You see it on TV and hear it on the radio and it really makes you wonder. It makes you wonder how during a recession and fresh off government bailouts, many employers in the banking industry are still giving out record bonuses.

Many think during a period of such high unemployment, bonuses like these are completely indefensible. However, an expert in employer branding, Simon Barrow, asks why the banks aren’t defending these bonuses more vigorously.

Barrow doesn’t buy the classic excuse–that if the most talented executives don’t get bonuses, they’ll seek them elsewhere and move on to the competition. There are a number of factors that come in to why a person chooses their employer and remuneration is only one.

Instead, Barrow creates a list of a number of possible arguments banks could use to defend the practice of giving out bonuses–assuming his arguments are true, they would be powerful tools in defense of the practice.

Some of Barrow’s potential arguments include: the bonuses’ purpose of offsetting the high cost of education for those high ranking executives, the relatively short career of those in the banking industry and the high burn out/drop out rates of bankers.

Barrow admits he’s never been asked to defend the bonuses officially and thus can only speculate about ways to argue their validity. However, assuming his arguments are true to an extent, and they are quite believable, it makes you wonder why the banks haven’t fought harder to defend them.

To see Barrow’s whole article you can go here:

http://simon-barrow.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-are-bankers-not-defending-their.html

International companies are increasingly focusing on emerging markets for the growth of their business, given the pace of the economic development, size of the prospective markets and the cost advantage in many areas. This growth is fully dependent on the success of attracting and retaining the right talent to run and develop the operations. Yet finding the right people has been difficult. Similarly, in the developed nations, companies are faced with the challenges of an ageing population and a shortage of skilled workers – this has lead to the so-called War for Talent.

Universum, the global leader in Employer Branding, presents key arguments of why employer branding should be a core component of your organization’s strategy.  We explore the career and employer preferences of today’s students – or tomorrow your employees. We will discuss how to measure your activities, to ensure that you are implementing the right activities, and how to communicate to talent to fulfill your recruitment needs. Employer branding will help you be more successful in the recruitment and retention of top talent.

***

To register for this complimentary webinar, please follow this link: http://www.ere.net/webinars/global-trends-in-employer-branding-and.asp

What can an employer do to remain in the minds of students during a hiring freeze?

It’s important for employers to stay top of mind during a hiring freeze and not abandon the image and presence they have spent resources and time to establish. Employer Brand impressions are created mostly during the undergraduate years, when students are researching companies, searching internships and learning about your brand and offer. Avoid disappearing fully from campuses that matter to you now, or are likely to matter to you at all in the future. Otherwise you may be forced to rebuild your brand when the economy gets better and need students from that campus. The rule of thumb we hear cited by our friends and clients so often is as follows: one year off of a campus takes three years to fully repair. Read the rest of this entry »