Charging up Talent : A case study on employer branding to attract and retain student talent
Heikkilä, Lea (2024-07-05)
Charging up Talent : A case study on employer branding to attract and retain student talent
(05.07.2024)
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
avoin
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on:
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024072562332
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2024072562332
Tiivistelmä
Human capital is a vital asset for companies, impacting their productivity and performance in competitive markets. A compelling employer brand serves as a strategic advantage, enhancing a company’s ability to attract and retain top talent. Employer branding has gained attention due to its impact on a company’s position on the labour market and due to its effects on critical business factors, including employee engagement, performance, recruitment costs, and talent acquisition.
Students are pivotal for companies aiming to build sustainable and innovative teams. Attracting them as trainees or junior team members establishes a foundation for long-term, skilled workforce. Understanding what influences their career decisions and how employer branding impacts their choices is crucial for organizations that seek to gain competitive advantage in acquiring young talent. Beyond domestic students, foreign students and international specialists are vital for economies like Finland's, enhancing innovation and supporting export industries by broadening and diversifying the skilled labour base and introducing new perspectives. Research confirms that diverse teams yield financial benefits, outperforming industry standards.
The theoretic framework for this research is a combination of marketing and human resource management literature. The literature review covers the external and internal employer brand and various employer branding activities. A fundamental part of a company’s employer brand is its employer value proposition, meaning the benefits and rewards that an organization provides to its employees in exchange for their skills, capabilities, and experiences. The theory section also discusses students as a key talent pool and describes common young professionals’ characteristics, as well as the importance of international student talent. Lastly, a theoretic framework is presented, which showcases how internal and external employer brands affect student talent’s experiences of the company’s employer brand and how successful employer branding activities can build a strong student talent base.
This study focuses on the role of a company’s employer brand in attracting and retaining student talent. Furthermore, the study aims to explain reasons for engaging in employer branding and describe how companies can execute it. Based on these aims, the main research problem is to analyze how companies could enhance their employer brand and improve their ability to attract and retain student talent effectively. The main research problem is approached by three subproblems:1.) What attributes and criteria could make prospective employers more attractive to student talent? 2.) What is the role of traineeship in formulating the student perceptions of the employer and in employee retention among student talent? 3.) How can companies build a strong student talent base by leveraging their employer brand? The chosen research approach for this qualitative study is a single case study. The data was collected by conducting eight semi-structured interviews on employees from the case company who started as summer trainees in 2023, and one expert interview with an HR Specialist of the company.
The findings support existing literature and research, supporting that students value learning and growth opportunities over salary. The trainees had learned about the traineeship opportunities largely by word-of-mouth, thus granting a good trainee experience is vital to affect this word-of-mouth information positively. To build a strong student talent base, companies must invest in both internal and external employer branding and highlight attributes and values important to students in their employer value proposition.
Students are pivotal for companies aiming to build sustainable and innovative teams. Attracting them as trainees or junior team members establishes a foundation for long-term, skilled workforce. Understanding what influences their career decisions and how employer branding impacts their choices is crucial for organizations that seek to gain competitive advantage in acquiring young talent. Beyond domestic students, foreign students and international specialists are vital for economies like Finland's, enhancing innovation and supporting export industries by broadening and diversifying the skilled labour base and introducing new perspectives. Research confirms that diverse teams yield financial benefits, outperforming industry standards.
The theoretic framework for this research is a combination of marketing and human resource management literature. The literature review covers the external and internal employer brand and various employer branding activities. A fundamental part of a company’s employer brand is its employer value proposition, meaning the benefits and rewards that an organization provides to its employees in exchange for their skills, capabilities, and experiences. The theory section also discusses students as a key talent pool and describes common young professionals’ characteristics, as well as the importance of international student talent. Lastly, a theoretic framework is presented, which showcases how internal and external employer brands affect student talent’s experiences of the company’s employer brand and how successful employer branding activities can build a strong student talent base.
This study focuses on the role of a company’s employer brand in attracting and retaining student talent. Furthermore, the study aims to explain reasons for engaging in employer branding and describe how companies can execute it. Based on these aims, the main research problem is to analyze how companies could enhance their employer brand and improve their ability to attract and retain student talent effectively. The main research problem is approached by three subproblems:1.) What attributes and criteria could make prospective employers more attractive to student talent? 2.) What is the role of traineeship in formulating the student perceptions of the employer and in employee retention among student talent? 3.) How can companies build a strong student talent base by leveraging their employer brand? The chosen research approach for this qualitative study is a single case study. The data was collected by conducting eight semi-structured interviews on employees from the case company who started as summer trainees in 2023, and one expert interview with an HR Specialist of the company.
The findings support existing literature and research, supporting that students value learning and growth opportunities over salary. The trainees had learned about the traineeship opportunities largely by word-of-mouth, thus granting a good trainee experience is vital to affect this word-of-mouth information positively. To build a strong student talent base, companies must invest in both internal and external employer branding and highlight attributes and values important to students in their employer value proposition.