Employer Branding and Social Media

Gautam Ghosh is the best known Indian blogger in Online Employment space. We know Gautam from our work in the recruiting world, but he's also attached to the LinkedIn Users Group.

This week we're giving Gautam a boost for his post on employer brands being affected by social media. His post has the graphic an employee made complaining about his last employer

It's not only blogging that is changing and moulding employer branding and perception. Social software like Orkut are also inexorably making their mark on employees sharing their perception with prospective employees.

Are employer brands changing, or is it sufficiently rare that we are drawn to the few instances where it makes a difference. In my opinion, employees turn down companies because of what they read on blogs in only a few cases, but like getting fired for blogging, it's a story that resonates.

That's changing. Social Media is about transparency, and employment is one of the main touchpoints for most companies. Your employees and your prospective employees form a large part of your presence in a marketplace.

I get about an e-mail a month asking me about employment with my last employer, and I've done a lot of work to conceal my relationship with them since I left. That was five months ago. I don't have any problems with my last employer, but if I did, how would they know what I said? Now multiply that effect on the internet, and you could have a big problem.

What we need are case studies. Good question, Gautam.