Employer branding becomes increasingly important in the improving economy

In 2016, the strongest decline in unemployment was recorded by the CBS (Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics) in 10 years. The number of vacancies has been on the rise for several consecutive quarters, and the forecast for 2017 remains positive. The UWV (Employee Insurances Implementing Agency) predicts that the number of vacancies will increase by 138,000 and that the total number may even reach one million in the Netherlands.

More people are working (almost 8,5 million) and at the same time, Graphic vacanciesthere is less demand for jobs from prospective applicants. This is clearly reflected in the search behavior found on Google. Search terms including the words “vacancies” or “job” have decreased by over 18% in the Netherlands. Search terms that include the word “work” have decreased even further, by 33%.

It’s clear that job candidates currently have the upper hand. That means employers have quite a big job ahead of them to attract the best applicants. The demand for a strong employer brand and suitable labor market communications is bigger than ever. The question is: How do you meet this demand? In this article, three brands show just how much they get it.

1. User experience and insight priority at Delta Lloyd

The average internet user is lazy, or better-said, spoiled. The smallest or slightest thing can influence a user to click away from a website. Website too slow? No job vacancies available? Form too complicated? Applicant gone. They’ll apply at a different company, where the job application process runs a lot smoother.

This is exactly why the Delta Lloyd recruiters thought it was time for a new website. Whereby increasing the convenience for applicants was key. DEPT® was deployed to the new work-at-platform of Delta Lloyd. The result is a user-friendly site for the applicant, and at the same time, one which provides much more insight to the recruiters. The new site attracts about 21% more visitors. On average, visitors stay 3% longer on the website and reach their desired page sooner. But not only that, with the launch of the new website, applications and underlying sub-goals are measured. Notifications for the job alert option are a good example. Consequently, Delta Lloyd now has insight into the effectiveness of different sources of traffic.

Together with DEPT® steps have been taken towards measuring the quality of applicants. After collecting enough data, Delta Lloyd can not only steer their media channels based on the number of résumés (quantity), but also towards the right résumés (quality). That not only saves on campaign costs, but also on the time recruiters spend on unsuitable applicants.

2. Achmea as best employer through online marketing

Achmea and DEPT® have been working together for almost 7 years. Finding and motivating new talent, especially for the more technical-orientated roles, is one of the most important focal points within the current strategy. With the help of targeted banners, videos, and social media campaigns, the various labor market communication campaigns are being supported. The result: the ongoing SEA campaign, despite a similar budget, has resulted in an increase of traffic by 33% and a higher number of applicants by 100%. The natural flow of traffic has increased by 156% with the help of the SEO campaign. The campaigns, which focus on the specific target audience, have ensured an increase in visibility for Achmea as employer.

But Achmea has taken it a step further. To create the possibility of making decisions based on quantity ánd quality, a significant step was taken in the area of smart data. Together with Achmea IT, the various data sources were combined into clear reports. As a result, the measurability and reporting within Achmea has been considerably optimized. There is now real-time insight into the impact of the various campaigns and these can be quickly adjusted if necessary.

3. Experience Philips first-hand with Philips employees

As part of the employer branding, Philips asked DEPT®, to develop a campaign in which Philips employees were given a key role. In five instances, we let Philips employees talk about the particular cases they had each worked on. Among them were engineers and marketers, but also financial experts. This was visually displayed through quotes and short videos. In addition, we gave all Philips employees the opportunity to be part of the campaign by talking about their daily lives at Philips via the hashtag #ExperiencePhilips.

Based on the cases, a detailed content strategy for social media was developed. Through posts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, marketers, engineers, and financial experts were strongly targeted to persuade them to visit the campaign environment. The result? Within 6 months, we welcomed 72,190 visits of which 57,268 unique visitors. On average, visitors spent 02:40 minutes on the website. And with more than 1,000 applications in five weeks that were of higher quality than previous year, the collaboration can definitely be considered a success.