January/February 2019

Leading Insight
How Engineering Firms Can Attract —and Keep— Top Talent

BY KARL FELDMAN

It’s a challenge nearly every engineering firm can relate to: finding and keeping good people. And with so many firms struggling with the same problem, it’s no wonder that competition for top talent is tougher than ever. In fact, 56% of the firms in Hinge’s recent Employer Branding Study named recruiting as a top challenge for 2018.

Luckily, just as you’ve worked to establish your brand to attract new clients, a strong employer brand can also help you win the war for talent. But let’s back up—what is the difference between your firm brand and your employer brand?

Contrary to some popular misconceptions, your firm’s brand isn’t your logo, tagline, or marketing collateral. Instead, it’s a combination of two things: your firm’s reputation and visibility. These two qualities help build trust with prospects, establish your expertise, and help your audience to understand how you do business.

Similarly, your employer brand is how you position your firm to prospective hires. While many of the same aspects of your overall firm brand will still apply, your employer brand should aim to show recruits what it’s really like to work at your firm.

Having a strong employer brand can help you stand out from the competition by giving prospective employees a genuine understanding of life at your firm. This allows them to more easily see themselves joining your team—giving them confidence in their decision to choose your firm over another.

So, how can you create a strong employer brand? Follow these six steps:

1. Consider your firm’s overall growth strategy. Hinge’s research found that “working with a growing firm” was the top priority for candidates when evaluating potential new employers. Your ability to demonstrate to recruits that your firm is not only growing, but also has a dedicated growth strategy is important to establishing an attractive employer brand.

2. Research your prospects and competitors. Just like understanding your audience is crucial for marketing your firm to new clients, the same applies to attracting top talent. Do research to discover how recruits are finding your job openings, what details are important to them, and how you can make your firm a more enticing place to work.

3. Develop your employer brand strategy. A good employer brand strategy will include a couple of key strategic approaches. First, you’ll want to discover your employer value proposition—the characteristics and features of your firm that describe what it’s like to work there and set you apart from your competitors. Next, you’ll want to figure out how to include the perspective of your current employees. Consider how they would describe your workplace culture and figure out how to best share this insight with prospects, whether through reviews, profiles, or other specialized marketing content. And speaking of marketing content, you’ll also want to consider how the content you’re producing helps establish your firm’s authority as a thought leader in your industry. Together, all of these factors help to build the appeal of your firm for recruits and establish a strong employer brand strategy.

4. Build the tools to communicate the brand. Take what you learned in your research and what you’ve done to develop your employer brand, then consider how to get this information out to potential recruits. Enlist your web site, social media accounts, and other tools that you already use for marketing to draft a communication plan.

5. Launch the new brand. Now that you have an informed brand, a communication plan, and the tools to support it, it’s time to follow through. Launch your new employer brand so potential recruits can learn about your firm and understand why it is a great place to work.

6. Optimize for visibility and impact. Take the time to track results from your efforts so you can continue to optimize the visibility and impact of your employer brand. Collect data on how prospective employees are finding your firm to know if your current communication plan is effective.

Establishing a strong employer brand can be instrumental in solving your firm’s struggle to find and keep good people. By determining the best way to position your firm to prospective employees, you can showcase what is truly special about working for your firm.

Karl Feldman is a partner at Hinge Marketing. He guides leading architecture, engineering, and construction clients through the complexities of research, marketing strategy, brand building, and website development.