How your company’s perceived by potential candidates will influence whether they engage with you or not.

For a talent team, a broader employer branding strategy includes:

• An inclusive hiring process, open to diverse, gender balanced pools of talent

• A positive end-to-end candidate experience

• A diverse and comprehensive benefits package that meets the needs of the entire workforce

• Development opportunities to attract future long-serving team members

Equally important however, is the company branding that attracts candidates in the first place.

Your website is a great place to start, with the careers page providing more information than job ads. Moreover, it’s good practice to offer a glimpse into what it’s like to work at an organisation, giving candidates a feel for the culture and values that they can (hopefully!) align with. There are so many ways to do this, such as blog posts, video content, and new starter vox pops.

Social content has a higher chance of reaching passive candidates and piquing interest. Again, video content is an easy way to promote an organisation’s culture, but also consider social feed takeovers with targeted content for prospective talent, consistent LinkedIn company updates and new starter introductions. The more insightful information available at the fingertips of potential talent, the better.

But let’s not forget the channel that offers a window into any business, Glassdoor. Whether the reviews are good or bad, it’s the response and being accountable that has the biggest impact. So, celebrate the positives and own the negatives, learning from the less favourable comments. And most importantly, show potential talent the benefits of approaching you – and not your competitors – for their next role.

If there’s anything that the last two years has taught us is that it’s not all about the money. You also need to love what you do – because let’s face it, we spend most of our time doing our jobs.

Returning to the office has been a massive sticking point for some, with many choosing to leave well paid jobs that demand full time office presence, seeking out more flexible roles that suit their lifestyle.

It’s more than just working from home though. The flexibility to choose where and when you work provides the freedom to create the perfect working environment, whether that’s at a home desk, in the garden, a café or the office (but this is by no means the end of the list).

Looking deeper within the organisation, candidates not only consider the business diversity make-up, but also sustainability policies and strategies; they want reassurance that they’re joining an inclusive and responsible company, which prioritises its people and the planet. That’s not to say that they’re looking for the employer who has it nailed, because no one does. What’s important is that they have a self-awareness to know where the gaps are and have a strategy to get there.