However, there’s still confusion about what employer branding actually means, and why it’s so important in your recruitment efforts. As such, there are a lot of misconceptions floating around (for example, that employer branding is the same as corporate branding or that it’s just a fad), which aren’t strictly true.

In an attempt to de-bunk some of the biggest employer branding myths, we’ve put together a list of some of the most common misconceptions we hear about the topic:

1. Employer branding is the same as corporate or consumer branding

Your employer brand should act as an extension of your corporate brand, however the two are not the same thing.

Generally speaking, your corporate brand is your company’s identity and your reputation in the market, and should represent the benefits of your offering compared to your competitors’.

On the other hand, your employer brand is your reputation as an employer. It should communicate your company’s internal ethos and should be representative of how you treat your employees.

Your employer brand should show the human side of your business and focus on what it’s actually like to work for your company. Think of your candidates as your customers.

2. It’s purely your HR team’s responsibility

Some might believe that employer branding initiatives sit within HR, others might think that the responsibility falls under marketing and some might think that your senior management team should take the lead…

The truth is, employer branding initiatives need buy-in from everyone in your business; collaboration really is key.

All stakeholders need to be on the same page; from the content on your careers site and the onboarding of new starters right through to the conversations your employees have with their friends down the pub about their job, your message needs to be consistent.

To find out more about the important of collaboration in employer branding initiatives, check out our popular blog post, 4 Ways HR and Marketing Can Work Together to Build a Great Employer Brand.

3. An employer brand can be improved overnight

If you’re aware that your company has a bad reputation as an employer, you need to accept that this can’t be fixed overnight with a couple of positive Glassdoor reviews.

Employer branding initiatives should be long-term, ongoing projects that will need to be planned extensively. However, recognising that you need to take action is an important first step.

There are smaller steps you can take as part of longer employer branding projects, such as building a company careers site to house your vacancies and any employee-driven content. Additionally, you can complete regular activities, such as staff satisfaction surveys to continuously measure the happiness of your employees.

Put simply, you can’t just pump out the occasional piece of content and then say that you’ve improved your employer brand. It’s a long-term, ongoing process.

4. You can’t measure the results so there’s no point in investing in employer branding initiatives

One of the main reasons why you might struggle to obtain buy-in for employer branding activities is because the success of your efforts can be difficult to measure.

Some companies choose to measure the success of their employer branding initiatives through careers site application conversions, employee retention levels or staff satisfaction surveys. There is no right or wrong way of measure how good your employer brand is, however it’s undeniable that an improved brand will have a positive impact on your hiring.

Here are some statistics to bear in mind and include in your proposal, when trying to obtain buy-in:

69% of candidates wouldn’t take a role with a company that had a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed, according to Glassdoor.

Additionally, 80% of talent leaders state that employer branding has a significant impact on their ability to hire talent, according to LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trends report for 2017.

5. It’s just a buzz-phrase

The concept of employer branding might appear to have only popped up recently but this doesn’t mean that it’s just a buzz-phrase that you can brush aside; it’s something that has always existed but perhaps only recently defined.

Ignoring your employer brand can have negative consequences; as the competition for talent heats up, you risk losing your ideal candidate to a company with a better reputation.