What is an employee brand?  

Employee brand is your reputation in your industry and with your employees. How is your business seen as a place to work? Do people feel inspired, creative, taken care of, appreciated, and challenged? Or do they feel stressed, overwhelmed, confused, disconnected, and frustrated? and inspired and creative environment is going to draw in more candidates and encourage more applicants. A mindful HR team, in collaboration with insightful leadership will help develop the employee brand with several different tools meant to cultivate culture. Everything from your company’s mission and alignment in their business goals to their vision to company communication to benefits and perks all contributes to the employee brand. This is not just important for finding new employees, but also for retaining your existing workforce.   

How do people know what your employee brand is?  

Candidates and job seekers can get familiar with your employee brand in a number of ways. Glassdoor reviews give candidates an honest insight into how people feel working for your organization, so it’s always helpful to keep an eye on that and course correct to improve the employee experience as needed. Another way that applicants will discover your brand is through social media.  More companies are choosing social media platforms to showcase company culture and give a more rounded, sense of the organization.  Finally, good old fashioned word of mouth – employees talking about their company to friends, family, or social media – is another way that employer brand messaging gets spread. This is why you want to pay attention to your employee branding and work to make it as strong and positive as possible.   

A strong employee brand is key to securing top talent, but having a recruiter to actively identify the best candidates for your open roles can help you hire faster.  

Connect with top talent 

Open Systems can help find quality candidates who match your mission and are excited to contribute their skills to grow the success of your company. 

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1. Lateness: Running late shouldn’t automatically disqualify someone from a job offer, but how they handle setbacks is essential. Were they communicative ahead of time? Do they make excuses? How they handle running or arriving late to an interview can tell you a lot about how they’ll handle job stress and communicate under pressure.  
2. Badmouthing: If a candidate has nothing but negative things to say about their past employer, this could be a bad sign. A previous bad boss or experience with a disorganized company can certainly be discussed during an interview – often in the context of how they handled a less-than-ideal workplace scenario – but it shouldn’t be infused with bitterness, name-calling, or a generally unprofessional attitude.   
3. Inconsistency: If there are significant discrepancies between what an applicant says in an interview and what was on their resume, it’s probably a sign that they’re not entirely truthful about their experience, which could be bad news for your business.  
4. Lack of knowledge: If the candidate seems exceedingly unfamiliar with the details of the job they’re interviewing for or the company itself, these are indicators that they might not be all that interested and aren’t looking to stay on board long-term. Candidates don’t need to be experts, but they should have a working knowledge and show enthusiasm for your company.   

If you’re looking to find top technical talent for your organization, our team can help. We have years of industry knowledge, and our expert recruiters know exactly what to look for when screening candidates to ensure that you’re matched with the best potential employees. Give us a call today.   

The post Red Flags You Should Never Ignore in an Interview appeared first on Open Systems Inc..

Here’s what to focus on and plan for to have your most effective, successful interview.  

Have examples of hard and soft skills ready:

As a candidate, you know your skillset, and you know how you’ve showcased those skills in the past. Now is the time to write down those examples and be ready to talk about them. From soft skills like communication or leadership to hard skills like specific programming languages used on the job, be prepared to discuss practical examples.  

Know your worth:

A second interview is often the time that a potential employer will broach the subject of salary. You don’t need to bring it up. Still, you should be ready to talk about your expectations and have the data to support them, from information about your last position to current market data on salaries for similar positions or industries.  

Have essential questions ready:

Companies want to hear you ask questions because it shows that you’re curious and willing to learn, as well as interested in the position enough to want more information about the role. But just asking questions for the sake of asking will do you a disservice – and businesses can usually tell when you’re just playing the part. What do you want to know? What will help you feel more comfortable in taking on the role? What can you learn about your potential employers’ expectations of someone in that role? Think about this before you sit down for your next interview. Decide which questions to focus on, including asking about the company culture or the training process.  

Are you looking for your next IT role?

Our experts have the knowledge, experience, and connections that can help get your resume in front of the right people. Get in touch today with Open Systems Inc and get to that second interview even faster.

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