A recent survey confirms what employer brand advocates have been preaching for years: Employer brand and consumer brand are intertwined, for better or worse.
Sixty-four percent of job seekers say that a poor candidate experience would make them less likely to purchase goods and services from the employer, according to a survey conducted by HR advisory and research firm Future Workplace and CareerArc, a provider of social recruiting and outplacement services.
Spreading the Word
While that number alone is cause for concern, other survey findings suggest companies stand to lose even more customers.
In today’s world, job seekers are ready, willing, and able to share their experiences. One in three job seekers has posted at least one negative review of a previous or prospective employer.
And the griping doesn’t stop there. Employees and job seekers who post online negative reviews are 66 percent more likely to also share those opinions on social media, compared to those who only share their opinions with a friend or colleague.
Other job seekers, in turn, rely on these online opinions when evaluating a company. Employees rank as the most trusted source of information, but online reviews from job applicants and online reviews from former employees are the second and third most trusted sources, respectively.
Because of ubiquitous connectivity, word travels at the speed of click, and a good reputation can quickly unravel.
Aligning the Message
Negative candidate experiences don’t bode well for consumer brands, and the converse is also true.
Take T-Mobile as an example. The wireless carrier used to refer to its talent acquisition strategy as “radical transparency.” With this as the objective, the company shared everything with candidates: how long a job had been open, how many people applied, and when the candidate could expect to hear back.
The company still provides job seekers with time parameters for each phase of the application and hiring process at its corporate careers site, but the word “transparency” is no longer used.
Perhaps this is because last year T-Mobile was in the news for violating Federal Communications Commission (FCC) transparency rules; the headlines cited “lack of transparency.” T-Mobile ultimately agreed to pay $48 million to settle claims of misleading customers by falsely advertising “unlimited” data plans.
Understanding the Link
Activity related to a company’s consumer brand affects the employer brand, and vice versa. The reason is simple: Customers are job seekers, and job seekers are customers.
A full 91 percent of employers responding to the Future Workplace/Career Arc survey get it; they agree that candidate experience can impact consumer purchasing. Nevertheless, only 26 percent of employers measure this effect.
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Paula Santonocito, Contributing Editor for Recruiting Daily Advisor, is a business journalist specializing in employment issues. She is the author of more than 1,000 articles on a wide range of human resource and career topics, with an emphasis on recruiting and hiring. Her articles have been featured in many global and domestic publications and information outlets, referenced in academic and legal publications as well as books, and translated into several languages. |