Human Assets

More than Pay and Rations?: What makes you attractive as an employer?

This is the question that Filip Lievens from Ghent University and his American colleague, Scott Highhouse, set out to answer.  Their starting point is that studies typically examine the more tangible aspects of a job and organisation that make an employer attractive to applicants such as pay, career advancement and location.  Just as important to recruitment are the intangible aspects, particularly the image/culture that potential applicants ascribe to organisations.  Lievens and Highhouse borrow the language of marketing, which also distinguishes between the tangible and intangible components of a brand.  The more similar two brands are in terms of tangible qualities, the more important are the intangibles in achieving some differentiation in our minds. This similarity in terms of pay and advancement is precisely the perception that graduates hold for many employers in the same industry.  What differentiates employers is image.  For example, graduates probably (rightly or wrongly) see Lloyds TSB and RBS as offering quite similar deals in terms of pay and advancement.  Students' choice of employer will be influenced by the rivals' images. 

Lievens and Highhouse validated their ideas by asking a sample of students and a sample of bank employees to judge the attractiveness as an employer of five Belgian banks.  The ratings of attractiveness were looked at in relation to the tangible and intangible qualities of the different banks.  Although attractiveness was, not surprisingly, related to people's perceptions of conditions such as pay and advancement, it was also related to three key aspects of the image of the banks, namely their:

-   Innovativeness
-   Sincerity
-   Competence

Clearly, it is vital to monitor and influence the image potential applicants have of your organisation.  It is an essential step in Winning the Talent War.  People want to work for organisations that add in a positive way to their personal identity.  The image that applicants have of your organisation will be influenced by all your transactions with the outside world, ranging from your website and recruitment literature through to press coverage of the ethical nature of your conduct.

How can Human Assets help?
Human Assets can help by working out a method with you to discover what image applicants hold of your organisation and by deciding the image you want and how to achieve it. We can devise the quantitative and qualitative research - for example, with campus interviews and questionnaires - that will tell you your current starting point.  We can also ensure that you create the best possible image through your professional selection procedures.