The importance of understanding your employer value proposition and its place in attracting the right candidates for your organisation cannot be understated. A strong employer brand sets your company apart from your competition by highlighting why skilled engineers would want to work for your company. Competition for engineers is high in the UK with only a little over 540,000 suitably skilled professionals. With this level of competition, salary alone can’t be relied on to draw in the best candidates. 77% of candidates say that a company’s values and purpose are important when deciding whether to apply for a position. Engineering HR teams need to craft a brand package that highlights the unique values, culture, and benefits of their organisation.
Creating a strong employer brand helps your business stand out to top candidates, making sure you attract and keep the best engineers.
Understanding Employer Branding in the Engineering Sector
Branding is much more than just a logo or a set of colours. It’s about the identity and reputation of your company, and employer branding is no different. It is important for HR teams to understand their employer brand as it shapes how potential and current employees see the company as a place to work. Showcasing your company’s strengths, culture, and the unique opportunities can help your company stand out in a competitive market. HR teams need to develop a core message they are sending to candidates about what it’s like to work for your company and why they should choose you over your competitors, however there are common pitfalls that engineering companies fall into when trying to develop their employer brand. The messaging and tone need to be carefully considered and can require the support of an industry specific recruiter like Sigma Recruitment.
This is why it is important focus on:
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- Highlighting Innovation and Development: It is important to show how your company drives innovation in engineering projects and offers clear paths for professional growth.
- Promoting a Positive Work Environment: Emphasise your commitment to a supportive, inclusive, and dynamic workplace.
- Communicating Employee Impact and Rewards: Make it clear how engineers can contribute to meaningful projects and how their efforts are recognised and rewarded.
- Building a Genuine Narrative: It’s not just about listing achievements but creating a compelling story about your company’s mission, culture, and the opportunities for engineers. This narrative should be consistent across all platforms, from your website to social media.
Remember, building a strong employer brand is an ongoing process, not a one-time effort. It requires monitoring and adjusting to ensure your message resonates with high quality engineering candidates. Be mindful that developing your employer brand without support can lead to ineffective candidate engagement, inefficient processes, and decreased acceptance rates, so consider using the expertise of a specialist engineering recruiter to support you in developing your employer brand.
The Role of Employer Branding in Attracting Top Talent
In the engineering sector, having a strong employer brand is crucial for attracting and retaining the best talent. A good employer brand can reduce employee turnover by as much as 28%, with 61% of employees saying that they would consider moving to a company with a better employer brand. This is especially important in specialised engineering areas where there are more jobs than skilled candidates available.
Your company’s values, mission and development opportunities are particularly important to younger candidates, particularly from the Millennial’s generation and younger. Focusing on things like training for employees, a culture of continuous improvement, and caring about employee health shows you’re committed to their future.
Communicating Your Company’s Culture and Values
Attracting engineers to your company means showing them how their work will matter. They want jobs where they can make a real difference. This is why it is crucial to communicate your company’s culture and values across all touchpoints in a consistent way, which can be easily achieved by leveraging the expertise of a specialist recruiter like Sigma Recruitment. Using a specialist recruiter can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your communications and strengthen your employer brand. Here are some ways using a specialist recruiter can help convey your company’s culture and values:
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- Online Presence: Use your website and social media to show off the important projects your company has been part of. Sharing stories and photos that highlight your company’s impact and values can expand the reach of your company’s reputation. You can also take advantage of Sigma Recruitment’s extensive network, developed over two decades, to get your stories out to a larger but still relevant audience.
- Job Advertisements: When you post a job, explain how that role helps your company achieve its goals. Make it clear that the job is about more than just tasks—it’s about making a difference. This can differentiate your job advert from others which primarily focus on the company’s reputation as opposed to showcasing what the company can do for the candidate. Sigma Recruitment can help you to develop engaging job advertisements which are then shared across multiple job boards. They also provide the ability to source both active and passive candidates, ensuring a wider reach.
- Employee Stories: Let your current engineers tell their own stories about why they love working at your company. This can be on social media or on job review websites. Hearing from actual employees can be a powerful message for those looking at working for your company. With the support of Sigma Recruitment, you can also benefit from developing employee stories and creating collateral such as videos to convey these positive messages about the company.
- Videos: Make short videos that show what it’s like to work at your company. Highlight your team, your projects, and what your company stands for, while leveraging Sigma Recruitment’s expertise in producing professional video adverts and explainers.
- Events: Host events, either in person or online, where people can learn more about your company. Letting potential hires meet your team and see your work first-hand can make a big impact, especially with director and experienced consultant oversight from Sigma Recruitment ensuring a seamless process.
Simple steps like these can help show engineers that your company is a place where they can do meaningful work, feel valued and continue to develop their career and long-term prospects.
Show Them the Entire Package
Another key component of employer branding is highlighting what your company can directly offer prospective candidates. This means not just the salary but the entire compensation package. While salary undoubtedly plays a factor, benefits that help reduce financial stressors for employees are becoming highly sought after. This means it is important to communicate everything the job offers, like extra holiday time, flexible hours, good pension plans, health care, mental health support, help with gym costs, and events with the team. These extras are important because engineers often work on large projects that requires deep focus and concentration. Having a job that understands these pressures and helps engineers to balance their work and life are in high demand.
Strengthen Your Employer Branding with Sigma
Creating a strong employer brand is essential to draw in and keep the best engineering talent. It is about creating a real connection through sharing your company’s goals, culture, and the positive impact of the work your engineers are a part of.
Effective employer branding requires a clear strategy and continuous effort. Simply listing job vacancies won’t cut it – you must communicate your values, culture, and drive for innovation clearly and across all your touchpoints. Partnering with a specialist recruiter gives you a clearer view of what engineering job seekers want and how best to communicate the benefits of working for your company over your competitors.
If you want to develop you employer brand and improve how your company looks to potential hires, our team is here to help. We give advice that fits the specific needs of your business. For personalised guidance on improving your employer brand, contact us at info@sigmarecruitment.co.uk or 02920 450 100.
