#94: Decoding strategies for employer branding, employee advocacy and social hiring, with Kunjal Kamdar

"Employees need to wear the brand, live the brand, if they don’t feel valued, they will not be your brand champs"

If you care about employer branding, advocacy and social hiring, Kunjal Kamdar is someone you should know. 

Kunjal combines a career in talent acquisition and branding including working with giants like Capgemini, WNS Global Services and Virtusa with a relentlessly curious brain for a perspective that captures both the big picture and the nitty-gritty details of what it takes to build an employer brand.

He currently brings that expertise to TietoEVRY - a leading digital services and software company as the Senior HR Specialist - Global Employer Branding Lead, and in this conversation, we picked his brain on how he thinks about employee branding as a whole.

We discuss with Kunjal:

• The importance of employee advocacy to your employer brand strategy
• Engagement despite M&A - the impact on employer brand
• How to turn your employees into brand advocates
• Ways to attract young talent to your company
• What’s more to employer branding beyond careers page, and social media
• Remote, hybrid or back to the office?
• Ways to create a more human workplace 

Employer branding when an acquisition takes place:

People need to understand that it is not only the brand that changes when it is acquired. There are a lot of changes within it, from values, culture, to policies. 

There comes a point when a company acquires another where they have to sit and discuss how an organization maintains both sides of culture. The modifications need to be made accordingly. It is a challenge specifically for HR professionals.

Employer branding vs employee advocacy:

Kunjal explains how according to studies, an employee advocate is trusted 2x more than a company CEO. The more employees talk about the company, the more impact. The employees are the face of the brand, and both go hand in hand. Employer branding is the employer's reputation, and employee advocacy is the promotion of that reputation.

Ways to identify employee ambassadors:

Most companies are finding the ingredient to employee ambassadors. However, they should be the ones who are happy with their companies and are rated high. They should be able to represent them in external forums, webinars, conferences, etc. The organizations need to focus on how they can work on developing these people and give them a platform.

Social media to attract talent:

Social media has played a vital role in creating awareness in attracting talent. First, it is more organizational based on where they are and what they do for the same. Kunjal explains the significance of different platforms individually. 

Social media for employee branding has been a challenge. Companies need to understand that they do not have to stay active everywhere. They have to analyze the platforms which are best for them and simply have a presence in others.

Employer branding through social media:

Employer branding in social media is inside out. It starts with organizations creating enough awareness and campaigns for their employees. While for employees, it starts with creating awareness about their referrals, seeing the staffing, and finding out policies.

Within employer branding, every touchpoint of employees-from joining to leaving the organization- is an interesting space. Companies should focus on enriching this experience.

Follow Kunjal on LinkedIn

Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Podcast host: Junius Dsilva

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