Mid-Market Focus: Leveraging Brand to Compete

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Mid-Market Focus: Leveraging Brand to Compete
by Pete Kadens

An employment brand is one of the strongest weapons available when competing as a middle-market company against Fortune 500 or 100 corporations looking to hire the same people. Tailoring brand image to the collegiate, young and aggressive talent and portraying that employment brand, or company culture, can tip the scales when a candidate has a higher compensation offer on the table. Leveraging that brand the right way to attract talent is key in the hiring process.

Arming the Brand Weapon

An organization must portray itself as a business that caters to candidates' career growth and aspirations, as well as their social desires. This strategy is critical because, even if compensation and benefits are only "at market," a company can still attract top talent without having to bet the farm on its people. Smaller companies always will be competing with larger companies that pay more to attract the same talent. Organizations win by executing on brand promises and spreading the gospel to their candidate audience, but companies have to customize and extend their brands to reach specific employment audiences and commit resources to make this happen.

Recruiting-based brand architecture is based on four primary attributes. The evolution of this architecture is the result of listening to the candidate audience and discovering what resonates with potential and current employees. Every conversation with candidates, every piece of marketing collateral distributed and every speech delivered must reiterate these four aspects of the organizational brand:

1. Entrepreneurial spirit: Each candidate should have access and exposure to high-level managers and company owners so they can see where they will have an opportunity to make an immediate impact. Owners and managers must check titles and egomaniacal tendencies at the door each day to grow the business and attract top talent.

2. Clear and present opportunity for growth: Daily, weekly and monthly recognition of top talent and their success reminds candidates and new hires alike of where everyone in the company had their beginning and where they have grown in a short time. For instance, year-over-year growth of 100 percent or more opens a lot of doors. Share growth statistics with employees and candidates so they know they are on the cusp of something great.

3. Collegial atmosphere: Know your organization's employee base. Have some fun in that first conversation with candidates. Talent managers could make initial interviews more informal if catering to a younger pool of candidates.

4. Flexibility: Understand that employees and candidates have changing and evolving lives with family and other outside interests. Make up for "at market" compensation with an aggressive three weeks of vacation plus personal days in year one and other ancillary, yet cost-effective benefits.

By leveraging these four aspects, an organization can create a successful employment brand that will sustain its recruiting engine. A lot of companies spend 50 percent of their interviewing time selling the candidates on working for the company. That is not only inefficient, it's risky because it limits the time talent managers need to appropriately qualify their candidates. Build an employment brand and make sure it truly runs through every vein of the organization so candidates know who you are as a company before they even walk in the door.

[About the Author: Pete Kadens is CEO of Acquirent, an outsource sales solutions provider.]