HR SEO : Online Candidate Attraction Specialists

Yesterday I was browsing the web, searching for recent articles relating to employer branding. I came across a highly informative survey, which highlights some very interesting statistics.

The International Workplace Survey from Robert Half had some very interesting reflections – for example:

• 68% of worldwide companies lack an employer brand strategy.
• 44% of UK companies see the importance of a brand strategy.
• Worldwide, the responsibility for building the employer brand must come from top management.

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Employer branding as a concept dates back to 1990, when Simon Barrow first came up with his now famous definition of what an employer brand is all about. Despite this, the real push by organisations to define, implement and monitor their own brand seems to have gained momentum only in the last few years. Whether that’s to do with the HR profession only belatedly gaining an understanding of its real benefits or it’s the agencies being slow at getting their act together, employer branding continues to be a hot topic. So what’s at stake here? There’s no doubt that no-one should undertake a branding project lightly. Getting it wrong is going to adversely affect the perceptions of not only prospective employees, but also the current workforce.

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Well, where to begin… I was asked this question by some friends, and when I started to explain what it is exactly that I do, I saw there eyes glaze over and a look of complete and utter confusion cross their faces. I was surprised, as the people I was with were well educated and had a good general knowledge of new and emerging marketing strategies.

I suspect it was the explanation I gave, as being in this particular field you learn to use terms that are industry related, but obviously not widely known. As this is an emerging market, these terms will not be recognised by the general population, so here is what I hope will be a good explanation of exactly what HR-SEO is.

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Time and time again I speak to corporate decision makers who have been burnt by an “SEO Provider”. You know, the ones that promised the earth, delivered squat and charged a fortune for the privilege

Employers now know just how important HR SEO is in order to secure search engine employer brand awareness and maximise quality candidate attraction. The thing is, more often than not just the mention of the letters SEO puts the “fear” of God into the hearts and minds of virtually every Managing, Marketing & HR Director.

So, naturally you’d think this would then be a negative for the HR SEO professionals amongst us?

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I’ve recently noticed just how generic most articles on recruiting online actually are. Most information portals on the web seem to feel that stating the obvious will suffice.

‘More than two thirds of recruiters are using the internet, its revolutionised global communication, lose the technology fear and jump right in – everyone’s doing it.’

As a rule I tend to not be impressed with such banter and figures. I along with most of my generation am fully aware that the internet is the main source of information and communication for most modern industries worldwide.

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This made me laugh, a lot!

At a recent online recruitment advertising event I was talking about Search Engine Employer Brand awareness. I mentioned how, if listed correctly, an employer can dramatically improve his or her direct recruitment strategy and produce high volumes of quality jobseekers applications.

When I finished it was Q&A time, however this time instead of asking questions straight off, the HR Director of UK Plc stood up and said that since last weekend he now understood why it was so important to list well in search engines. He said that when speaking to his Mum the previous week he had asked how she was getting on with the email account he had set up for her and she replied,

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The estimated number of internet users is well over 1.1 billion people and one of the most common activities is searching on the major search engines and applying for a job. It has never been more important to secure your employer brand in all the search engines.

Let’s go through an example:
Apple Mac. Probably one of the biggest brands in the world and right up there alongside Microsoft and Pepsi. They have a fantastic job portal which makes it very easy to navigate and apply but once an actual job term is searched for there is no presence in the search engines.

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