Unveiling insights from Talent Acquisition Institute 2024: CareerArc’s expert panel

At the Talent Acquisition Institute conference 2024–set against the vibrant backdrop of the city of New Orleans–CareerArc hosted a highly informative panel featuring industry leaders from Berg Hospitality, Dexcom, and Kaiser Permanente. This session explored the intricacies of strategic employer branding, departmental collaboration, and the influential role of social media in talent acquisition. 

Let’s take a look at key insights from this enlightening discussion.

The importance of employer branding

Employer branding has evolved into a strategic necessity. What initially began as an ad-hoc project for some organizations has now developed into a comprehensive, company-wide aligned strategy. Organizations that have established clear brand identities at both the organizational and regional levels to attract diverse talent–emphasizing inclusivity in alignment with their missions–are seeing great success in growing their employer brand. 

An employer brand strategy is inherently unique to each organization. Using branded content that features real employees showcases authentic experiences and creates a relatable and compelling employer brand. Proactively establishing a transparent employer brand is essential for attracting talent beyond immediate vacancies, forming a critical piece of a comprehensive talent attraction strategy.

Setting the scene with your employee value proposition (EVP)

Defining an EVP is another important aspect to supporting and growing an employer brand. This can involve gathering insights from managers and employees to understand what makes a company a great place to work. This feedback shapes the employer brand as companies expand into new markets. 

A great way to collect employee feedback is to through surveys and giving the option to remain anonymous in the event the employee would like to remain confidential. Your employees feedback is a crucial piece in shaping the brand and the culture as a whole. 

Localizing your brand to drive regional impact

Tailoring employer brands needs to specific regions also helps fill the talent pipeline, particularly at the local level. By highlighting the unique attributes and culture of each location, organizations successfully connect with both local communities and potential hires. Using images of employees and sharing a bit about their experience tells an authentic story and shows local candidates what a day in the life looks like working for your organization. 

Amy Bernard, Talent Acquisition Consultant III at Kaiser Permanente, mentioned during the panel that employer branding is extremely market-specific in the healthcare industry due to varying levels of brand recognition. For example, they tend to have greater brand recognition in California as they are headquartered there, however, when branching out to new markets, region-specific employer branding efforts are crucial. They look for unique attributes for each location–like diversity and inclusion–to attract talent at the local level. 

Collaborating across departments

Effective employer branding requires cross-departmental collaboration. The panel all shared a unifying theme; it’s crucial to partner with marketing in your employer brand efforts to bridge the gap between ‘employer’ and ‘brand’. This bridge within the organization allows for open communication across the board while ensuring cohesion of content used across departments and channels. 

Allyson Kelley, Head of Global Talent Attraction at Dexcom, shared that providing toolkits for regional leaders empowers local teams to attract qualified candidates and boost brand presence. The toolkit acts as a guide to uphold needed brand cohesion while allowing flexibility for localization. 

The power of promoting your employer brand on social media 

Social media is a powerful tool for talent attraction, especially for engaging Gen Z and Millenials. Using social platforms–like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram–to promote your EVP and local events can lead to a surge in interest and applications.

Streamlining your social media efforts

Another key theme was shared amongst the panel members–decentralization of social media efforts. Prior to having a strategy in place for social media, there were far too many people with admin access to social platforms which resulted in disorganized and misbranded content. Too many cooks in the kitchen so to speak. 

Identifying key stakeholders to lead your social media strategy helps centralize the process and declutter the kitchen while using platforms like. CareerArc helps streamline social distribution efforts. 

Ready for another helpful tip?  If you want to manage social media content effectively you can create an editorial calendar for your brand pages so everybody has visibility to what is going out and when. But you can also go beyond your brand pages!  Leverage leadership, hiring managers, and recruiters networks so you can maximize your reach and hit different audiences.  A calendar also gives way for centralized content and ideas to be housed; for example, a monthly theme can be used across the board but adjusted for each network. 

Automation for efficiency

Automation tools help maintain consistent and compliant social media activity, allowing teams to focus on strategic tasks while ensuring their brand message is consistent across channels. Platforms like CareerArc  make your life easier in this regard by automating social recruiting and boosting your reach on social media. 

Leveraging social media for talent attraction requires focusing on employer-brand-centric content and using employee networks effectively. Automation tools alleviate the challenges of managing social recruiting, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives and enhancing overall talent acquisition efforts.

Social recruiting acts as a force multiplier for candidate reach and engagement. Using hashtags for employer brand posts and focusing on benefits and company culture attracts top talent proactively.

Get started and be patient

Dive in and get started, but know that giving strategies time to mature is essential. Building a network and seeing results takes time–social is a long-term strategy–but the investment pays off with higher quality candidates that align with your employer brand. There’s no better time to start building an employer brand presence on social, than today. 

Partner and collaborate

Gaining buy-in from operations teams and partnering with other departments can significantly enhance the effectiveness of talent attraction efforts. Leveraging diverse perspectives within the company is key.

Try focusing on local first

Focusing on local recruitment before expanding efforts can lead to an influx of talent without overwhelming resources. Concentrating on local events and promotions helps attract talent effectively.

Conclusion

The panel at the Talent Acquisition Institute 2024 underscored the importance of strategic employer branding, cross-department collaboration, and leveraging social media for recruitment. Whether in healthcare, technology, or hospitality, the messaging might differ per industry, but the strategy remains the same: social recruiting first.