Ambassador'ing the Employer Brand

Do you teach your employees how to handle visitors? Most likely, you would be focusing on security issues, like not letting them in without a valid pass, or insisting on accompanying them wherever they go, and so on. However, (just like the theater begins with a cloakroom) you company begins with the first encounter. Trust me, it does now matter, whether the first person a visitor will meet is a janitor of a vice president --- the first impression is always the most lasting.

It is particularly important now, when the war for talent is becoming more and more rampant. When I worked for Shell in Moscow, we used to have an HR Marketing Analyst, who was responsible for promoting HR as a function internally withing the company and the Shell brand as an employer outside. Now this gives a totally new perspective not only to the human resources management profession, but also sends out a distinct message how much the company is concerned about its employees and the image it projects into the wider community.

The following video is a good illustration of the concept that EVERYONE is an ambassador of a brand one way or another. How do we embrace this idea and how we act upon it might be the ultimate competitive advantage.