You can’t guarantee every employee is going to have a perfect experience with your company. Job dissatisfaction is bound to happen no matter how great the company culture and management team are. Bad reviews will happen and disengaged or unhappy employees will surface.
Unfortunately, according to research conducted by recruiting technology comparison agency Software Advice, 50% of job seekers look online for reviews when they research companies to work for, so it’s inevitable they will come across a bad one.
In the case there are bad reviews of your company, don’t let this distract from the positive ones. Instead, use these 4 effective ways to ensure quality employer branding to prevent (and respond to) poor reviews.
1. Awareness Baseline
Instead of shoving the bad reviews into a corner and acting like they don’t exist, acknowledge these weaknesses and turn them into strengths. One way to do this is by creating a strong website as a counteractive response to the reviews. Answer your reviews in a professional and courteous manner.
If you’ve never checked the reviews on your company online, it would be wise to do so as this is the main line of reference for job seekers. Nine out of 10 job seekers are looking online for jobs, and the majority of the job hunting process is performed on the web. Create your positive and negative answers ahead of time so you go in prepared.
2. Responding To Candidates Who Inquire About Poor Reviews
Pretending like you’re unaware of the bad candidate reviews online is only going to make your recruiting team look unaware when an applicant notices or mentions your company reputation. Instead, tackle the problem head on by answering reviews as quickly as possible and encouraging those who have a good experience to record it online as well.
If a candidate does bring it up, view it as a chance to show the candidate a bad review is something your company takes seriously. Show the impact both bad and good reviews can have on your company’s brand and culture.
You don’t have to be a psychologist to detect a fib. In fact, 54% of the time people are likely to detect or suspect a lie. Therefore, practicing transparency is your best method. This includes: framing the review in context, showing steps the company is taking to fix it, and ensuring that every review is responded to online in a timely manner.
3. Creating A Consistent Online Brand
Before you meet with a candidate, they’ve read your website. Online is where your company should begin practicing those consistent messages they wish to send to all audiences, including candidates. The more information on your site, the more prepared and informed candidates will be about the company.
In addition to showing off your culture and teams hard at work, explain what you do and how you do it. Work hard to get your online reviews high enough that they can be a bragging point instead of a source of embarrassment. If you use social to recruit or market, chances are candidates will be looking at these channels as well, so make friends with your marketing department to get an idea of how they deal with online complaints and reviews. Work as a team to create an overarching and consistent message.
4. Focus On Onboarding
Extend the company message past the website by making new hires feel welcome when they’ve made it through the front door! Recruiters and hiring managers should act as candidate advocates to ensure their welcome is smooth and stress-free (after all, you worked very hard to get this candidate in the door!) Anxieties about not having anyone to talk to or lacking a sense of direction, even not knowing where the bathroom is on the first day can create a discomforting first experience with a company. If left to chance, this can create the conditions for a crummy review. In fact, some companies find their reviews stem from being recruited aggressively and then left to fend for themselves once through the process.
Online reviews aren’t the end-all, be-all of your candidate experience or company culture, but they are increasingly important as the world of recruiting moves further online. Ensure that you monitor your online reputation, respond to reviews (both good and bad) immediately and politely, address recurring issues with managers and recruiters, encourage current employees to discuss good experiences and educate executives on how to make those reviews even better.
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