The Pros and Cons of Being Number One

By Annika Lagerhorn

Some companies have the advantage of being an employer-of-choice; these companies often have strong consumer brands and are generally the leading company in their industry. A number one position is a great resource in employer branding, but it also brings a number of challenges.

The Cons

• High expectations

Popularity increases expectations and the higher the expectations the more difficult it will be to meet those expectations as an employer.

• Too many applications

Popular employers typically receive an overwhelming amount of CVs and are unable to sort through the mountain of candidates to find the right type of employees. The employer branding strategy is therefore to narrow the focus to reach those that the company wants to recruit and retain.

The Pros

• Stick out from the crowd

Popular employers are the most successful to recruit and retain top talents. If the company is fairly small and the industry relatively new, the company will most probably have an anonymous existence on the recruitment market. For ‘unknown’ companies, an essential part of employer branding is to inform and explain what the company does and what it stands for― i.e. to build its brand awareness. Unknown employers spend more time and effort pulling people into their organization compared to popular employers that naturally attract key people― it’s a tug of war where the most popular team is the strongest.