Employer branding
Tips for SMBs to Stand Out on Glassdoor
Ed Nathanson
Ed Nathanson, Author at Glassdoor US | Jun 24, 2015
In recent years, employment branding has become the move. I love seeing countless posts around the topic and the lively discussions at conferences around the world. The message is now out there for companies as to why it’s so important to invest in your employer brand.
The problem: the how
Now, companies know why it’s important, but most have no clue as to how to get started. Even more problematic is that most “case studies” provided only highlight the very large, well-known companies and how they’re spending millions of dollars a year on their employment brand. Think about that for a second: we are trying to spread the gospel of the importance of employer branding, yet we are giving this community a map that contains only companies who have massive teams, enormous budgets and built-in, well-known brands already. How does this help the majority of companies out there who don’t enjoy these resources or advantages?
I work with a lot of clients, some of them large and some less than 60 employees – and everywhere in between. Most often, I hear “We want to be like Google.” Of course, Google has a very exciting and compelling employer brand. But what they’re really saying is, “I don’t want to work this hard to recruit candidates anymore – I want the right candidates to just come to us.” I’m betting most of you reading this would love that, too.
The CloudLock example
CloudLock is a SaaS security company based out of Waltham, MA with about 120 employees. CloudLock was not a customer of Glassdoor when we started working together, and had a desire to hire 50 people in 2015 – no small task as that would be a huge increase of employees from where they were. Throw in the fact that they had no recruiting department, are in a highly competitive space and even more competitive geography – they realized early on that their employer brand was going to be key in getting their message out to prospective candidates.
When CloudLock started this journey, they had 550 views on their Glassdoor profile per month – that’s it. Here’s where we are today:
2. Video killed the radio star but absolutely helps employment brand. A lot of companies are afraid of video for employment branding or they choose to create those incredibly blasé videos of employees talking about their jobs with the cheesy music playing behind them and no visuals of what it is actually like to work at their company.
My advice? Embrace video! Take chances. If you look and act like everyone else, then you are everyone else. The point with video, and employment branding for that matter, is to stand out in a genuine and honest way. At CloudLock, we created videos that range from poorly dubbed Karate parodies to “strutting” to a more corporate feel but with a lot of fun mixed in – because that is what CloudLock is.
Note: if you are truly genuine in how you message your employment brand some people will not like it – and that is the point. They would hate working at your company anyhow if what you are presenting is genuine and trust me – you would rather have them tap out before applying then have them join and find out weeks in the place is all wrong for them.
3. Why work for us? Let the tabs explain! – One of the cool recent product features on Glassdoor is their “Why Work For Us” tab. You now have the ability to enhance your brand in many ways you see fit; whether through presenting by functions you seek to hire (sales, engineers, etc.) or through any other creative methods you see fit.
At CloudLock, we chose to really lift the hood on what it is like to work there – because that is the essence of any effective employment brand. We have a “Life at CloudLock” tab where we show off one of our wackier videos, a section on “The Chicken Llama” – CloudLock’s mascot and a true emblem of how CloudLock operates, “Passion and Fun” which shows a ton more images but with a CloudLock touch (and more video), CloudLock’s core values and a “Fun Facts” section. Choose your own adventure here with the tabs and the possibilities are endless, but ignoring them would be a big mistake.
4. Updates. You know how you can share timely updates from your LinkedIn company page? Same thing here; however, unlike LinkedIn, the audience on Glassdoor visiting your page is 100% potentially interested in you as an employer. What a cool audience to send out your branding updates to! CloudLock shares office candid photos, videos, company cartoons, selfies and mixes in a good dose of business updates, too. Watching the traction on these updates through the built-in analytics Glassdoor provides reinforces they make an impact.
5. Unleash your employees. Here is where most companies fail with Glassdoor. It is important for any effective employment brand strategy to let your employees free on social media and sites like Glassdoor. Don’t push, and definitely do not incentivize or bribe them, but letting your employees know that if they are happy at your company and that it would be very helpful for them to get on Glassdoor, and write a review, goes a very long way. Explain to them that this will help drive other talented people like them to join you and allows the company to bring the best possible people in to help the company succeed. Explain to them why it is important but do not push. Awareness is half the battle here.
At CloudLock, this came from the highest levels of the company. At company meetings, we talk about how we are doing on attraction and explain the importance of Glassdoor. The execs do not push, but simply say if you love working here it would be really helpful to the business if you would write a review. There is absolutely no pressure put on, just rather an awareness push. CloudLock has even gone so far as to embed a link to Glassdoor prominently in the middle of their careers page. We want candidates to check us out and are very proud that employees present, and past, seem to really like working at CloudLock.
As you can see, the results have been huge and the impact great. These initiatives can all be done relatively inexpensively and will produce big results. In the case of Glassdoor, it doesn’t matter if you are 100,000 employees or 100 – the field is level.
Play ball!
- 3,180 views per month – 843% increase, with the arrow is up and to the right every month
- CloudLock hired 48 people so far, on a plan of 50 people in 2015
2. Video killed the radio star but absolutely helps employment brand. A lot of companies are afraid of video for employment branding or they choose to create those incredibly blasé videos of employees talking about their jobs with the cheesy music playing behind them and no visuals of what it is actually like to work at their company.
My advice? Embrace video! Take chances. If you look and act like everyone else, then you are everyone else. The point with video, and employment branding for that matter, is to stand out in a genuine and honest way. At CloudLock, we created videos that range from poorly dubbed Karate parodies to “strutting” to a more corporate feel but with a lot of fun mixed in – because that is what CloudLock is.
Note: if you are truly genuine in how you message your employment brand some people will not like it – and that is the point. They would hate working at your company anyhow if what you are presenting is genuine and trust me – you would rather have them tap out before applying then have them join and find out weeks in the place is all wrong for them.
3. Why work for us? Let the tabs explain! – One of the cool recent product features on Glassdoor is their “Why Work For Us” tab. You now have the ability to enhance your brand in many ways you see fit; whether through presenting by functions you seek to hire (sales, engineers, etc.) or through any other creative methods you see fit.
At CloudLock, we chose to really lift the hood on what it is like to work there – because that is the essence of any effective employment brand. We have a “Life at CloudLock” tab where we show off one of our wackier videos, a section on “The Chicken Llama” – CloudLock’s mascot and a true emblem of how CloudLock operates, “Passion and Fun” which shows a ton more images but with a CloudLock touch (and more video), CloudLock’s core values and a “Fun Facts” section. Choose your own adventure here with the tabs and the possibilities are endless, but ignoring them would be a big mistake.
4. Updates. You know how you can share timely updates from your LinkedIn company page? Same thing here; however, unlike LinkedIn, the audience on Glassdoor visiting your page is 100% potentially interested in you as an employer. What a cool audience to send out your branding updates to! CloudLock shares office candid photos, videos, company cartoons, selfies and mixes in a good dose of business updates, too. Watching the traction on these updates through the built-in analytics Glassdoor provides reinforces they make an impact.
5. Unleash your employees. Here is where most companies fail with Glassdoor. It is important for any effective employment brand strategy to let your employees free on social media and sites like Glassdoor. Don’t push, and definitely do not incentivize or bribe them, but letting your employees know that if they are happy at your company and that it would be very helpful for them to get on Glassdoor, and write a review, goes a very long way. Explain to them that this will help drive other talented people like them to join you and allows the company to bring the best possible people in to help the company succeed. Explain to them why it is important but do not push. Awareness is half the battle here.
At CloudLock, this came from the highest levels of the company. At company meetings, we talk about how we are doing on attraction and explain the importance of Glassdoor. The execs do not push, but simply say if you love working here it would be really helpful to the business if you would write a review. There is absolutely no pressure put on, just rather an awareness push. CloudLock has even gone so far as to embed a link to Glassdoor prominently in the middle of their careers page. We want candidates to check us out and are very proud that employees present, and past, seem to really like working at CloudLock.
As you can see, the results have been huge and the impact great. These initiatives can all be done relatively inexpensively and will produce big results. In the case of Glassdoor, it doesn’t matter if you are 100,000 employees or 100 – the field is level.
Play ball!
