Brand is a word that we hear a lot today. In fact, type it into Google and you get over 50 million hits. Now add employment to the search and your get less than 500 thousand hits. Research shows that we are exposed to up to three thousand ads per day. That is a lot of ‘noise’ in our lives.

Somewhere along the line, your organization's employment brand is trying to emerge in this mix. Dr. John Sullivan, human resource management professor at the College of Business at San Francisco State University, says "Employment branding is the hottest strategy in employment. It is one of the few long-term solutions to the 'shortage of talent' problem. Whereas most employment strategies are short-term and 'reactive' to job openings, building an employment brand is a longer-term solution designed to provide a steady flow of applicants."

In a generation where information is accessible 24/7 across multiple streams the “medium is not the message.” Today, the “message is the message.” The message is a living, breathing part of the organization that can not be ignored or left unmanaged. Due to the “niche” of our interests and the reach of today’s technology, the message does however need to be a part of the right medium for your audience.


This positioning comes from the “The Brand Gap” published in 2005. Much of the ideas hold true to this day. My excitement over this read was its application to employment branding. “The Brand Gap” is the first book to present a unified theory of brand. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a charismatic brand, a brand that customers feel is essential to their lives.

It is my prediction that in the demographic trends of the millennial generation and the retiring baby boomers, the “employment brand” will become one of the most powerful management tools to attract, hire train and retain the right people since the resume.

It is my fundamental belief that it starts with the employees you have today and not the ones you hope to have through an advertising campaign. Unless your employment brand is backed up by the actions and beliefs of your current employees, it will more than likely be viewed as an advertising campaign with no heart and limited trust.

Find the answer to the question: Why are our employees our employees? Good, bad or indifferent, that answer is the root of your brand, not what you say your brand is.

Recognize the power of the internet

Using your employees’ answer helps define your message. Leveraging the strength and shear power of the internet will help you create a web presence. Most clubs have now moved to the internet to market and build their club brand, but the rub comes with the extension over to employment.

Internet searching has changed the way to do just about everything. We have learned to find what we need “online.” Most are astute enough to find what they are looking for online using just a few strokes of the keyboard. The internet is now consulted for aches and pains often before we contact a doctor.

This philosophy also applies to employment. When the average person looks for a job today, they start online. There are many posting boards available acting as the internet’s “classified ads.”

The challenge for you as managers of your employment brand is that a “classified ad” does not really ‘sell’ a potential candidate on the role. My challenge to you is: if a potential candidate went looking for information about your organization, could they find it? Would it be current? Would it be from you, the employer? My guess would be... not all the time. More often than not the employment page on a club website is buried somewhere under the Contact Us tab. This makes it difficult for Google and other search engines to help the candidate find your club opportunities.

Create a web presence for your employment brand

How can you help potential candidates find your opportunities? Easy! Start by creating a “credible web presence.” For example if you created a new site called  www.springfieldgolfclubjobs.ca or www.springfieldsummerjobs.ca, then a local resident searching Google using keywords ‘jobs’, ‘springfield’ is more likely to find your site because it aligns with their search query.

This is not to suggest that you undertake a completely new site development of the scope of your consumer/member site (i.e. size, content, imagery). Your employment branded website needs to be simple, engaging and sell your employment brand. Check out www.blogsouthwest.com , one of the most successful employment branding sites today. Closer to home you can check out The Ladies Golf Club of Toronto site at www.ladiesgolfclub.com and the Brantford Golf & Country Club site at www.brantfordgolfjobs.com. The following are some elements to include when creating an employment branded website:

• A message from the general manager welcoming potential candidates to the club and inviting them to join the team.
• An overview from each of the department heads, like your chef, including an answer to the question: Why work here?
• Some photos of the facility, often candidates have never been to your club before. And there is the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.
• Testimonials from staff, this is the most over-looked opportunity in employment branding; research indicates that 19 to 25 percent of all successful hires come through referrals. A 19 year-old telling a 19 year-old this is a great place to work is worth its weight in gold.
• Streamlining the way candidates can apply is also an imperative part of this process. Traditional resumes do not often net the information helpful to discern whether or not this is a great candidate. Systems like www.clubjobs.ca play an important role in increasing the likelihood of selecting the right candidate while making you more efficient at what you do.

Use technology to create your network

Social networks have literally exploded over the past five years. Can you think of a world without Facebook or MySpace? If not today, the reality is that it will happen one day. What is hard for most of us to grasp is that relationships don't have to be face-to-face. Think: networking is networking regardless of whether it is online or face-to-face. It is still networking. Your network is a living breathing part of you; the same can be said for your organization. We are networking (i.e. creating or maintaining a relationship), whether we are using blogs, Twitter, chat rooms, email, or instant messaging. The millennial generation is quite comfortable using virtual networks, and the most effective recruiting sites are likely to be interactive and focus on relationship-building.

Social media plays an important role in your employment brand. The following list includes recommendations from www.ducttapemarketing.com, one of my preferred resources for practical cost effective solutions to getting your message out.

1. Read ten blogs: Sign-up for a www.bloglines.com account and search for and subscribe to ten blogs about social networking. You can return daily to your page on Bloglines to find and read all the new content on your ten. Of course you can add blogs about your industry and interests here too.
2. Comment on ten blogs: Post relevant comments to the blogs you read. It’s a very simple form of social networking. It's also a good way to get extra visitors to your site or blog.
3. Join www.facebook.com: Create a profile. Find and ‘friend’ some of your existing contacts. You'll be surprised by how many people you already know have facebook accounts. Facebook has some real value for you because of the rich set of tools and large amount of active users. This is a great place
4. to experiment with how people interact in social networks. Once you get your feet wet, you may also find that facebook is a great way to connect with business contacts you may never bump into otherwise.
5. Join www.linkedin.com – Meet and connect with like-minded business folks. This is a service that's been called ‘facebook for business.’ It is really about. It is a great service for people looking for a job or to make connections with people who may be out of reach without an introduction.
6. Create a www.twitter.com account - Type in 160 characters or less about what you are doing right now. This tool is pretty silly on the surface, and it may feel like a giant waste of time, but a very large and active community has grown around this kind of micro-blogging and you should understand how people are using it.
7. Create a www.stumbledupon.com profile - This is a social network built around discovering and recommending sites that you like. Active stumblers can send a lot of traffic your way.
8. Create a www.digg.com account - This site allows you to keep up to the minute with what's happening in the world of business. Users submit and vote on what is believed to be the most important content.
9. Check out www.squidoo.com, developed by one of favourite authors Seth Godin, another great resource on branding and finding your purple cow, and www.flickr.com as places to find and develop niche-related communities when you're ready to really get out there.

Think of these social media platforms as your labs. Get in there and experiment for the future. Engage in the social dialogue and become part of the conversations. Then start planning the most effective use of these opportunities for you and your organization.


Networking is still networking; but a credible web presence makes all the difference today, period. No matter where you are in the country, no matter the size of your club or the resources your have available to you, this is the game and it is time to play.