Employer Branding.

The term was coined in 1996 by the researchers Tim Ambler and Simon Barrow, who applied brand management methods to the role of the employer. At its centre is the employer value proposition: what do employees get here that they would not get elsewhere? That might be training, working-time models, team culture, projects, pay, location or purpose.

Employer branding becomes visible above all on the careers page, in job ads, on employer review platforms, on social networks and in the Google Business Profile. Important for findability: every open position should have its own page with complete details, so that it can appear in Google's job search (structured data of the JobPosting type). Many SMEs publish vacancies only as PDFs, which Google hardly recognises as job listings.

An example: a plumbing business has been unable to find apprentices for years. Instead of yet another ad, it builds an 'Apprenticeships with us' page with photos from everyday work, a short video of two current apprentices, clear details on trial days and a form asking for three fields rather than a full application dossier. The page is handed out at schools and careers fairs via QR code.

Employer branding only works if the promise is true. Promise a culture online that is not lived internally and you get poor reviews and resignations during the probation period. The basis is therefore the conversation with your own employees, not the advertising copy. DLM Digital has no published employer-branding client case; we build careers pages as part of websites. The most important place for it is your own careers page: how it fits your visual identity is settled by corporate design, and for it to appear in job searches it needs the same care as any other page (ongoing SEO).