The Impact Of Employer Branding On The Education Industry

It’s still amazing to think that the Internet has only been with us now for about 20 years. How things have changed in that time as a result of the digital revolution with just about every piece of the service sector being altered almost beyond recognition.

A prime example of industries which have been at the forefront of all this upheaval is recruitment advertising which used to coast along quite happily with an assumed focus on traditional media like newspapers and trade magazines.

The Internet proved hugely disruptive to this long established model. All of a sudden, prospective employees discovered that they could search for job opportunities quickly and efficiently from the comfort of their own home without having to spend a single penny on publications. So the advertising agencies all had to fall in line and start promoting vacancies on the net.

More recently, social media has taken off and agencies have been forced to rapidly establish a presence here particularly in the fast growing area of employer branding.

The term employer branding was first used in the early 1990s to denote an organisation’s reputation as an employer. Since then, it has become widely adopted by the global management community.

As the UK emerges from the recession, companies recognise that in order to improve their productivity and profitability, they must continue to attract and retain the best talent. This is exacerbated by baby boomers retiring and their outflow is greater than the inflow of young talent into the workforce.

Not only did education recruitment agencies have to start advertising academic vacancies on the web but they are also now called upon to focus more and more on branding educational establishments to attract both top quality staff and fee paying students from all around the world.

Cambridge University, for example, has worked hard to maintain its lead over Harvard as the World’s highest ranked university (there were no less than 4 British establishments in the top 7 spots for this year according to the annual rankings).

Recruitment agencies are now going to have to help educational organisations distinguish themselves from the competition using the internet and social media to promote strengths and confirm values, thereby ensuring they remain an employer of choice during both recession and boom times.

By: Brendan Wilde

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Brendan Wilde writes about a wide range of recruitment and recruitment advertising issues with a special focus on Employer Branding