by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting
There are some common components to a recruitment strategy.
The first, and perhaps the most important, is your employer brand.
Sarah Lybrand, a contributor to the LinkedIn talent blog, provides a concise definition of employer brand:
Similar to the way a corporate brand works (which offers a value proposition to customers, defining products or services in the marketplace), an employer brand includes the market’s perception of your company as an employer, but also describes your promise (or employee value proposition) to employees in exchange for their experience, talents, contacts, or skills.
The definition includes two parts—the market’s perception of your company and your unique value proposition to the agents who join your team.
You may think you can craft an employee brand story in a conference room and announce it to the world to be consumed and believed.
It doesn’t work that way.
Since most real estate companies have prominent consumer brands (in the local market), the customers’ perception of your company will initially have a large and defining effect on your employer brand.
Is there a gap between the consumers’ perception of your brand with who you want to be as an employer?
Employer brands can and should change over time to meet market conditions.
But, brands are like large ships. Moving the rudder today will not produce an immediate and noticeable change in the eyes of your recruiting prospects tomorrow.
That takes some time.
