Current market conditions have caused many home builders to downsize over the past few years, and one result is a deep labor pool of talented individuals with a passion for the industry. As you prepare for future growth by hiring new employees, you shouldn’t be cavalier in thinking people will jump at any job that comes along. To truly attract quality and talented people, home builders need employment branding.

Even with high levels of unemployment, people are still seeking positions with companies that offer a rewarding work environment. As noted in Brand for Talent by Mark Schumann and Libby Sartain, job-seekers today are “consumers of work.” These consumers have a vast amount of resources with which to research and shop for potential employers, uncovering the real work environment prior to pursuing opportunities. This means home builders must sell themselves while attracting the right talent.

Today’s consumers of work invest a lot of time learning about companies. To start, a job-seeker (active or passive) will garner a great deal of information from your website. In addition, consumers of work will explore databases, peruse social media sites, and most importantly network with other people to get the real story on how a company clicks.

In my work, I often do career coaching for groups and individuals, and one of the key teaching points I share is the importance of research in every step of the job-search process. Indeed, I’ve had clients who have progressed through the interview process with companies that sounded good on the surface, only to turn down employment offers after being discouraged by negative findings about the organization.

When building your employment brand, it should align with your customer branding; however, the value proposition should be focused to potential employees rather than home buyers. Potential employees want to know, “Why should I commit to this organization?” “What will this employer provide in the way of career fulfillment?”

The key aspects of employment branding include: defining your brand, creating your campaign, advertising, and measuring results. Let’s talk a closer look at each of these.

Defining Your Brand

Your employment brand should reflect your consumer brand, connecting the attributes of your work environment to the values of your business. It should differentiate your company from others and target the type of talent you need to accomplish the work.

However, the key element of your brand is authenticity. Just like your consumer brand, your employment brand must deliver! Authenticity means your brand aligns with what is important in your business, reflects the culture and values within your organization, and communicates the working environment and expectations. Your brand message needs to be credible, compelling, and directed in a way that connects emotionally with your current employees and ultimate recruits.

Following are a few examples of employment branding that compel consumers of work to search for more information. The italicized text comes directly from the career sections of these companies’ websites.

DPR Construction (No. 57 — 2010 Fortune 100 Best Places to Work)

Who we build is as important as what we build.

An industry leader needs individual leaders. As an employee-owned organization that relies on the contributions of the whole, we place a premium on finding and developing the right people. We want individuals who share our core values and who demonstrate a true passion for what they do, whether in the field or office.

At DPR, it’s not just about experience and skill set , it’s also about passion and drive. Do you thrive in an entrepreneurial environment? Are you passionate about building? Do you get a kick out of finding solutions? Can you work within and lead a team? Are you willing to do what it takes? Are you someone who can be trusted to do the right thing? If you answered yes, DPR is the place for you. 

Holder Construction (No. 3 — Best Medium Company, 2009 Great Places to Work)

Our business plan and our culture are focused on being the best, not the biggest, construction company.

We are proud to serve some of the most respected clients in the world. While our company is national in size and scope, we have a small company feel and caring approach. We take great pride in getting to know our associates and understanding what is important to them in their professional and their personal lives.

Committed to Your Success
At Holder, our most valuable resources are our people, who carry forth our traditions, values, and long-standing reputation for performance. We take pride in investing the time and energy to recruit the best talent in our industry. We recognize that our company's success is based on the success of our associates. We feel that values are equally as important as experience and education. When we find the right individual, we have the environment, tools, and training to set them up for success.

Great Place to Work® Award
We have been honored to be named one of the Top 25 Best Medium Companies to Work for in America in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. This award is very meaningful to us because it recognizes our greatest strength -- our people.

Reputation
You can be proud to join a company with a 50-year reputation for excellence, performance, quality, safety, and the ability to solve complex problems with a true customer focus.

People — Work with the Best
Our associates often comment that you don't find "our kind of people" every day. It is truly the talent, care, commitment, professionalism, initiative, teamwork and integrity that our associates bring to our company and to each other that make us a great place to work.

Open and Collaborative Environment
Open communications are an important part of teamwork at Holder. You will find that no matter what your role, every associate has the opportunity to affect the way we do business whether through continual improvement ideas or involvement in committees, initiatives, or task forces.

To see other examples of successful employment branding, visit “Great Places to Work.”

Creating Your Campaign

Once you have defined your brand, it is time to figure out your targeted consumers of work and develop campaigns that will reach them. Although your campaign will carry a common message throughout, you may tailor certain aspects to appeal to different groups.

Your leadership team, human resources experts, and current employees are great resources to engage in this process. Start with clearly defining the talent needs for your business, with a focus on the work to be done. You most likely have job descriptions and typically seek out people to match those jobs. This works well when doing a specific job posting. However, your employment branding message needs to reach a broader group of consumers.

Remember, as consumers of work are researching potential employers, they want to get a feeling of how they will fit in your organization. Your branding message needs to excite and connect with people of diverse backgrounds and aspirations.

One of the most important steps in this stage of employment branding is to start inside your company. If you are creating an employee brand that doesn’t resonate with the existing employees and culture, you have a lot bigger priorities to tend to than a branding initiative. Include representatives from throughout your company in defining the aspects of work that excite them and make them stay with your company. Involving existing employees in your campaign and advertising will bolster your brand while enhancing employee engagement.

Advertising

In today’s marketplace, the tools and venues for advertising are rich and accessible thanks to advances in technology. Your company website is one of the most useful tools for advertising your employment brand. Make the “careers” section easy to find from the home page. Marry the look, feel, and value statements with those of your consumer brand. Include the compelling messaging components in the opening segment of your careers page, but also provide details for further information. Specific job profiles, career paths, training opportunities, benefits, etc. are information consumers of work are seeking.

Employee testimonials are a tremendous way to connect with future recruits. People are interested in what the senior leaders have to say, but they often form a more personal connection with what the frontline employees have to share.

Measuring Results

Like any advertising investment, your employment brand needs to provide you with results. As you develop your campaign and select your tools, be sure to evaluate the methods in which you can measure the impact. Your human resources, marketing, and IT experts will be knowledgeable of the common methods for capturing and tracking data and reporting on them. Incorporate a regular review of your various branding elements to keep them fresh and relevant.

As you bring potential talent into your organization, whether for interviews or as new hires, ask them about their experience. What about your employment branding appealed to them? What other sources did they use to research you and your company?

As you qualify potential hires and make your decisions to hire the most qualified talent, remember that your employment brand reflects on those who do not get hired. Their experience should be meaningful and positive. Remember, even though someone may not be a good fit as an employee, he or she could still be a customer!

Throughout the sourcing and interviewing process, your employment brand messaging should be front and center, but it should not stop there. As you bring on new employees, your opportunity to convey your brand should be woven into the on-boarding processes. As you work with existing employees on their performance and development plans, your brand should be ever-present. One of the most valuable sources for future talent is your current associates.

Jayne Phillips, SPHR, is an AVID Advisor with AVID Ratings, the leading provider of customer loyalty research and consulting to the home-building industry. Through the AVID system, homebuilders improve referrals, reduce warranty costs, and strengthen their brands. She can be reached at jayne.phillips@avidratings.com.