There has been no shortage in the debates surrounding employer brand, and what it means for your company. Should you invest in your branding? Will it help you to attract new talent? The answer is undoubtedly yes. And while investing in your brand, targeting the right audience, and promoting your great company culture are all key parts of strengthening your business’s reputation and winning the top talent, the truth is that you should also be using the recruitment process to strengthen your overall brand.

Recent CV-Library research reveals that one in ten people would be put off a company if the recruitment process was dragged out, while a fifth admit that an unclear job description would put them off applying for the role altogether; if you’re looking to attract the top talent, it’s important that your recruitment process is the best it can be.

Although the initial application and interview process is primarily used as a way for businesses to source candidates and determine whether they’d be a good fit for the company, many candidates will also use this process to decide whether or not the business is right for them. And as candidates are increasingly sharing their experiences online via sites such as Glassdoor, it’s essential that businesses offer the best experience possible.

There really is nothing more offputting to a candidate than hearing about a company that’s great to work for, only to find that the recruitment process is long, complicated, or worse of all, unfriendly. As soon as your branding has a candidate hooked, you need to make sure that it’s there at every touchpoint.

So, if you’re working to boost your employer brand as a whole, it’s important that this trickles through to the recruitment process too. The good news is that there are some easy areas to focus on, and once you’ve changed these, the rest should easily fall into place.

Do you target the right people?

If you’ve got job roles to fill, a great way to advertise these is through using targeted eShots or social media platforms. But if you’re not targeting the right audience, you could be doing your company more harm than good. Marketing your business and its roles to the wrong people could ultimately damage your brand, as job hunters increasingly look for the process to be more personalised to their individual needs; by coming across as ‘spammy’, you could be causing potential employees to turn off, which could lead to you losing talent. By getting this first stage of the recruitment process right, you should be on the right path to a strong recruitment brand.

Is the process friendly?

Ultimately, a friendly recruitment process can make or break your employer brand; even if you offer the best perks going, if word gets out that your interviews are tough and that your hiring staff are unfriendly, you could find yourself in trouble. By making candidates feel welcome from the minute they enter the building, and by ensuring that they’re treated fairly throughout the process (whether they’re unsuccessful or not), you’ll be one step closer to boosting that all-important employer brand.

What questions do we ask?

Do you bombard your candidates with questions, or do you let them take the stage and quiz you on life at the company? And more importantly, what types of questions do you ask? While some companies may prefer quirky questions that force candidates to think outside of the box, there’s a limit on how outlandish you should be. If you’ve spent time and effort strengthening your employer brand, there’s nothing more damaging than disgruntled candidates talking online about how ridiculous your questions are.

Do you offer feedback promptly?

If you’re looking to attract talented candidates, it’s essential that your recruitment process is smooth and efficient; if it’s taking you weeks to feed back to talented applicants, you’re likely to find that they’ve upped and gone elsewhere. And even if you’ve decided not to offer an interviewee the job, or you’ve received a CV that isn’t right for the role, you should make sure that you give these candidates an answer; nobody likes being ignored, and this rings particularly true for job hunters.

Essentially, your branding goes well beyond the public perception of your company, and you have to be sure that your recruitment process is giving candidates the right first impression. If your application process is longwinded and leaves applicants to fend for themselves, it doesn’t matter how great your company culture is once you’re through the door; it’ll put talented applicants off from the get-go.

Lee Biggins is the founder of CV-Library.