Employer branding boosts bottom line

A MAJOR shift in recruitment advertising is under way, resulting in reduced media spends for employers and more profitable project work for advertising agencies.

According to TMP Worldwide Advertising and Communications WA general manager Mark Clemow, Western Australian companies are embracing the emergence of employer branding and, as a consequence, the media mix and advertising layouts are changing.

WA Business News understands that some of the State’s best-known companies, including Woodside and Burswood International Resort Casino, are re-thinking recruitment advertising strategies and are investigating the use of their brand and brand attributes more prominently in future recruitment ads.

Mr Clemow said the changing advertising landscape was a consequence of fewer skilled employees in the marketplace.

“In recent years an increasing number of professions have been in tight demand, so organisations have needed to shift the emphasis of their recruitment communications to be sales oriented and place the vacancy on a competitive level,” he said.

“New technology, diversified media opportunities and more accountability for recruitment costs has also brought a huge diversity to the recruitment communications task.”

TMP Worldwide employer branding specialist James Wiggins recently addressed a group of TMP Worldwide’s Perth clients, telling them employer branding was the result of a change in employment options.

Mr Wiggins said generations X and Y did not have employer loyalty and were therefore more selective in their employment choices.

“They are managing their own careers and, particularly for Generation Y, they are looking at how an organisation fits in with their lifestyle,” he said. 

“People are looking for a promise and the best place to do that is with a creative ad using colour and scenarios. But an organisation has to deliver on that promise.

“There is a general trend away from ads with job descriptions to ads with an employer promise.”

Mr Clemow said ads were becoming smaller and, consequently, media recruitment spends were on the decline in the State’s major daily newspaper.

The State Government recently reduced its recruitment advertising from an average of a dozen pages to about two pages a week. It now uses the Internet to provide job description data.

Mr Clemow said reduced media spends was a national trend, with some of his clients experiencing cost reductions of 30 per cent.

“There has been a significant decline in national media recruitment spends, a rise in the use of regional and local press, and significant growth of online recruitment advertising, and increased use of corporate recruitment websites,” he said.

Adcorp general manager David Morrison agrees that more companies are now using smaller ads and the Internet as a point of reference for further information.

“The sell is on the company and trying to attract the right people to the company,” Mr Morrison said.

“It’s about finding the right cultural fit and it requires some honesty on the organisation’s behalf. It’s a brand promise and they need to deliver; it’s just like any other consumer branding program.”