Employer Branding: How Can it Benefit MSMEs in Attracting Top Talent | Voice of Stalwarts #toptalent

Summary

This insightful transcript delves into the importance of employer branding for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in attracting and retaining top talent. It underscores how traditional industries in India, despite their significant contributions, often lack visibility, adversely affecting their growth. The discussion reveals that millennials and Gen Z employees, being digital natives, perceive employer branding and digital presence as vital. These elements help instill trust and foster a sense of belonging, which is crucial for MSMEs to compete for top talent against larger companies. The conversation emphasizes the need for MSMEs to develop robust digital presences and employ creative marketing strategies to enhance their employer brand and appeal to potential candidates.

Highlights

• The digital presence is essential for MSMEs to build trust with potential candidates. 👥
• Employers need to showcase their culture and work environment authentically. 🏢
• User-generated content can effectively contribute to employer branding. 📱
• Millennials and Gen Z want authenticity and alignment with personal values. 🌟
• Employer branding is as important as product marketing for attracting talent. 🏆

Key Takeaways

• Employer branding is crucial for MSMEs to compete for top talent against larger companies. 🏆
• A strong digital presence helps build trust and attract candidates. 💻
• Millennials and Gen Z are attracted to brands with authenticity and a clear purpose. 🌟
• Employee value proposition (EVP) should be a long-term goal for companies. 🏢
• User-generated content can be a cost-effective strategy for employer branding. 📱

Overview

In today's competitive job market, MSMEs face substantial challenges in attracting top talent, especially when competing against well-established brands. This discussion highlights the critical role that employer branding plays in bridging this gap. By creating a robust employer brand, MSMEs can enhance visibility and appeal to digital natives who value authenticity and clarity in purpose.

Digital presence becomes the foundation for employer branding. As the conversation reveals, millennials and Gen Z seek transparency and a strong cultural fit before committing to an organization. MSMEs must, therefore, prioritize creating a dynamic online presence that reflects their core values and work culture, reducing perceived risks for potential employees.

The conversation also touches on cost-effective strategies like user-generated content to build brands authentically. Empowering employees to share their experiences can create genuine testimonials that resonate with prospective talent. These efforts not only attract new hires but also contribute to the long-term reputation and success of the business.

Employer Branding: How Can it Benefit MSMEs in Attracting Top Talent | Voice of Stalwarts #toptalent Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hi shinder how are you uh hi hi Amit how are you good good good to see you good to connect with you thank you so much for joining as you know uh as corporate solvers are Endeavor is to uh basically uh connect with people who are the industry Specialists and you know domain experts right and bringing their knowledge and expertise to the public and to the people around yeah so that everyone can learn from your experience so uh so as you know the title of the podcast is voice of stal wordss and then you are the marketing stalwart as for my my experience and connection with you
• 00:30 - 01:00 I've seen you been more than 20 years I've seen you growing your great experience with uh e for 9 years and you your expertise in B2B marketing especially developing the content and marketing strategies for companies across uh you know I would say beyond the borders and you have worked for many International assignments so uh thank you so much for joining us today sender yeah so thank you so moving forward shinder I really wanted to through this discussion I really wanted to put across uh the
• 01:00 - 01:30 entire perspective of marketing from the perspect from the from the point of view of smmes or msmes right now you know in India even government is really pushing and lot of last decade precisely the startup Revolution is going on in India yeah and today I would like to discuss more about along with the new age startup there are lot of traditional Industries right which are really doing great work but somehow they're lacking in the visibility part and whereof you know which is directly affecting their own growth specifically so and in this
• 01:30 - 02:00 per se my observation or as an organization corpet solvers uh we are helping companies across India and a lot of startups also building their teams hiring the talent for them and attracting the talent one one aspect which we have observed is employer branding and which we have really realized that it plays a crucial role in attracting the right talent for the companies so I would like to understand from your perspective and what is your observation especially on this subject yeah that's a very valid point
• 02:00 - 02:30 and particularly in 2024 right when you are looking at uh you know there is this wide range of talent that's already entering the market right uh particularly if you look at the millennial and now genzies also are you know becoming part of the workforce it's a big cultural divide if you would put it that way uh the way people like us you know when we started our careers the way the kind of approach towards everything not just work but life in general perspective was very different
• 02:30 - 03:00 for these people it's a very different perspective and largely because if you think about it they are the true digital native they are the ones who have actually grown up seeing a screen at home right and that has shifted the perspective towards everything and when it comes to looking for jobs or looking for recruitment or looking for the kind of companies they want to work they're they're exposed to a lot of information and what that has done is that they are also a bit suspicious about about
• 03:00 - 03:30 branded content about how brands are positioning themselves because they are going through a branded placement on their mobile phone 24/7 what that means is that they are even more sensitive toward you know things like authenticity originality the purpose behind any brand and that's the fundamental difference that we are seeing and for businesses irrespective of the size industry geography they are still trying to make
• 03:30 - 04:00 sense of this shift right and they struggle on a day-to-day basis because you need to get job done you need to get people in you still need to deliver on on whether it's a service or it's a product it needs to get delivered on time on quality all the time so it's it's very important in 2024 that's that's very important employer bu owner but when it comes to attracting people no they don't they don't brand
• 04:00 - 04:30 themselves or they don't show the culture right which lent them in a big way and and they don't realize until unless they're struggling to find the talent and they're struggling to bring people inside yeah see I'll tell you what see for a business right typically a business starts looking out for talent immediate requirement or yes they do lot many of them plan this year this is the kind of Revenue we want to hit so how many people we want want to on board
• 04:30 - 05:00 during the year they look at all those elements at the end of the day if you look at a recruiter's life whether like yourselves who are doing it for an organization or people in the HR department in the company everybody you guys are always on your and for a recruiter and I think every
• 05:00 - 05:30 recruiter would relate to it irrespective corporate solers organ and that is the fundamental def the
• 05:30 - 06:00 you have to fill up position immediately situ you know things like employer branding things like what are we communicating to our prospective employees so that we attract right get the best of the dayer
• 06:00 - 06:30 these these things they go out of the window and that is also one of the reasons why it is very important for any msme any B2B or even b2c for that matter organization to seriously have an employing
• 06:30 - 07:00 absolutely so the couple of thing which we have observed in last two decades that one that candidate does not test the new employer whenever a new opportunity comes he or she hears about a company the candidate first goes on the Google and research about the organization website or maybe know what kind of people are working so they do research about the organization and it becomes a
• 07:00 - 07:30 roadblock for the organization to attct because when especially I've seen lot of msv entrepreneur who has approached us for hiring they have their mindset of not spending on the marketing not sometime making website they are very confident in terms of their own past experience or the kind of turnover they achieving but you know sometime they Presse us why people are not coming know you guys are not working but I feel that the new age or Zen Z or zeni whosoever we we working with right now as a candidate or a job Seeker they are they
• 07:30 - 08:00 are absolutely concerned about this they don't find it relatable to work with the organization these kind of organizations absolutely and there is a reason for it see we have to understand two there are two different final nuances to it see one thing is business is all about Network right so all these entrepreneurs EST over the they know the power of you networking and and getting business so that is one side the other side is is the talent side they feel why do I need a website why do I need a social media
• 08:00 - 08:30 why do I need to go and why should I bother about platforms like glass door you'll get the CV in the two digital natives that we are dealing with today particularly at the lower end of the hierarchy right fresh Talent yeah Talent even which has say five seven years of experience they are digitally not only digitally literate it is their first point of ref yeah and
• 08:30 - 09:00 today irrespective whether you are hiring a senior professional or you are hiring a junior level professional you they all have their own user Journey marketing may we know this concept as the user Journey there is an opening at such and such Organization for such and such position I you knowa now what is the first thing I will do mobile phone
• 09:00 - 09:30 or I go to my laptop what am I it's a brilant organization they're growing fast they have amazing product or service but you what's your first perception today having a fundamental digital presence is like carrying a visiting card you know that's the first touch point to start building some level of trust with your talent you may or may
• 09:30 - 10:00 not hire that talent that Talent may or may not join your business that does not matter where do you start what is the starting point in that user Journey because they are going to whether they search on mobile phone whether they search on their laptop that doesn't matter they are going to search you on and they are going to rely on the information that that is available to them so my question is very simple if there is an information about your organization who should be providing that information to your prospective
• 10:00 - 10:30 time your website your social media or some third party your own website right it's a self-explanatory question but that's the point that's the fundamental it's a hygiene today to have your digital presence absolutely and employer branding in today's time is also riant heavily on these PL sorry you were saying something no yeah I was saying this it's absolutely the way understanding the consumer Behavior a person who decide to buy a product or Services similarly a job Seeker decide to buy an employer join an organization
• 10:30 - 11:00 and for that you know if the visibility branding is not there is equivalent to not having trust and then perceived risk about that organization that means job security concern or unknown working environment these are directly cre apprehension in the candidates mind or job Seekers mind and then they they change their mind at the last moment and I would say in addition to that they prefer to join bigger company or lesser salary rather than uh joining a small organization on a higher salary yeah
• 11:00 - 11:30 that's what we have seen yes why see it's an issue of perception it's an issue of perception right if I tell you that I have started and I have an agency and I'm I'm running it and it's inenta digital your first thought would be let me Google it up yeah right because that's that's become a very defacto exercise even let me tell you entrepreneurs who are starting these or who are running these businesses if they are not Googling it themselves somebody is Googling for them yeah because they
• 11:30 - 12:00 also want to know about you right they also want to know about you so it's not that so they may not be picking up their mobile phone and Googling it they might request somebody in their team to do it for them but they are also Googling it directly or indirectly as simple as that right and that's what the whole process is Right absolutely and so this EVP creating EVP or employer branding or I would say employee value proposition is a long-term game right it's a continuous effort uh the organization have to put
• 12:00 - 12:30 in yeah yeah see it's like building out your own vision mission value statements EVP is part of your uh vision mission value statements there is a reason why those those exist because they become your purpose and EVP is a very critical component of that purpose and we must understand one thing so there was this recent LinkedIn research which found that 68% of candidates align their job search to the issues they care about please note issues they care about so if you
• 12:30 - 13:00 don't have an EVP if it is not communicated on your website and it is not visible on your any of your Social platforms LinkedIn Facebook whatever wherever your audience say if it is not connect they don't feel connected because job portals will not do that job for you yeah one misconception and I must share this with you because I've seen this in my professional career before uh somebody a very senior profession once told me he said what's the point why do I spend so much time on
• 13:00 - 13:30 the careers page on the website we have this very nice two paragraphs of our EVP which we plug in at the bottom of our job description that's not I said no so I I asked him very simple question are you sure that they scroll down he said oh you you're saying that we should put it up top I said and how how will you ensure that they read it and what makes you think that they will believe it up front and they will not actually look for your messaging on your website to further cross verify yeah see the
• 13:30 - 14:00 advantage big Brands get is that they have a big brand yeah what people don't realize is they have become a Big Brand because they've been working on it for decade through the first step is to leing down the foundation because if somebody comes to know about your organization has and has never heard of their before at least allow them to interact with your brand right right that is very important definitely brand building or reputation building is a long-term process and uh in that many thing contributes you know as for my
• 14:00 - 14:30 Layman knowledge or whatever I applied in my organization or what we have learned from our marketing experience so I would say that uh showcasing the culture right because is again an important element whereof a job Seeker or a person or a new Talent before entering organization they want to see how the organization functions right and what is the work environment they do a lot of research so in I think it it acts as a testimonial like we buy a product or mobile phone or anything on Amazon right we look for testimonials and and the Google rating similarly this impacts
• 14:30 - 15:00 a lot I've seen in our experience candidates really get influenced by this when they see what is real thing happening in the organization not just having parties and know some photographs clicking and all they also just perceive that that some these are all kind of just what level of I would say presentation what level of real thing they have shown on the website that also matters a lot I'll tell you what so if you look at it I talked about that user Journey part right if you take that as as a sort of a MH so what the user
• 15:00 - 15:30 journey is there are broadly at a high level there are five stages right so one is awareness right first somebody needs to discover second is attraction now what when that's when they see when they become aware how would you attract them what are you going to do where are you going to Showcase your presence that is that builds certain level of trust in them to feel attracted to you to your organization right and of course then there is recruitment so what how does the onboarding experience right and then
• 15:30 - 16:00 of course the prospective Talent has become an employee then of course you know how do you retain you train them you have your own mechanism to keep them engaged internally and then of course and that's the most important part is actually a continuous constant Evolution because people come in people go so there is always learning in that entire process in that entire cycle and how do you learn from what your experience has been and you you make your process and your entire cycle stronger and it
• 16:00 - 16:30 becomes even more attractive to more talent that whom probably you're not even targeting at the moment but they're following you right so these things become very important so at an awareness level like you said EVP is very important what are your company mileston what are your employee mil how engaged is your existing you know Workforce with your messaging online right employee advocacy plays a very big role I can't
• 16:30 - 17:00 overestimate the importance of employee advocacy particularly when it comes to employment right then how are you seen earn media what I mean by that is your social media or platforms like glass door there's a new one I'm not sure if it is at the same level but it's called a mission box which I learned about recently right so that's that's another one right and then there is recruitment part so wherein that you know what sort of candidate experience giving to right
• 17:00 - 17:30 what's the you know how are you on boarding them and of course so and then retention so when you show each one of them if you think of the of it each one of them could become a pillar now whether you showcase that as an image as a carousal as a video as a testimonial as a corporate film that's all fine right it depends on what you want to communicate whom you want to communicate to and to what extent you want to communicate and what is the platform you're looking at right so shendra big companies a a category companies they
• 17:30 - 18:00 already have a planned budget right they do a lot of activities right and they are on social media where when I talk about the companies or emerging companies or traditional companies one hesitation I have seen is a mindset to spend or mindset to do marketing activities right and second is about cost right and third is about their past experiences with the agencies or the people they have hired these three barriers or three roadblocks have seen when we as a recruitment executive Search firm have helped them in terms of
• 18:00 - 18:30 guiding them Consulting them that why it is important to have these kind of marketing activities or digital presence so what is your take on especially breaking through the mindset or apprehensions see well one question can possibly put all arguments to rest do you want the top talent or you want your competitor to get their top talent as simple as that yeah right if you are competing if you think you're you're in the market and you're only competing for your product or service to get that customer you're highly mistaken yeah you're also competing for the very
• 18:30 - 19:00 talent that is going to enable you to succeed in the market true that's it so it's it's fundamentally it's a choice having said that there's another I think there's a very strong argument and that argument lies in the fact that see every business has its own like I said it has its own purpose MH right and why do you have a purpose is it only for your customers is it only to get make your Topline strong stronger sure absolutely
• 19:00 - 19:30 but there is another angle you need to make sure that the people who are working with with the organization right now and the people who who would want to work with you who aspire to work with you they will also stay with you or get attracted to you for your purpose right and there is a reason why some of the biggest brands in the market do go to expensive lens to communicate their there is a reason why they do it because like I said right 68% candidates they
• 19:30 - 20:00 align their job as to what they care about why why would you want to if you think about it at a very human psychological level basically they're looking for a purpose right otherwise how does it matter let me work in this organization then I'll work in that organization right retention is such a big pain Point cross the Industries Why are you communicating your purpose enough are you and if you are are your employees connecting with that do they feel connected to that if they do are you showcasing it to the world m these things that matter absolutely I think
• 20:00 - 20:30 you're right s even post joining and onboarding how company cares for their employees that is there but I would say the sense of belongingness you know comes from the brand itself right then in that case the union of HR and marketing function is play is is really important and play a critical role for the organization's growth yeah as you rightly said not from the just attracting the customers for the product or services but rather the the team members and I feel as a business owner in last almost two decades of Journey
• 20:30 - 21:00 that hiring the right people in every function of your business and that same leadership team help the organization to scale at the next level only the entrepreneur or only the business owner can't scale the business alone you know they need right people for every function of the business yeah and for this cost perspective the last thing I would like to ask you sh how costly it is for a MSM entrepreneur to do marketing and some cost- effective strategies or method if you can just broadly share that so that people can apply from this or learn from this
• 21:00 - 21:30 entire discussion we had sure uh yeah you're right again uh there is a there is a misconception that there is a heavy cost uh you know that that goes along with u you know any kind of marketing effort or oring yes there is always a cost to everything of course there is but uh if you are being very tful about what you want to communicate to whom you want to communicate right then it's not really that expenses so there is this concept of content marketing right you
• 21:30 - 22:00 have a pillar content and then you repurpose it and you do it so it gives you that scale so you're not spending so much of time on you know or rather money on creating Ching out content on a daily basis you're Ching out content at a certain clip and of course there is cost to but you are repurposing it and you're using it and you're pushing it through different channels right right and you make it targeted you can build out a full-fledged very strong pillar approach and you could keep hitting it
• 22:00 - 22:30 at a certain clip you don't have to be shrill about it you it's not that you have to be making 20 post in a day no not needed right you make three post of two post of but you be consistent about the real cost is actually time cost if you think about and most important particularly when it comes to employer branding the most um helpful content is a user generated content right you make your employees Advocates of your brand
• 22:30 - 23:00 instead of me as a brand me making a very fancy video of some activity you know and and posting it that's going to cost me cut to uh a bunch of employees they shoot their own selfy video on the phone and they post it on LinkedIn you they tag your company that is a very effective way and today's platform the algorithms that the way they have evolved that kind of content will also get a lot of free I'll give you a very simple math suppose an organization has
• 23:00 - 23:30 5,000 followers on any platform say LinkedIn for a second right let's imagine it's LinkedIn so it's 5,000 follow you make a post okay your post is visible to 5,000 people right right out of those 5,000 100 followers or rather 500 followers let's say are your employees now each of them is connected to 100 other people now do the math so if one person one in these V out of those 500 makes a post those 500 will come together at least major chunk of them not all of them but a quite a
• 23:30 - 24:00 sizable chunk will come forward and engage with that amazing and that and and then you know the each of them have their have a network of at least 100 people today being connected on LinkedIn to 100 people is means nothing that's amazing and this is this could be across sectors across geographies across roles functions whatever you amazing now you tell me what's the cost of that excellent excellent shendra so thank you very much shendra and it was amazing having you here and really gave very
• 24:00 - 24:30 simple and insightful strategies how even small business owner can apply this and really make it a visible in the market and in the end anything any takeaway or any if you would like to sum up your discussion especially a message to all the entrepreneurs regarding the marketing perspective sure see all I would say that at the end of the day the best product or service cannot be delivered without human intervention right well AI is there and
• 24:30 - 25:00 everything is there right but it's we a couple of years away from you know a fully automated running a business as Sam Al says that those days are not very far off and you will have the first billionaire with no human member as part of the team sure I look forward to the future but till that point in time we all need humans to create best products and best services and them to the customer who are humans
• 25:00 - 25:30 too so employer branding is very important to get the right set of people in and only ultimately they are the ones who are going to help you deliver the best possible product and services and realize your vision for the organization great yes yes definitely thank you thank you shra thank you so much take care bye right thank you m thanks