In the past few years, the war for talent has become more and more competitive. Worldwide skills gaps and low unemployment rates mean businesses are fighting for a limited number of professionals and fishing in the same pools, causing the UK’s labor market to tighten.
For businesses, this means really ramping up their efforts when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. And at LinkedIn, we have analyzed the billions of actions by our 24+ million UK members to compile our annual list of the Top Companies professionals most want to work for.
This year’s Top Companies list reveals some interesting trends. We’ve seen companies such as Amazon and ASOS.com climb the rankings to overtake high-street brands, as retail moves from bricks-and-mortar to e-commerce. Meanwhile, the UK’s financial services industry has continued to be attractive to talent despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit – with Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and JPMorgan Chase featuring on the list this year.
Here’s the full list of LinkedIn UK’s Top Companies for 2018
Don’t go it alone
It’s easy to think that talent branding efforts require enormous marketing and advertising budgets, but that’s not always the case. Although these companies are from a range of different industries, and each offers their benefits, they’re unified by having created a unique talent brand – and having communicated it effectively.
You need a mix of skills to build a strong talent brand, and these skills usually exist throughout an organization, rather than in one individual team, which is why it’s essential to break down any silos and encourage collaboration – particularly between marketing and recruitment teams.
By making sure there’s consistent communication between marketing and recruitment teams, you’ll have the best chance of making sure your talent brand is resonating with the individuals you need to reach.
Make it authentic
No one can explain why you’re a great company like your existing employees. An employee’s voice is seen as three times more trustworthy than the CEO’s when it comes to showcasing what a company is like to work for.
Luckily, there are many ways you can encourage your team to get involved. Why not consider making them your brand ambassadors by creating employee case studies for the company’s website, asking them to blog about their experiences, or producing relevant content which they can share with their own networks?
Get creative with video
In a crowded marketplace, creativity can be critical to cutting through the noise – and video has been proven to be one of the most useful content formats for reaching the right audiences.
While creating long-lasting video content for your website can be cost-effective in giving people an insight into what the company would be like to work for, another way is to use your brand ambassadors. Encouraging your employees to post about their day-to-day professional lives on social media can be a compelling way of getting your brand values to potential candidates. At LinkedIn, we recently launched our LinkedIn Video feature making it easy for members to capture ‘on the go’ video footage from company events or conferences.
This year’s Top Companies list may be the cream of the crop when it comes to appealing to talent, but by investing a little time, effort, and creativity, it’s possible for any company to cultivate a strong talent brand.
About the author: Rebecca Drew, the Sales Manager for LinkedIn Talent Solutions, has 20 years of experience in Cloud Software, Recruitment, Management Consulting, and Social Media.
