What a great employer brand in the IT industry really looks like – 3 tips to get you started
When speaking about an employer brand, people tend to focus on the bigger picture and overall impressions. But the truth is that different talent segments pay attention to different things when choosing where to work. IT professionals pay attention to totally different things than marketers. Do you know what type of brand message is appealing to IT professionals? Or which channels these hard-to-reach professionals hang out on? With just a little push in the right direction you can positively stand out from the crowd - without having to go to great lengths to get officially certified as a ‘Great Place to Work’...
Three simple tips to get you started:
1. Figure out your organizational tech talent needs for both the short and the long term
Even if you’re really tempted to get moving on tangible improvements right away, stop and take the time to map out (in detail) your talent needs over the next 1-2 years… and beyond. Pick 1-3 priority talent profiles that you’re going to specifically aim your brand messaging at.
2. Create an EVP (employee value proposition) = your employer promise: who are we as an employer?
Another essential tenet of employer branding is to find out what kind of employer you are, as well as what kind of employer you want to be.
Your EVP should answer the question: why would a talented individual want to work for us? Once you have a clear answer to this question you’ll be able to successfully communicate with external stakeholders.
EVP consists of the following areas:
Organization: market position, product and/or service quality, customers & clients, corporate responsibility
Work: meaningfulness of the work done and its overall impact, work-life balance
Remuneration: compensation packages, holidays, benefits - what do we want to reward people for?
Opportunities: career paths, professional development opportunities, growth goals
People: colleagues, management style, staff reputation inside and outside the organization
Lots to think about and map out! Laying this groundwork will give you a solid foundation for all future brand communications and ensure that it reflects what actually goes on inside your organization. Doing this will give you the right tools to be able to customize your messaging to different talent segments.
3. Use your external comms to shout about the things that IT professionals tend to particularly value in a potential employer
Based on thousands of IT recruitment interviews, we’ve collated some key developer priorities; the comments below are direct quotes from software developers:
Teams & projects:
“Personally, I always want to know a little bit more about the actual team or project I would be working on. So many different types of activities tend to go on inside one company. I need a realistic snapshot that I can hone in on. ”
Working practices & development approach:
“How does the company approach things like testing, peer review, pushing to production, and do people have well-defined roles? How does development team autonomy compare with overall business bureaucracy and processes? ”
Concrete examples of projects:
"It's good to get concrete examples, because everyone advertises that they are very agile even if the reality is far from that."
Technology and tools:
"It's important to know what technologies the company are using and what their architecture looks like."
Hope you have gotten some useful ideas on how to communicate your employer brand to demanding IT professionals!
💡 Want to hear how Finders Seekers could help your organization develop its employer branding maturity even further and make you irresistible to IT professionals?
Get in touch with Petra: petra@findersseekers.io or 040 065 3089.