Employer Branding: It's All About the Story

Take a look at the newest Best Places to Work list by Fortune and you will see an interesting pattern. More often than not, the same companies show up on the list every year, and its not a coincidence. Sure, these companies are probably pretty good places to work, but more importantly, they recognize the value in employer branding.

Brand recognition is not employer branding. Brand recognition is easy – it's advertising. Authorize a huge budget; hire a creative advertising firm, make a funny Superbowl ad and people all across the country will recognize your company logo. That's great if you just want people to buy what you're selling.

Employer branding is much different and equally important. It gets the right people in the door to create and improve what you're selling. But, employer branding is all about the story you tell – its marketing.

A funny Superbowl ad is not going to make me think "Wow, that looks like a great place to work." In fact, I'll probably forget about the ad by the time the game comes back on. On the other hand, a well crafted story that I read on my favorite blog or on the Best Places to Work list will make me consider rewriting my resume and passing it on to your company.

Google has a story. Googlers get to work at the coolest company on the planet. They sit on brightly colored bean bag chairs and they get on-site dry cleaning and free lunches. Oh yeah, they work hard too, that's cool.

Zappos has a story. Zappos employees get fee lunch, concierge service, and 100% health insurance premium coverage. If you start with Zappos and decide after training that you don't want to work there, they will GIVE you $2,000.00 to go home. Zappos does not want dead weight, and neither do their employees.

During the Q&A session of my Gen-Y speech at State Farm last week, a gentleman asked if strictly branding to Gen Y would alienate other generations. It was a great question. And the answer is yes; strictly trying to appeal to people in their twenties will alienate older employees. But that's the beauty of marketing, you don't need just one story. As long as every story you craft is true, you can and should have multiple messages for multiple audiences.

For example, State Farm's story for Gen Y could be that becoming an agent gives you a great taste for entrepreneurship without all the risk. Learn how to run your own business with the guidance of people who have been there and done that.

For Gen X the story could be that starting an agency gives you the freedom to spend time with your spouse and kids while earning plenty of money to support your family. And you become an important part of your community.

And for Baby Boomers the story could be that working at State Farm is a great way to finish your career on your terms. You can call the shots and make your hours. And if they're interested, you can get your kids involved in the business.

Each of these messages is completely different and from what I learned at the conference, completely true. Different audiences want to hear different stories. And if you actually are a great company like State Farm is, crafting a story is easy. Take a good look at how your business operates, ask your current employees in every area and at every age level why they like the company. I guarantee the answers will give you the perfect story for every demographic.

5 Things Small-City Companies Can Do to Recruit Gen Y

Most high performing people don't stick around one place their whole lives anymore. They're generally attracted to large cities with like-minded people. Because of this, companies based in small cities need to work especially hard to recruit top talent. But from my experience, if the right job presents itself, most Gen Y go-getters are totally open to new opportunities and new cities of any size. Companies based in small cities may be at a disadvantage, but there are things they can do to compete. Here are five.

1. Embrace your city
A lot of people grow up with dreams of moving to New York, L.A. or Chicago. So, if you're headquarters are just outside of Madison, Wisconsin, you better have something up your sleeve to compete.

Epic Systems does. They're competing by embracing their city. The Madison Art Fair is the place to be when the weather gets nice. When springtime rolls around, Epic encourages their employees to go to the fair and buy a piece of art. Epic will then hang the piece on the wall and reimburse the employee 100%. Epic has figured out how to embrace their location and you better believe they tell visiting recruits where all their beautiful art came from.

2. Put your young people on the front line
The biggest reservation that Gen Yers have about moving to a small city is that nobody our age will live there. When you don't have a family, a social life is extremely important. Companies need to show recruits that there are other young people working there by putting them on the front line.

Be sure the career fair recruiters are young. When you bring recruits in for an interview, send a young person in as an interviewer, greeter, or tour guide. Finally, let your recruits spend a night out on the town, all expenses paid, with your top young employees. Don't be shy to instruct your employees to talk about the cost of a night out, or the discounted rent in your small city compared to what it costs in New York or Los Angeles. If they still don't want to take the job after experiencing the best your small city has to offer, then you're probably out of luck. But this is one surefire way to find out.

3. Brand yourself as a great place to work
It seems like every year, the same companies end up on the best places to work list. Giants like Google, Ernst & Young and Deloitte are always named. They make the list because they consciously brand themselves as employers. Sure, they brand their products and services, but they know the value of people, and they make sure people know the value of working there.

This year, Quicken loans hit number two on the list. Quicken is located in Livonia, MI, a small city 20 miles outside of Detroit. They manage to attract top talent despite being located in a small city in the Midwest because they are consciously branding themselves as an employer of choice. And they're making a lot of money doing it.

4. Be a great place to work
Branding your company as a great place to work is a great idea. But an even better idea is to actually practice what you preach and be a great place to work. W.L. Gore has been a great place to work since they started in 1958, and the media has in turn, branded Gore as a great place to work. Without actively pushing their agenda, people (like me) have discovered that Gore is a unique company with no hierarchy, no job titles, and the opportunity for leaders to emerge from anywhere.

They were number 15 on this year's list, and they're located in Newark, DE. Newark is a nice little town, but it's certainly no New York City. Gore has managed to overcome their small city location and thrive for more than 50 years.

5. Expand your recruiting network
You may think that being headquartered in a small city requires you to stay local when it comes to recruiting. I disagree. By staying local, it's very hard to recruit the top talent. If you want to create a world class business, you need world class talent, and world class talent is probably not all local.

At Brazen Careerist, we knew that finding all of our talent in Madison was probably not a great idea. There is certainly a lot of talent here, but limiting ourselves to local recruiting would eventually hold us back. We managed to recruit one person from Philadelphia, and another from Chicago. They came to a small city because they saw opportunity in the job. If you expand your recruiting network and provide a unique opportunity, people will come to a small city. It just takes a little extra effort.

Finding Great People Should Be a Top Priority, Especially in a Bad Economy

I recently revisited Jim Collins' "Good to Great." I first read the book back in college when I was obsessed with the thought of being my own boss and never answering to anyone. It was a good read, but for where I was then, it seemed a little too corporate. But now that I've been running a business for more than a year, I can apply the analysis directly to my current situation.

My favorite point is about the importance of hiring GREAT people if you want to build a great company. Collins claims that people are not the most important asset. GREAT people are. He goes so far as to say that "good to great" companies first worried about getting the right people in the door and the wrong people out, and then worried about setting the right vision or plan for the company. Some companies lost millions of dollars a day while they waited around to find the right people.

They lost millions because it's not easy to find GREAT people to work for you. Most great people have great jobs and make great money. They're not hanging around Monster.com waiting for someone to read their resume. The truth is, it costs a company a ton of time and money to find great people. And most companies would rather settle for good or even average people. Unfortunately, that's not good enough.

Seth Godin reaffirmed Collins point in his post the other day, when he wrote

"If your organization can thrive with ordinary folks, then the marketing you're doing right now to fill the ranks might even be overkill. You've got plenty of resumes. No need to pretend you're doing anything much more than bottom fishing, though. That plaque for employee of the month? You can sell it on eBay.

On the other hand, organizations that work best with extraordinary talent are almost certainly not investing enough in finding and developing it. If marketing works so well that you spend a fortune on it, why aren't you marketing your jobs? If talent is so important that you are betting the company on it, why aren't you actually investing in finding and retaining that talent?"

Godin's absolutely right. To be a truly successful business, you can't just market your products. You have to constantly market your jobs.

The top companies already get it. There's a reason that the big four – Deloitte, Accenture, Ernst & Young and KPMG appear at the top of the list year after year for best places to work. They spend money, time and energy marketing their jobs by branding themselves as employers of choice. It's not like they have earth-shattering positions available. They're mostly accountants, auditors and consultants. But they take their hiring seriously. And that's why they're great companies.

So yes, finding great people is expensive and time consuming. But hiring the wrong people is even more expensive and more time consuming. If your company is trying to figure out where to cut costs right now, make sure you consider the advice from Jim Collins, Seth Godin and The Big 4 before you decide to cut those recruiting and marketing budgets.

Why You Shouldn't Treat Every Employee the Same

"Why should I cater to Gen Y? I don't want to alienate the rest of our employees by giving this group special treatment."

I hear it all the time. Nearly every time I speak, someone will chime in with this question. And I don't blame them really. It's a legitimate question. But in my opinion, it's a bad assumption.

Why would I be upset that you are going above and beyond to meet the needs or requests of my fellow employees? I want my co-workers to be happy with their jobs. Of course, I'll expect that you go above and beyond to make me happy as well. But, what's wrong with that?

The secret is to forget about trying to make everyone equal at your company, and figure out how to make every group feel special. Whether it's a particular demographic, a gender, a religious group, a generation or even a personality type, your organization should go beyond the paycheck and put in the extra time to find out what each small or large group wants, and give it to them.

Do something to make a particular group or individual feel special

The other day, I spoke with Susie Gorsline, the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Au Bon Pain, and she told me how they are making a particular group feel special.

Au Bon Pain is hosting their Annual International Company meeting this week. They have managers and executives from 29 countries attending – so obviously all sorts of cultures and religions will be represented. Out of respect for Ramadan (the Muslim religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and calls for fasting from dawn to sunset), they decided to accommodate their practicing Muslim population of managers. Breakfast will be served before sunrise at 4:30 AM, a prayer room will be provided, special plates of food will be offered, and wine will not be offered to those who indicate they are observing the holiday.

Needless to say, Gorsline and her team received tremendous feedback from their Muslim employees – many indicating they were proud to be working for such a forward-thinking company. And get this, it cost them next to nothing – just a little time and effort from the conference organizers and the hotel staff.

Tell ALL your employees about your initiative

It's great that all of the employees who were directly affected by the Ramadam accommodation felt proud to work for the company, but don't think they're the only ones who want to hear about it. If your company is creating special initiatives for young employees, employees who lose a family member, employees who have a baby or employees who are approaching retirement, don't keep it a secret, tell everyone!

I would be thrilled to know that my employer cares about my fellow employees so much. When Susie sent out the email notifying everyone of their intentions for Ramadan, it wasn't just the Muslim employees who responded positively, many others replied with emails commending the HR department, and it was the hot topic of conversation for the rest of the week.

It's amazing how helping one small group can make every other group proud to work for your company.

Watch the Trickle down happen

American Express wanted to cater to their baby boomer employees, so they created a program promoting the new concept of phased retirement. The program allows soon to be retired baby boomers to transition from full time work to full time retirement and transfer the invaluable knowledge they've gained during their time at the company. It's a great initiative for experienced workers who are almost ready to retire, but either need a little more money, tenure, or just aren't quite ready to quit work cold turkey.

Well, the next thing you know, this initiative actually trickled down to benefit their Gen Y employees. The young employees ended up getting exactly what they wanted too – hands on training and mentoring from the people who were running the organization

No matter how hard you try, you're not going to please everyone by treating everyone the same. We've all come from different backgrounds and we're all at different points in our lives. So put in the extra effort and figure out how to give every group special treatment — not just Generation Y

Why Your Company Can't Afford to Ban Social Networking

Social networking is not a fad. It's not one of those things that people think is cool for a few years and then it simply fades away. Much like the internet did, social networking and social media have changed the way the world works. We're now connected to every friend, acquaintance, girlfriend, boyfriend, and business contact that we have ever encountered – it's a powerful and even revolutionary tool.

Social media has already changed the way people communicate and interact with each other and it's changing the way business works – for the better. But still, a recent Challenger, Gray & Christmas study found that 20% of companies have banned social networking sites from employee computers! If your company is one of those 20%, you should seriously reconsider. Here's why.

It's called social NETWORKING for a reason

Network, network, network. It's all you heard from your parents growing up, your professors in college, and every successful person you've talked to since. Companies inherently understand (I hope) that employees need to network both inside and outside the company because you never know where that next big sale, or new hire will come from. In a recent press release, Nick Ragone, Director of Ketchum's Communications & Media Strategy Group says, "Banning these types of sites would be the equivalent of asking your boss, 'Do you think I really need to make sales calls or network; can't I just hang out in my office and wait for the phone to ring?' "

Of course not! Why then, would any company consider blocking a website that allows all of your employees to be in one giant virtual room with the best and brightest from inside and outside your industry? Sounds like a case of short-sighted management to me.

Social networks are the best place to recruit

Yes, I'm aware that "passive job seeker" is the big buzzword in recruiting these days, but there's a reason for that. Passive job seekers are the people your company really wants to recruit. They are the ones who are perfectly happy in their situation. They make a good salary, they enjoy the people they work with, and their employers are happy with their performance. But they still hang out on social networks, they're actively involved in online communities, and they read blogs. And they will listen to a more attractive job offer if your company can create the online presence you need to connect with these people.

Active job seekers on the other hand, are actively searching for a job for a reason. They're on Monster, CareerBuilder, and JobFox because they really want to get out of their situation. But, chances are, they are in a less than perfect job because they couldn't get anything better. You may find the occasional gem of a resume in your inbox, but you'd be much better served to connect with the people you really want through Linkedin, Twitter, or Brazen Careerist.

Social media can directly impact your bottom line

Social networks and blogs are very much about networking, connections and conversation, but if your company big whigs won't go for anything that doesn't directly impact the bottom line, show them that social media can do that too.

The Washington Post reports that Marriott made more than $5 million in bookings from people who clicked through to the reservation page from Marriott's corporate blog. I don't know the exact traffic numbers for Marriott's blog, but I do know that the longer blogs are around, and the more you write the more direct traffic you get. And in this case, an increase in direct traffic will no doubt lead to an increase in revenue.

If you hired right, your employees will not waste work time on social media

Ketchum's press release pretty much sums it up when they say, "Yes, there are a few bad apples that may waste time on these tools, but they will find ways to waste time even if they don't have social networking sites – they will find something else to distract them."

Top employees, the employees you should hire, will spend time on social networking sites, but they will not do it at the expense of getting their work done. There are only two possible reasons that your employees are wasting time on these sites. One reason is that you hired the wrong people, and you should get rid of them ASAP. The other option is maybe your company needs to provide more work to employees or re-think how you define employee engagement.

Some companies are so obsessed with controlling employees, they've failed to see that banning social networking at work is no different than controlling the number of employees who received a PC in the '80s and limiting the number of employees with internet access in the '90s. And we all know what a great idea that was. So go ahead, ban social networking at your company. But do so at your own peril.