Mr. Ferrara

Human Resources, Recruitment & Training

Employee Branding: Savvy job postings key to attracting the right staff

By Jason Ferrara, Vice President, Corporate Marketing, CareerBuilder

The magnitude of the industry's turnover is demonstrated by a recent nationwide survey by CareerBuilder.com. According to the survey, about 12 percent of hospitality workers plan to leave their jobs in the fourth quarter of 2005.

While these statistics would be sobering for any employer, the problem is especially challenging in the hospitality industry, where the competency of the staff is often the deciding point between a disgruntled guest and a glowing review.

To beat employee turnover, businesses are creating employee brands designed to attract the right workers the first time around - qualified employees who are a good fit for the company culture. The most effective recruiters are able to position their companies as employers who offer an exceptional work experience and provide a value above and beyond a paycheck.

Crafting the Employee Brand

Every company has two unique brands - the customer brand and the employee brand.

Your customer brand sells a product or service; your employee brand sells a work experience. For example, people stay at the Ritz-Carlton for the hotel chain's service and value. People work at the Ritz-Carlton because they see a good career opportunity.

Your competition for customers and employees are different, too. While you may be battling with Marriott and Hyatt for customers, employers in a wide range of other industries may be your main competitors in recruiting qualified workers.

Creating an employee brand message that will lure quality candidates starts with focusing on what employees look for in an ideal work experience - good pay and benefits, a manageable work load, good work/life balance, and promising career development and advancement opportunities.

Clearly defining your brand message and being specific about the type of experience you offer will help attract the right candidates for the company culture - candidates who will thrive under your environment and drive productivity.

For example, the careers section of Marriott Hotels' Web site reminds potential candidates that the hotel chain earned a top spot on Fortune, DiversityInc and Working Mother magazines' "Best companies to work for" lists. Marriott employees are "People going places," according to the company motto.

Drury Hotels outlines a day in the life of a General Manager or Guest Service Agent. The hotel chain's Web site describes these workers' daily activities from the moment they leave the house until they arrive home at day's end.

When creating your company's brand message, consider these issues:

Maximizing Your Recruitment Power

To ensure your employee brand reaches the maximum number of job seekers, it's crucial to use the best combination of recruitment outlets. Print newspapers and networking remain good resources, but the Internet has become a central element in hiring. Morgan Stanley research estimates that the online recruitment industry will reach nearly $1.5 billion by the end of 2005.

Studies have shown that certain methods, when applied to online job posting, can more than double the posting's job seeker response rate. Since job seekers review pages on job search portals very quickly, if they don't understand the position or think it is substandard, they won't click on the posting.

The following are some of the top ways to ensure maximum visibility and job seeker response:

1. Using familiar titles.

Studies show that traditional titles like "Part-time Assistant Hotel Manager" yield five times greater response rates than gimmicky titles like "Master of Hotel Universe." Also keep in mind that abbreviations and jargon (Sr. Htl Mgr II) may be unrecognizable to many job seekers.

Using several dollar signs in the title (ex: $*$*Great Hotel Opportunity!!!$*$*), forming your job title as a question (Great new job in 2005?) or providing a sentence about the company (No. 1 New York City Boutique Hotel) instead of the position will hinder the posting's credibility and decrease its effectiveness.

2. Including detailed job descriptions and requirements.

The more specific the job posting, the more likely you will be to get exactly the applicants you're looking for. Including a detailed, realistic description of the position allows job seekers to determine whether they are interested or qualified.

Recent studies have shown that including a detailed job description can provide a threefold increase in responses. When writing a job posting, be sure to include the position's responsibilities and duties, information about the company - including background, financial strengths and culture - as well as educational and experience requirements, location, benefits and industry information.

3. Offering more than one application method.

Candidates are selective about the ways that they apply for jobs - some prefer to remain anonymous and prefer not submit their resumes right away; others prefer to apply instantly. To accommodate multiple job search preferences, be sure to both activate the "Apply Online" function and include an e-mail address.

When you give an e-mail address on some sites, like CareerBuilder.com, an anonymous address will be visible to the public, so your real address stays confidential. Including both options can increase your response rate by about 25 percent.

4. Maximize your searchable criteria.

Job seekers don't always use the same methods to search for a job. Some search by job type; others search by industry, keywords or by a combination of these. Making the most of these searchable criteria - for example, including three industries in your posting - can increase your response rates by 400 percent.

For example, if you're posting a hospitality management position, you can choose both the "hospitality" and "management" job categories. That way, your job will be visible to job seekers searching in either category.

5. Using Keywords.

When a job seeker searches for "hospitality," he or she will find thousands of postings - many irrelevant to the type of job that he or she is seeking. By posting the job title that you really want - Front Desk Rooms Coordinator - you will be more likely to target exactly who you're looking for.

Jason Ferrara leads the development of strategic marketing for the Corporate Marketing team at CareerBuilder.com, the nation's largest online job site with over 22 million unique visitors each month and over 1.5 million jobs. Focused on the recruitment needs of employers, Ferrara is responsible for business-to-business strategy including communications, advertising, promotions, e-commerce management, customer lifecycle and loyalty, and sales support. Prior to joining the company, Ferrara worked as Director, Online Marketing for SPSS, Inc. He holds a MBA from Kellogg School of Management. Mr. Ferrara can be contacted at 773-353-2601 or jason.ferrara@careerbuilder.com Extended Bio...

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