Posted by: With the new year, it won’t be long before we can truly see how well the federal government performed at hiring up to 273,000 new employees, as projected in last fall’s Where the Jobs Are: Mission Critical Opportunities for America 2009.
We’ve talked about how the federal government is not only facing stiff competition for talent from the private sector but also with other federal agencies. This environment isn’t likely to change, especially under pressures to fill these critical jobs by 2012. For federal hiring managers, this means that the clock is ticking on making their agencies very attractive for job seekers.
As agencies continue to fill these jobs, one critical area to strengthen is the agency’s brand. Effectively branding your agency to attract the right talent is vital. This can be achieved through communicating easily understood and recognizable recruiting themes, information and benefits about your agency. This gives your agency a competitive advantage over the private sector and among your federal agency peers.
Let’s look at a few brand questions that we’ve helped agencies better define:
- How do you distinguish your agency’s recruiting program from your federal agency peers and the private sector?
- A strong brand helps your agency stand out from others and clearly tells job seekers about your mission and your agency’s workplace culture.
- Is it your agency’s brand comprised of the agency’s logo, mission, employee testimonials/ employees as true brand ambassadors, diversity programs, benefits and other incentives, veteran’s programs, etc.?
- All of these categories, when effectively communicated to your job seeker audience consistently and clearly, help contribute to your agency’s brand. You are establishing your agency’s identity in the marketplace to identify with the right job seeker.
- Is your recruiting message consistent or inconsistent to job seekers across the various job posting boards, job fairs, printed materials, and other online resources that you use to recruit?
- Any interaction that a job seeker has with your agency during the recruiting and hiring process should be a positive testament to your brand. Messages need to clear, including job descriptions, and not allow room for confusion.
- Consistent communications also help define your brand. Throughout the hiring process with job seekers, emphasize your agency’s dedication to its employees and the role your employees play in the agency’s mission in all of your communications.
The importance of maintaining a compelling brand to recruit in this competitive environment should remain a priority among everyone at your agency involved in the end-to-end hiring process. Those agencies that build and sustain the strongest brands will surely come out on top.
Mon, Jan 11, 2010
Federal