Why is a competitive analysis important in employer branding?
A competitive analysis in employer branding provides information on how companies are perceived on the labor market and what strategies the competition is pursuing in order to be considered an attractive employer brand.
The analysis helps companies to understand the specific expectations of their target groups, highlight their strengths and eliminate potential weaknesses.
Here are some reasons why a competitive analysis is crucial:
1st reason: positioning and differentiation
By studying competitors, companies can identify which aspects of their own brand make them unique.
This allows them to specifically develop a differentiated employer image that clearly stands out from the competition.
2nd reason: Recognizing trends and market requirements
The competitive analysis provides insights into current trends and developments in the labor market.
This helps companies to align their strategy with the changing expectations of employees.
Reason 3: Optimization of talent acquisition
The findings from the competitive analysis help to sharpen your own recruitment strategies and develop targeted measures to increase your attractiveness for qualified candidates.
Steps for competitive analysis in employer branding
Step 1: Identify competitors
The first step is to identify the relevant competitors.
In addition to direct competitors in the market environment, this also includes companies that compete for comparable talent in the same labor market, even if they are active in other sectors.
Step 2: Analyzing the employer brand and communication
Companies should examine the brand messages, values and benefits that competitors communicate to potential employees.
This includes information on career websites, social media presences, job advertisements and employee reviews on platforms such as Kununu or Glassdoor.
Step 3: Examination of the employee offer
The focus here is on the benefits, working conditions, career opportunities and additional services offered by competitors.
- What specific benefits are offered to employees?
- Which aspects are particularly appealing to potential applicants?
Step 4: Analysis of the corporate culture
Beyond the external impression, the culture of the competitors is often decisive.
Feedback and evaluations from current and former employees provide an indication of how the corporate culture is actually practiced and how satisfied employees are with their employer.
Step 5: Benchmarking
In order to better assess their own position, companies should collect specific key figures and compare them with those of their competitors.
This includes factors such as employee turnover, recommendation rate and the number of applications.
Step 6: Identify strengths and weaknesses
The information collected helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your own company in comparison to other employers.
From this, targeted measures can be derived to improve your own employer branding strategies.
How can the results be used?
Once the competitive analysis has been completed, it is crucial to effectively implement the knowledge gained.
The following strategies are helpful:
1st strategy: Differentiation of the employer brand
The strengths and weaknesses of the competition that have been analyzed help to highlight the company’s own strengths in a targeted manner.
In this way, the company can develop a unique positioning that appeals specifically to talented individuals.
2nd Strategy: Optimization of the recruitment strategy
The analysis can help to find new recruitment channels and innovative approaches to approaching potential employees that increase the visibility of your employer brand.
3rd strategy: Strengthening internal culture and benefits
By comparing employee offers, companies can recognize which additional benefits are particularly in demand and which additional measures could improve employee satisfaction.
4th strategy: Continuous adaptation to the market
The competitive analysis should be repeated regularly in order to react flexibly to market changes and trends and to continuously optimize the employer branding strategy.
The competitive analysis is a valuable tool in employer branding in order to sharpen the positioning of your own employer brand and respond specifically to the needs of the workforce.
Conclusion
Competitive analysis is a valuable tool in employer branding for sharpening the positioning of your own employer brand and specifically addressing the needs of the workforce.
It enables companies to stand out from the competition and sustainably increase their attractiveness as an employer.
In a dynamic job market, a well-founded, continuous analysis of competitors is crucial in order to establish yourself as an attractive employer brand in the long term and attract the best talent.
