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Campus branding is a relatively new field and requires intricateunderstanding of the branding principles, the principles of GEP, as

well as a great understanding of the campus environment. Acomprehensive understanding of these three aspects along with a

strategic approach to integrate them to achieve the best results is thekey to effective branding on campus.

By T.Muralidharan & Rohit K.N Shenoy

NOVEMBER 2006

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brandingon campus

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countries and cultures but multinationals too havepenetrated the Indian market to a great extent. With theincrease in operations comes the increase in need forskilled labour.

The war for talent has reached new heights with HRmanagers and strategists alike, devising innovative andexhaustive approaches to attract talent. But do we havethe infrastructure in place to supply the talent that meetsthe growing demand? Here are some statistics:

In essence, India has more than twice as manygraduates as the population of Australia. But still, HRprofessionals are always speaking of skill shortage onthe one hand and barely 10% of corporate India is saidto use formal executive search on the other. So wheredo companies recruit employees from and how do theyrecruit? Campus recruitment is one major source.

The cream conceptThe graduates who form the cream of the talent pool(graduates from the IIT's, the IIM's etc) always prefer towork for the best of the organizations.

Similarly, all organizations too want to employpreferably the top 20% of the talent pool. Given the factthat the cream of graduates are spoilt on choice when itcomes to choosing an organization to work with, HRprofessionals and strategists have been expendingenormous amounts of time, energy and financialresources to earn the 'employer of choice' tag for theirrespective organizations in the face of lowunemployment and skill shortages. This is whereemployer branding comes into the picture.

S ince the dawn of globalization and the subsequentboom in business, not only have Indian companiesexpanded their range of operations across

NOVEMBER 2006

Employer brandEmployer branding in the literal sense of the word iscreating or promoting an organizations' 'brand identity'.An employer brand is the emotional connection betweenthe employer and the employee - one that extends itselfto the other stakeholders, the community at large andmore importantly, to the potential employees.

Employer branding takes shape on the same lines astraditional product branding. While a Unique SellingProposition or the USP is driven through traditionalbranding, the 'Good Employer Positioning' or GEP isdriven through employer branding.

Similarly, while traditional branding puts forth the'why buy me' proposition, employer branding puts forththe 'why work with me' proposition. And finally, whiletraditional branding aims at product positioning,employer branding aims at employer positioning.

What's common between some of the most popularbrands like IBM, Nike, Pepsi, Reebok and Microsoft forexample, is the fact that they are not just great brandsbut: people respect them, people want to associate withthem and people want to work with them. Greatconsumer and financial brands do not automaticallymean great 'employer brands'. These brands haveevolved through years of employer branding.

The framework for employer brandingOne of the effective frameworks that can be employedfor effective employer branding is the 'Good EmployeePositioning' or the 'GEP' framework. 'GEP' is aproprietary term coined by TMI Network, one of India'slargest talent management companies.

The GEP philosophy is that successful organizationsare not 'good employers' to everyone. It emphasizes

Engineering in India 113 Universities, 2,088 colleges (as on EOY 2004)

MBA in India 953 institutions (as on EOY 2005)

Number of engineers produced in India, 401,791(as on EOY 2005)in a year Compared to India, China is the world leader -

producing 600,000 engineers a year, the UnitedStates produces only 70,000 engineers and thewhole of Europe produces only 100,000.

Major contributors 69% - Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra,Karnataka and Kerala

Number of graduates in India 48.7 million (as on EOY 2004)

Technical jobs created in India in 2005 125,000 (as on EOY 2005)

Technical jobs likely to be created in 217,000 (as on Feb 2006)India in 2006

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the fact that every organizationhas a 'cult' culture and onlymembers of the cult will stay andprosper, while the rest will perish. GEPis the positioning of an employer inthe minds of a prospective as well as acurrent employee - inthe competitive contextfor talent. It is also a

match betweenemployee needs andcorporate reality.

Based on the work culture and otheraspects of an organization, their positionon the various axes of the GEP frameworkvaries. For example, in a start up company that paysreally well and has an excellent work culture but has alow exit value and does not guarantee job security, theGEP graph may look something like the one below.

The underlying principle of employer branding isthat the best employers deserve the best talent and viceversa. The critical questions that an organizations needsto ask themselves are: What kinds of people succeedwithin the organization? How do we attract such people?Why should or would such people work for us? It is inanswering these questions that the employer brandingprocess takes seed. The GEP framework helps achievethis goal.

GEP gives a relevant, factual and uniquemethod to assess an organization inside out.With the organization and the prospectiveemployee as the point of reference, the GEPapproach maps the external attributes likephysique andprojected imageas well as thei n t e r n a lattributes like thepersonality andculture of theorganization.

Why employer branding?Employer branding directly increases the bottom lineprofitability of an organization by reducing attrition,increasing employee loyalty, reducing cost of hire andmapping the right fit. In the war for talent, with eachorganization vying for the top 20% or so of theintellectual capital, and having no alternative sourcingstrategy, pedigree based hiring is becoming the

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dominant trend. What is not helpingthe cause of skill shortage is the factthat - On the one hand you have the

talent that is perceived as 'good' but it reallyis not, and on the other hand you have thetalent that is perceived as 'not good' but it is

in fact good.The Campus Talent

Grid below explains thedistribution of talent

across institutions by theway it is perceived andbased on hard reality.

Ever walked into adepartmental store and wondered whichproduct to purchase from the vast display onthe shelf? With scores of manufacturers

promising niche and differentiation from the alreadyexisting plethora, the consumer is now left to sort themaze based on his or her own knowledge and perceptionof the commodity. Gone are the days when one wouldgo to the vendor around the street corner and purchasewhat was available rather than what was needed. Bringin recruitment from the candidates point of view andthe scenario is no different.

In the 80's, campus placements in premierinstitutions like the IIM's was a month long affair - andeven at the end of the process, you would findunemployed students. But today, campus placements

in IIM's conclude in a maximum of a week,with most of the 'hot' offers being made onDay One. On an average, by the end of DayOne of campus placements at IIMA, over 30top companies, both Indian and foreign, visitthe campus - and as a result, it is the student

who choosesthe companyand not theother wayaround. TheMarch 2005c a m p u s

placement process at the IIMB saw 78companies making 328 offers to 190 students,and 53 of the offers based in locations outsideIndia.

What the MNC's thinkIn a survey conducted by a leading magazine early thisyear, it was revealed that most MNC's consider only25% of the talent pool of graduates employable. Whythis huge gap? It is because most organizations aim for

GEP Framework

Compensation& Benefits

ProfessionalismRealistic GoalsInterdependence

SalaryPerksESOP'sRetirement BenefitsJob

Security&

Stability

WorkCulture &

EnvironmentTrainingSystemsExposureBargaining Power

EthicsValuesEmpowermentEvaluation

Compensation& Benefits

JobSecurity &Stability

WorkCulture &

Environment

Exit Value

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the talent pool from Quadrant 2 of the talent grid wherethe talent perception as well as reality is great. But thesegraduates have a mind of their own and cannot beinfluenced easily. More often than not, it is they whochoose the organization they would like to work forand not vice versa. Due to lack of alternative sourcingstrategies, if organizations do not get a piece of the'Quadrant 2' cake, they then run for the talent pool inQuadrant 1. Their perception of only 25% of the talentpool being employable is therefore highly influencedby the fact that:

They completely overlook Quadrant 3 where thetalent perception is low but in reality is great.

They look at Quadrant 1 as a contingency and not asa primary source

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be met. But how do we attract such talent fromQuadrant 3 to work for us? Effective, reflective andproactive employer branding is the key.

Organizations need to understand the reality thatthere has been a major shift in the landscape in therecruitment industry. They can either choose the bestfrom the available talent or chase the best talent to getthem to work for them.

Lack of employer brandingA small IT firm in Hyderabad, to fill their requirementfor 10 fresh engineering graduates, recently approachedTMI Network. By the time TMI Network contacted themwith a database of prospective candidates sourced bythem through various methods, and also suggestions

They completely overlook Quadrant 3 more oftenthan not

Therefore, as mentioned earlier, a huge pool of talent,which is perceived as 'Not Good', is missed out eventhough they are good.

What organizations should be doing however istarget 'Quadrant 3' because it is always better to hirethe top talent pool from second and third rung institutesthan the bottom talent pool of top rung institutes.

Is campus recruitment a one-stop solution?For a company like TCS, which recruits over 10,000students a year at times, as was the case in 2005, campusrecruitments can never be a one-stop solution. Even ifall the students graduating from IIM's and other premierinstitutions would be hired, the demand would still not

for other effective sourcing methods, the clients hadalready hired 4 candidates through job boards.

What does this signify? Has recruitment become amere number game for the organizations? Don't theyhave the confidence to attract the right talent? If not,why did they not trust the expertise and the suggestionsof one of the most reputed players in the recruitmentindustry? If they are happy with the kind of talentavailable through job boards, why contact specialistrecruiters at all? Shouldn't organizations ask themselvescertain key questions like why should a prospectivecandidate work for us and then attempt to answer them?

It was obvious from the above incident that - timewas the only criteria stressed on by the clients. But inthis hurry to recruit, they fail to ask themselves certainkey questions like the training that is needed for the

Quadrant 1: GREAT Talent Perception - POOR Talent Reality (Top Half of Creamy Layer)Quadrant 2: GREAT Talent Perception - GREAT Talent Reality (Bottom Half of Creamy Layer)Quadrant 3:POOR Talent Perception - GREAT Talent Reality (New Private Colleges&Campuses)Quadrant 4: POOR Talent Perception - POOR Talent Reality (Unemployable Youth)

THE CAMPUS TALENT GRID

Tale

nt p

erce

ptio

n

Talent reality

4

Poor Great

New PrivateColleges andCampuses

UnemployableYouth

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Bottom Half ofPedigreed

Institutions

Top Half of thePedigreed Institutionslike IIT's, IIM's etc.

Poo

rG

reat

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candidates, the compensation that suits the role, theretention strategies to be employed etc. What clientsneed to be looking at is the 'right talent' for theirorganization and not the 'best talent' available in thetalent pool.

Best talent vs. right talentMost organizations prefer to employ only the best talent.What they fail to ask themselves however is if thesecandidates fit the organization in terms of culture andalso whether they can retain such talent over a periodof time. What organizations need to ask themselves is:'What is the right talent that suits my organization andwhich I can afford to recruit and retain?' The underlyinglogic here is: The 'best talent' does not necessarily implythe 'right talent' because the best minds might not alignwith the culture, the structure and the vision of anorganization.

The process of getting the 'right talent' is entirelydifferent from the regular recruitment procedures,which happens through job boards and job ads. Theideal solution for the organization mentioned in the

Best practices in employer branding: ads'What' is said is more important than 'how' it is said:More often than not, organizations are inclined towardsthe visual appeal of their brand communication. But inreality, to generate or evoke a response from astakeholder, the content assumes priority and not theform. What is conveyed should therefore be aculmination of relevant facts and a GEP.

Create well mannered ads - don't clown: There is afine line of difference between a humorous ad and aclown. People don't like to work for clowns ororganizations that don't take themselves seriously. Thetarget audience must be charmed into responding.

Make the ad contemporary: The ad must strike achord with the target audience and more so if it's theGen 'X' that's being targeted. The psychology of thetarget audience has to be understood and incorporated.If the target audience do not relate to the ad, it is highlyunlikely that they would respond.

Headline: The headline is the most critical elementof the ad. On an average, 5 times as many people readthe headlines as they read the body and more often

case study would have been to chalk out a recruitmentstrategy with the recruitment firm. The emphasis shouldhave been laid on quality and not quantity and theseshould have been abided by. Due to the lack ofawareness of an employer brand and the absence ofemployer branding, organizations like the onementioned tend to compromise on quality and that isthe first step in the wrong direction.

How do you brand an organization?Employer branding is a 360 degree approach involvingan in-depth understanding of an organizations workculture, structure, the stakeholders and the brandingobjectives.

than not, if the headline does not catch their attention,they would not proceed to the body at all.

Employer branding must be consistent across allmedia, websites as well as all communication - be itinternal or external - with the prospects andstakeholders.

Print advertisingThe creative rationale behind an ad for Pradot was ofkeeping the ad simple, attractive and catchy. Thecompany's positioning in the market was clearly putforth.

Internal and external postersAn internal referral poster created for Verizon with

ASSESS - The organizations current positioning in the marketSTRATEGIZE - The methods to answer the question - 'Where we want to be?'IMPLEMENT - The above decided methods in the time frame outlinedMEASURE - The outcome achieved through this exercise

MeasureAssess

Implement Strategize

The3600

Approach

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simple checks and crosses gamewas used to emphasize theemployee's search for the rightcandidate. The inference was thatit was up to the right candidate tofill in the missing block to completethe game and in essence, thecompany gets the right candidate.

The campus recruitment posterdesigned for Convergys highlightsthe core value of the organization,which is its respect for theindividuality of each individual.

Employer brandingrecruitment siteThe Employer Branding websitedesigned by TMI Network for MittalSteel served as a dynamicrepository of information targetedat new

recruits wherecandidates could learnall about theorganization and itspeople. About 14 e-learning modules weredesigned by TMI basedon the requirementsgiven by the clients andincorporated into thesite. All information onthe site is dynamic andcan be updated throughthe admin login.Candidates couldregister themselvesonline, create user

profilesthat suittheir learning needs and take teststhat help them analyze theirlearning curve. The success of thisprocess was the fact that it helpedinduct new recruits from across theglobe.

Hoardings and kiosksA hoarding designed for Keanedepicts the organization's effectivemanagement policies thatcontribute to its low attrition rate.

Internal communication kitA campus brochure designed forESSAR gave in a snapshot, theessence of the organization’sprofile, culture, structure andbeliefs.

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The employer branding process1. SPOTTING THE CHAMPIONSIdentify champions within the organization, generate willingness and buy-in with these individuals foremployer branding and bring these individuals together to form a cohesive group or 'core group'2. BUILDING TEAM SPIRITBring the core team to a common platform, dstribute white papers and other relevant documents / informationand mtually agree on the development road map3. DEFINING FUTURE COURSEUnderstand the recruitment plan in terms of skill profiles, experience profiles, requirement in numbers andthe source companies4. BUILDING THE 'GOOD EMPLOYER PROPOSITION'Having understood the company offerings in the dimensions of the GEP framework and based on discussionswith the core team identify the top 5 points that are the employer's strength and also the top 5 points thatare a matter of concern.5. CONDUCTING INTERNAL CLIMATE SURVEYStandard survey methods involving focus groups and questionnaires must be employed to evaluate andanalyze the key aspects discussed in the earlier step.6. IDENTIFYING DISSATISFACTIONSAnalyzing the 'exit interview' data for the past 6 months or so and identifying the reasons for the same is thebest way forward. Try to be statistically relevant7. DEVELOPING 'PROSPECT IMAGERY'This is where you try to gauge the image of your organization in the perception of the prospects. Standardsurvey methods have to be employed here too.8. LEVERAGING ON EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCEDefine past employee experiences through a dipstick survey by selecting about 10 to 20 employees who quitrecently. Make a qualitative research by first interviewing these employees to identify the causes for them tobe willing to re-join. The 'Will you join back?' question gives a good measure of the prospective stakeholdersperception of your organization.9. BENCHMARKING COMPETITIONIdentify the competition for recruiting skill-sets, in terms of companies and industries with approval of thecore team. Using techniques like visiting the career's website and also analyzing their recruitment ads for thequality & quantity of information shared with the prospects, figure out what the competition has on offer.10. MAPPING YOU AGAINST THE COMPETITIONPlot your positioning vis-à-vis the competition on the 4 dimensions of the GEP framework. Bear in mind thatyour positioning should be based on current and past employee data.11. DEVELOPING THE 'EMPLOYER BRANDING'The critical question - 'Where you want to be?' needs to be answered comprehensively and the EmployerBranding strategies need to be developed accordingly.12. GAP ANALYSISIdentify and define the gap between employer branding and prospect imagery and aim to reduce the same.13. DEVELOP THE COMMUNICATION STRATEGYThe first step would be to develop the communication message based on the key verticals and the desiredoutcome to be achieved from the communication exercise.14. DEVELOP THE COMMUNICATION PACKAGEGiven below, are some of ideal methods of promoting 'employer branding'.15. BUDGETINGThe available budget for the Employer Branding exercise gives a fair idea of the methods that can be employed.16. LEVERAGING MEDIADefine the press relations roles and strategies as well as identify a PR agency for the same17. BLAST OFFLaunch the campaign.

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Measuring employer brandingOne of the most ideal approaches to measuring'employer branding' or its success is to conduct anannual campus survey. To do this, first identify a set ofabout 25 or so campuses where you want to conductthe survey. The survey has to be conducted with thepassing out batch with a list of about 3 to 5 companiesin your respective industry. Ideally, your ranking in thesesurveys has to go up every year.

T.Muralidharan, Chairman, TMI Network & MD, C&KManagement Ltd., is a first generation entrepreneur who hasset up two medium size professional outfits - TMI Network(www.tminetwork.com) and C&K Management Ltd(www.cnkonline.com). TMI Network is India's largestrecruitment advertising agency and a top 5 recruiting firmand C&K Management Ltd is one of India's largestcomprehensive content and knowledge services company. Heis an alumnus of IIT-Madras and IIM-Ahmedabad. Rohit K.NShenoy has recently joined TMI Network for their ExecutiveTalent Search and Management process. He is an alumnus ofMIT, Manipal and Cardiff Business School, UK