
people.
It's important to maintain the pieces that have resulted in successful hires to date. Social
media is meant to fuel other strategies. Social media should not replace traditional
recruiting strategies and tactics, but instead should supplement the solid recruiting
practices companies already have in place, thereby promoting integration of traditional
recruiting strategies with social media strategies.

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Bibliography
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People at Work, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
Minchington, B (2010) Employer Brand Leadership – A Global Perspective, Collective
Learning Australia.
Martin, G (2009) Employer Branding and corporate reputation management, The Peak
Performing Organisation, Chapter 13, pp 252, Routledge, London.
Edwards, M. R., (2010), An integrative review of employer branding and OB theory,
Personnel Review Vol. 39, No.1, pp.5-23
Barrow, S. (1990), 'Turning recruitment advertising into a competitive weapon', Paper
delivered at the CIPD Annual Conference, Harrogate, UK.
Ambler, T and Barrow, S. (1996), The employer brand, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 4,
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