The war for talent? The relevance of employer branding in job advertisements for becoming an employer of choice

Abstract

Organisations need highly loyal employees in order to fulfil the needs of their stakeholders and achieve success. Employer branding (EB) could be a powerful tool for attracting employees with high potential. In this article, we present two separate studies. The first study involves a content analysis of 100 online job advertisements in order to investigate whether and how EB is currently used in recruitment practices in the Netherlands. The second study involves a subsequent experiment comparing a job advertisement containing elements of EB to one without these elements. Results from the first study show that EB is hardly ever used in recruitment communication in the Netherlands. Results from the experiment reveal a preference for advertisements containing EB with regard to several factors. On the basis of these results, we can conclude that corporate positioning, internal branding, EB and related practices could be successful avenues for organisations. EB should obviously stem from the organisation's position and corporate identity. A branded identity might offer major advantages in the war for talent.