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Employer Branding | | The Missing Piece of Your Recruiting Strategy 

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Editor’s Note: This Article Has Been Updated on September 20, 2022

Here’s a little–known fact: GovCon recruiting is the money-making department you didn’t know you had. If your GovCon recruiting strategy is considering your employer brand, and your hiring process reflects that brand through great candidate experience, then your employee retention rates should be looking great and your costs low. If there is a disconnect anywhere in that ecosystem then it all crumbles, expectations aren’t met across the board, people quit or get fired, and your costs just skyrocketed, making you re-do all of your strategic pricing. (Scary, right?) 

Recruiting GovCon Employee Candidates

Finding quality GovCon candidates quickly is essential to your bottom line, as is keeping them retained and not having to backfill them. That whole cycle starts with GovCon recruiting, and your employer brand. When we say “employer brand” we are referring to the unique pieces of your government contractor company and culture that set you apart from other employers.  Your employer brand is comprised of elements like your Glassdoor reviews, the voice and tone of your job descriptions, the media (social and news-oriented) on your organization, and of course what people experience when interacting with your brand as a customer OR as a candidate or employee. In order to attract quality candidates in a market flooded with more jobs than talent, your employer brand is the most important differentiating factor you have control over. Your brand isn’t some logo or fancy webpage, it’s how people experience your government contractor organization, it’s what they think of when they think of your organization specifically. Your employer brand begins with the hiring process and how your recruiting process is designed to reflect that. 

Take the Stress out of GovCon Recruiting

Why Should Candidates Choose Your GovCon?

If candidates have multiple options in terms of GovCon organizations looking for someone like them, why should they choose you over someone else? What makes you stand out? Do you have a great company culture or mission that would attract candidates? Or would it at least help them take your Recruiter’s phone call? When looking for hard-to-find and highly sought-after talent (Everyone wants the A-Player!) you have to bring something to the table in this talent shortage.   

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to determine the strength of your employer branding:   

  • Do your GovCon have a social presence?
    If the answer is yes, does it mirror your mission and values? Does it adequately speak for your company in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type of feel?     Do you have the projects you’re really proud of showcased on your website? Does your website promote diversity in practice? 
  • Do your GovCon have Glassdoor reviews?
    In the     GovCon industry specifically, positive (and realistic) Glassdoor reviews are paramount to inviting and retaining top talent.  

Here at BOOST we work with our clients on building their brands day-in and day-out to help differentiate themselves in a saturated market. We craft recruiting strategies specific to each search we take on because one size does NOT fit all. We love to help government contractors strategize and grow! Let’s chat, today.  

Current Events and the Job Market

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Updated 03/17/2023

It goes without saying that the world is in quite an upheaval in culture and moving toward a new normal.
Yet, as we’ve said before, business must continue especially in the GovCon market and that includes hiring.

We must ask: Are you in the job market right now?

If so, you’re probably questioning whether to use your “professional platform” like LinkedIn to express your viewpoint during this #blacklivesmatter social justice movement. Well, you’re certainly not alone. Our talent acquisition team is constantly looking at candidates on a multitude of platforms before moving forward with them in the hiring process*. It would be difficult to present an outwardly misogynistic candidate – per his Instagram page – to a woman-owned/operated small business.  That would probably blow up in our faces as it should. However, simply moving forward with a candidate based on the meeting of requirements alone, sans a full picture of digital activity, is a definite oversight and a lesson learned once and forever. As social media presences have mattered before to recruiters, you can be sure they continue to be important now. The job market is too tight for recruiters to skip checking your platforms, with cultural fit being as important as credentials.

What does that mean for you as a candidate in an already COVID-19 riddled US job market?

Do you shy away from posting things, or go out of your way to make accounts uber private and difficult for a google search or your name to find? Our answer to you would be a resounding “Hell NO!” Do not shy away from posting well-thought-out viewpoints because you’re concerned an organization may use it against your candidacy. Quite frankly if they do, you don’t want to work for them anyway, believe us. The US job market right now is much too nice for you to settle for a company that doesn’t agree with your principles. Our Talent Acquisition team wants to know that you are confident, expressive (a great way to show off your writing skills!), committed, and vocal when it mattered above all else. We wouldn’t want you to be any other way. If the tables were turned (we have ALL been candidates before) we would absolutely post about a ‘controversial’ topic without thinking twice about the ramifications because we’re very secure in our value as a candidate, and we would hope an organization would see it the same way. Our advice to all of the recruiters and the candidates in the market today would be to lean in. Lean in purposefully, kindly, with your eyes and hearts wide open. Through well thought out action we can all work toward the change that we’ve hoped to see in this world. With the job market being what it is, you’re going to make a great candidate for an organization, but you can’t settle for offers along the way that don’t fit who you are.

(*As a note, we are NOT lawyers, but we know some great ones, so to CYA you may want to double-check things with your lawyer friends to be safe.)

If you would like to discuss more about your digital footprint and best practices for job searching as a candidate or as a company, let’s have a conversation. Our Recruiting and Marketing teams know the job market right now, and will work together to determine our client’s company culture and how you appear online to your potential employees.

April Showers

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We find ourselves suddenly in April and the beginning of 2Q18.  How did that happen?  We’ve closed the books on 1Q18 and have 3 more quarters to meet our goals.  How did you do?  Are you prepared for ramping up?  Here’s a checklist to get you thinking:
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  • Proposal season – it’s almost here.   Is your team ready to tackle a few monsters?  Have you lined up teaming partners?  Have you started storyboarding your technical solution?  Now’s the time to start locking resources, teammates and solutions down. Don’t forget to include recruiting for potential slots as well to get ahead!

 

  • Pipeline Report – How real is the pipeline report?  Have you started glossing over “must wins” on a spreadsheet in your efforts to make the meeting go faster?  Who has dug into the opportunities and have you set them up to be successful wins?  Trust but verify CEOs… BD and Capture folks are inclined to load a spreadsheet with people they spoke with before, but that’s not an opportunity.  Be very clear on what makes it to the list and why it’s there.

 

  • Revenue – What did you have as a 1Q18 win that slid?  Are you going to be able to recover that revenue in 2Q-4Q?  Time to review the revenue assumptions for the year and figure out where you can make it up while there is still time.

 

  • Cash – by now, you should have recovered from your December cash spend/holding back bills and should have paid off any LOC used to make it through January’s payroll.  Are you in a good position?

 

  • Multiplier and profit – are you going to make money this year?  How many “must wins” are in your indirect rate budget that you are using for bidding?  Ensure that you are turning a profit and not undercutting your rates unnecessarily.

 

  • Hiring Talent – when was the last time you checked in on your potential hires?  You know, the folks that you’d love to work with but can’t hire until the contract hits or cash flow frees up.  A quick coffee to touch base can keep their interest.

 

  • Infrastructure – A little spring cleaning is always a good thing.  How’s the team running?  Do they need more resources or can you get away with less?  Have you documented everything your folks do, should they win the lottery and leave?  No one is indispensable… make sure you’ve covered how your organization runs.

The above should serve as a quick checklist of things to follow up on and analyze.  If you don’t know the answers to the above, you should take steps to find out…now.  There is time to not only recover but gain this year if you have your act together.

Did you know? BOOST does strategic planning to help with all of the above! You could benefit from the variety of resources we have in our BOOST backpack including the area’s top matchmaking resource, govmates.  Send an email to [email protected] and let’s set you on the right path for the rest of 2018.