Employer Branding – matching person with organization

Due to the current competition in the labour market, organizations are forced to take actions if they are to stay competitive. Employer branding is a competitive strategy that have skyrocketed in practice in recent years. In the academic literature, the concept of employer branding is also fairly new which explains the lack of research on the subject. With empirical support, we have studied an overlooked aspect of the recruitment process that we think is important from the basis of the employer branding activities that organizations today are involved in. Failed recruitments are today a growing matter of concern for organizations and one of the underlying reasons for this can be how organizations work with their employer brand. Because of this, we have looked closer on employer branding from the perspective of organizations, and the effect it might have on failed recruitments. The empirical results from this study shows that the image that organizations mediate during their employer branding activities is of great importance for recruiting the right kind of employees into the organization. These results find theoretical support that stresses the weight of congruence between the individual and the organization, because there is a major risk of non-congruence if the wrong image of the organisation has been mediated. The result of this study contributes to an understanding of how employer branding can reduce the risk of failed recruitments.Den konkurrens om arbetskraft som idag råder på arbetsmarknaden tvingar organisationer till åtgärder för att bättre matcha sina konkurrenter. Employer branding är en sådan åtgärd som under de senaste åren har skjutit i höjden sett till praktisk tillämpning. Inom den akademiska litteraturen är begreppet employer branding relativt nytt, vilket torde vara orsaken till den brist på forskning som finns inom ämnet. Med stöd i empiri har vi studerat och diskuterat en bortglömd aspekt av rekryteringsprocessen som vi bedömer viktig sett utifrån det employer branding arbete som organisationer idag gör. Felrekryteringar utgör idag ett stort problem för organisationer och en bakomliggande orsaken till detta kan vara hur organisationer arbetar med sitt employer brand. Vi har därför tittat närmare på employer branding utifrån organisationernas perspektiv och den påverkan det i slutändan har på felrekryteringar. Det empiriska materialet från denna studie visar på att den bild som organisationer förmedlar i sitt arbete med employer branding är av stor vikt för huruvida rätt personer kommer in i organisationen. Detta resultat finner även stöd i teorin som hävdar vikten av överensstämmelse mellan individ och organisation på flera olika plan, eftersom det är stor risk att denna överensstämmelse uteblir om fel bild av organisationen förmedlas. Studien bidrar därmed till en förståelse för hur employer branding kan minska risken för felrekryteringar.Abstract Due to the current competition in the labour market, organizations are forced to take actions if they are to stay competitive. Employer branding is a competitive strategy that have skyrocketed in practice in recent years. In the academic literature, the concept of employer branding is also fairly new which explains the lack of research on the subject. With empirical support, we have studied an overlooked aspect of the recruitment process that we think is important from the basis of the employer branding activities that organizations today are involved in. Failed recruitments are today a growing matter of concern for organizations and one of the underlying reasons for this can be how organizations work with their employer brand. Because of this, we have looked closer on employer branding from the perspective of organizations, and the effect it might have on failed recruitments. The empirical results from this study shows that the image that organizations mediate during their employer branding activities is of great importance for recruiting the right kind of employees into the organization. These results find theoretical support that stresses the weight of congruence between the individual and the organization, because there is a major risk of non-congruence if the wrong image of the organisation has been mediated. The result of this study contributes to an understanding of how employer branding can reduce the risk of failed recruitments.