This is part two of a three-part series on employer branding for Indian startups.
- In Part 1: We discuss why employer branding is crucial for Indian startups to attract top talent.
- In Part 2: Discover the unique advantages startups possess and how investing in employer branding helps them attract top talent.
- In Part 3: Learn how to get started with employer branding using a practical framework that startups can implement today.
Part 2: How employer branding helps you attract top talent to your startup
In this article we uncover what are the unique advantages startups possesses and how investing in your employer branding early can help you attract top talent. Lets dive in
Startup's Arsenal for Attracting Top Indian Talent
Every startup has the potential to be a magnet for A-player talent in India. While funding certainly offers an extra cushion, here’s the core arsenal at your disposal:
- The Founding Team’s Superpowers: Inspiring leadership and your background experience and qualifications.
- Problem-solving Passion: Drive to solve problems that can change the world.
- The Growth Engine: A Culture of immense growth, learning and sharing in the success.
Every startup can leverage these strengths alongside some additional strategies to craft a compelling offer for top Indian talent. The trick is to showcase the combined power of these ingredients and address most of the questions candidates may have to consider a job at your startup. Let’s see how.
Preparing Your Employer Brand Story
Now that we’ve delved into the unique challenges of attracting top talent in the Indian market and explored the core elements of your startup’s arsenal, it’s clear that answering these questions effectively goes beyond just ticking boxes. It’s about investing in building your employer brand.
Start with understanding the top 3 questions that every employer brand needs to answer by studying this blog here.
Your employer brand is more than just a logo or a tagline; it’s the perception that potential hires have of your startup as a place to work. It’s about showcasing your company’s values, culture, and opportunities for growth in a way that resonates with top talent.
By investing in your employer brand means
- Crafting a compelling messaging: Clearly communicate what sets your startup apart and why talented individuals should choose to join your team. This also means answering all the questions and considerations candidates have that we discussed above.
- Building a Strong Online Presence: This is the only way the candidate and their families can find out about you and research you. A strong online presence provides the necessary cushion and assurance to candidates.
- Nurturing Employee Advocacy: Encourage your current employees to share their positive experiences working at your startup. Their authentic testimonials can be powerful endorsements and help amplify your employer brand.
- Providing Exceptional Candidate Experience: From the first interaction with your company to the onboarding process, ensure that candidates have a positive and memorable experience.
Remember, your employer brand is an investment in the future success of your startup. Lets see how an employer brand helps you answer most of the questions about A-Talent in India to join your company.
Answering candidate questions via employer brand marketing
To effectively address the considerations of top Indian talent and their families, employer brand marketing plays a crucial role. Here’s a simple checklist detailing how your employer brand marketing efforts can address these concerns:
Candidate Questions
How Employer Branding Helps
Brand recognition
Create a strong online presence. Here is what you can consider
Team & Founders: Highlight expertise. Craft professional profiles showcasing founders’ and team’s experience on your website and LinkedIn.
Careers Page: Be clear and informative. Maintain a careers page detailing company culture, benefits, open positions, and the application process.
Social Proof: Show, don’t tell. Share press coverage, news, and customer testimonials that showcase your innovations, products, and culture.
Employee Visibility: Humanize your brand. Feature employee stories (work, thoughts, experiences) through blog posts, videos, or social media.
Addressing Family Concerns
While you cannot directly address a candidate’s family or all their concerns, you can indirectly address them.
Create downloadable & sharable video messages.
Feature: Founders speaking on vision & goals.
Showcase: Customer impact through your work.
Highlight: Employee experiences & well-being.
Include: Investor confidence in your future.
Offer: Glimpses into your work environment & culture.
Share openly & encourage them to share with anyone (YouTube, WhatsApp).
Global Opportunities
Provide a peek into how you are building a futuristic company – showcase your office space (even great pics of coworking facility works), your clientele, modern working environment and equipment you provide, your processes, tools you use. It is not expensive to showcase that you benchmark everything you do at a global standard.
Career Stability
Highlight Financial Health and Growth: Actively share information about your funding and financial status. Discuss your customer base, growth trajectory, and how your company is poised to be the next big thing. This reassures candidates that their present is secure and their future is promising with your company.
Consistent Messaging Across All Touchpoints: Develop a clear script that highlights your company’s stability. Ensure this message is reflected consistently across all communication touchpoints with the candidate, from the job description and recruiter calls to the interview process.
By consistently conveying these points, you build trust and confidence in potential hires, showing them that your company is a stable and exciting place to grow their careers.
Crossing the Ts
List all your benefits and perks on your career sites, job descriptions and all relevant candidate communications.
Social Standing
Highlight Competitive Compensation and Perks:
Emphasize your competitive salary packages, perks, and opportunities for equity in the company. This shows candidates that their contributions are valued and rewarded.
Promote Employee Achievements:
Regularly recognize and celebrate employee achievements. Highlight these recognitions in public forums and on your online platforms to showcase your commitment to employee growth and success.
Provide Visibility Into Opportunities:
Offer employees opportunities to present at public forums, conferences, and online events. This enhances their professional visibility and social standing, showing that your company values and promotes individual growth and recognition.
While building a strong employer brand takes effort, it doesn’t require a massive budget. With the right focus and a willingness to invest time, you can implement most of the strategies listed above and start attracting top Indian talent.
Coming up next
In the next part of the three part series, we will present a simple employer branding framework that startups can use to get going and attract top talent.