Before, companies recruited on a job description. The question to ask then was: "how to arouse the interest of the candidates through the proposed missions, the place in the hierarchy, the salary and the job title?"
From the 2010s, the employer brand has become increasingly important with its share of new questions: "how to make the company attractive to future employees⸱ice⸱s, and how to retain employees⸱e⸱ s current⸱le⸱s?"
In recent years, we have observed a reversal of the criteria of choice: it is on the meaning that candidates⸱e⸱s decide whether or not to join a company. The new questions to ask are therefore: "How to show candidates the commitment of my organization, its impact on the planet?"
Indeed, according to a recent study conducted by Audencia's Positive Impact Chair with jobs_that_makesense, 81% of candidates emphasize the need for consistency with their personal values and convictions, and 54% of them say they choose their job based on its impact on the planet and society.
So how do you take care of your employer brand in this new context? How do you stand out in the job market by highlighting the positive impact of your organization on society? This is what we will detail in this article.
How do you make candidates want to join you?
It's not about putting false information about you, or doing greenwashing galore. Highlight who you really are. The idea is to target the actions implemented internally that make working at home enjoyable.
Here are 5 key points you can highlight for your impactful employer brand:
Talk about your values and your purpose
As a committed company, you have surely defined your mission, your purpose and your values. This is the first element of your employer brand: explaining simply and with passion the role of your organization for society. What you want to transform, change, revolutionize. For example, Loom is not a clothing brand like the others. They define themselves as a militant company and have given themselves the mission of producing better and above all consuming (much) less.
Do you have an impact study or a CSR report? Communicate it!
The impact study is both an approach and a regulatory file. This allows you to have a more in-depth reflection on the social and environmental impact of your project. It has three main objectives: to design a project that is more respectful of the environment, to shed light on nature and the decisions to be made, and finally to inform the public of your actions. Candidates who see that you have made the effort to do this study or report will understand more easily how much your impact is a real subject for you and that you are committed to making it so. This is the case, for example, of Clear Fashion, which has carried out its impact study and is making it public.
Give proof of your commitment, mention your labels and/or certifications.
Labels give even more credibility to your project and your desire to have a positive impact. There are many, such as B-Corp, ZEI, or Positive Workplace. Just like the impact study or the CSR report, it is important to highlight this type of information. For example, you can share this information directly in your job advertisements by mentioning the label. On jobs_that_makesense, you can also add your labels, they will be highlighted on your ads, allowing you to distinguish yourself with candidates.
Quality of life at work
Mentioning the quality of life at work is another very important element of your impactful employer brand. For example, mentioning your place of work (and we're not just talking about having a football table or a ping-pong table). If you are in a coworking that brings together other SSE actors, you can mention it. You can highlight activities that your employees can access, whether it's sports, inspiring talks from outsiders or even internal events.
You can also highlight testimonials from your employees on their well-being at work. If you also have commitments on these topics of well-being at work such as the right to disconnect, or your policy concerning teleworking and leave.
Finally, it may be important to highlight extra-remuneration benefits that your employees can benefit from, such as mobility packages or meal tickets for example.
Your governance and the transparency of your processes
If you have a governance that goes a bit out of the classic patterns (shared governance, self-governance), put it forward, and even in your ads and on your career page! This will also allow candidates to understand your functioning, and therefore to understand if this functioning can correspond to them. At Makesense, for example, we have a compensation model known to all team members. This allows for some transparency within the organization. We also have a shared governance model (or Opale governance), inspired by Frédéric Laloux's book, which allows everyone to have a say in the structure, but also to participate in important strategic or other decisions.
Where to communicate on its impactful employer brand?
Here are 5 main channels on which you can communicate about your impactful employer brand.
Your website and your social networks
They are your first showcase for candidates. Communicate about what you do, the organization's mission, your strengths, your vision, your adventure, but don't forget to also communicate about yourself and your team! Photos, videos of your team, of your workplace allow candidates to project themselves. For example, the Positive Workspace site highlights all the members of its team, then displays its offers directly on its site, which allows candidates to understand who the members of the team are.
On jobs_that_makesense, the specialized job site impact
Posting ads on jobs_that_makesense means posting on the impact employment platform, if you are present there, potential candidates will know that you are committed to impact. Indicate what you do well by creating your recruiter page on the platform to make yourself known as an impact employer. You can add your labels, create your career page with information about yourself, your impact, photos of your teams, etc.
On your job offers
In the introduction of the advertisements for example, or at the end of the advertisement by explaining the various advantages for the candidates. You can indicate your impact, your labels, your impact studies, etc. You can also indicate information about your team, who composes it, how many you are. By adding photos to your ad or your career page, it also allows candidates to put faces on the team. Finally, you can explain your internal organization and the different advantages of working in your organization within your offer, in a section "The + of this position" and/or "The conditions" for example.
During recruitment, make candidates want to join you
Your recruitment process must reflect your governance and the transparency of your processes. By using an ATS (Application Tracking System), you will therefore be able to follow all the applications you have received and you will know where you stand. Do not forget to contact each candidate again, whether for a refusal or a request for an interview. You can also use score cards to put all candidates on an equal footing in terms of skills assessment. Here is also an article to help you make a more inclusive recruitment by mobilizing the soft skills of your candidates.
By speaking out on topics that interest you
On your usual communication channels, via articles, testimonials, on the specific subjects on which you stand out. By speaking, you are also committing to subjects that are important to you, and which could also be important to potential candidates. For example, the mutual insurance company Alan wrote an article on these salaries and on its salary scale, which makes it possible to get out of the taboo of remuneration. The clothing brand Hopaal created Hopaal Magazine and regularly writes articles on responsible fashion, the choice of certain materials and their transparency in terms of price, for example.
To conclude, do not hesitate to highlight what you do well, because the candidates will be very sensitive to this. This will then allow you to have a well-established image of an impactful employer.