An exciting new career direction is emerging, at the cusp of Brand & HR. For professionals who wish to arm themselves with a wider arsenal of skills and become all-rounders!
There will be, at some point in future, a postgraduate specialisation in Employer Branding! For now, a handful of colleges offer a dual specialisation in Marketing and HR; that’s the closest it gets. All this, while it’s raining ‘Employer Branding jobs’.
Where do they hail from?
A survey on LinkedIn of 100 professionals with an ‘employer branding’ designation revealed that Marketing and HR professionals gravitate towards the function in equal numbers. So the Marketing function is already a feeder.
Of the HR professionals (45.3%), a third were previously in the Talent Acquisition function, whereas a bulk did Generalist HR roles. The Marketing (32.6%) switchers come from an assortment of roles: branding, marketing, digital marketing, content development, corporate communications
What prompts the switch?
When our consulting firm hires, we get candidates to respond to this question, ‘At this stage in your career, why does a shift to an employer brand consulting role appeal to you’? Here are a few responses:
“The combination of HR and brand is an intriguing space to be in”.
“Want to help the future workforce pick the right career with the right company”.
‘Happy employees make happier environments which leads to higher company growth”.
“My growing need to serve a purpose bigger than myself. Something that impacts working lives around the globe every day”.
“To create an aura around a company which compels candidates to make a long-term commitment to employment”.Interestingly, marketers who have had rather negative personal experiences as employees previously, see this transition as a way to change the employment experience for the multitude.
How is the world of Employer Branding different?
There are more similarities than differences between consumer and employer branding. You can prefix the word consumer or employee with any of these words: psychology, experience, benefits, segments, persona and so on. Let’s, however, spot five top differences here:
The power equation
Classical marketers have the proverbial ‘seat at the table’. The function has been around for decades (thanks to stalwarts like Philip Kotler, David Aaker, Seth Godin) and demonstrated value by growing the topline, enabling pricing premiums, increasing lifetime consumer value.
Employer Branding, being more nascent, needs evangelists who will do the hard work of getting business leaders to see the strategic value in investing long-term and endorsing the same.
Plethora of stakeholders
The Branding function works directly with the CEO. Employer Branding in most organisations, is still a sub-function, aligned with HR or Marketing or both. A potential Employer Brand Manager will have the challenge of walking the tightrope between the diverse demands of marketing, HR, Talent Acquisition and Corporate Communications, each of whom has legitimate yet differing objectives.
Longevity of experience
An Employer Brand manager, helps the company deliver on its promises to employees throughout their tenure. Day after day, for the long run. Yes, some consumer brands might have this challenge and opportunity, but in the world of Employer Branding, it is non-negotiable.
View on ‘Lapsed Users'.
Consumer brands do not like users to lapse. They want customers to return again and again. In the world of employer branding, employees will leave. Some companies don’t mind getting some folk from this pool back for a second inning but, by and large, the alumni move on. As an employer brand custodian, you ensure that alumni remain active ambassadors for the company within their networks and continue to root for you!
Show me the money
Employer branding has a set of metrics and indicators of success, but they aren’t tried and tested. Consumer branding has established performance metrics that make the flow of funds in the form of handsome budgets a reasonably regular affair.
Employer Brand professionals, must ‘work hard for the money’. Budgets are limited, which means doing ‘more with less’. Not a bad thing entirely since it speaks to one's resourcefulness. Being forewarned is forearmed!
The world of Employer Branding is fascinating. Early adopters will break new ground. As more professionals gravitate towards it, as institutes begin to offer a specialisation - it will grow in terms of talent calibre and hence the level of impact to business. As employer brand discipline builds its ‘brand’, what is a niche function today should hit the mainstream a few years from now.
—The author, Tarun Kochhar, is the Founder & CEO of Carpediem. The views expressed are personal.
(Edited by : C H Unnikrishnan)
