Employer Branding in Architecture… the competitive advantage you can’t afford to ignore
Ask any Architecture practice what their biggest challenge is right now, and you’ll probably hear the same answer.
Finding great people.
Whether you’re hiring an Architect, Architectural Technologist, Landscape Architect or Director, the competition for talent is fierce. And while salaries and benefits still matter, they’re no longer the only things that candidates are looking at.
Before someone applies for your role, they’ve already been doing their homework.
They’ve looked at your website.
They’ve scrolled through your LinkedIn page.
They’ve checked out your projects.
They’ve tried to get a feel for your culture.
In other words, they’ve been judging your employer brand.
The question is… what impression are you leaving?
Your employer brand is talking, even when you’re not
Here’s something we tell our clients all the time… you already have an employer brand.
Whether you’ve invested in it or not, candidates are forming opinions about your business every single day.
A careers page that hasn’t been updated in years.
A LinkedIn page that’s all project photos and no people.
Job adverts that look exactly the same as everyone else’s.
It all adds up.
And in an industry where good candidates often have multiple opportunities to choose from, those little details can be the difference between someone applying… or clicking on your competitor instead.
What does a strong employer brand actually look like?
It isn’t about flashy videos or expensive marketing campaigns.
It’s about giving candidates a genuine insight into your business.
That might be:
- Sharing the stories behind your people
- Celebrating project success
- Showing what life in the studio is really like
- Explaining how people develop their careers
- Talking about your culture instead of just listing your benefits
The best employer brands feel authentic.
They’re the practices where candidates can picture themselves working before they’ve even applied.
The biggest opportunity we see
Working with architecture practices across the UK, we see the same thing again and again.
Fantastic businesses doing incredible work…
… but hardly talking about it.
Many practices have award-winning projects, brilliant teams and a culture people genuinely enjoy being part of.
They’re just not showcasing it.
If candidates can’t see what makes you different, they’ll assume you’re the same as everyone else.
That’s exactly why we created the Architecture employer brand audit
At Konker, employer branding isn’t just something we talk about.
It’s something we help architecture practices improve every day.
We wanted to understand what the very best practices were doing differently, so we carried out an independent Employer Brand Audit of leading architecture practices across the UK.
We looked at everything a candidate sees before deciding whether to apply. Including:
- Website and careers page
- LinkedIn presence
- Employee-focused content
- Recruitment marketing
- Employer messaging
- Candidate experience
- Overall visibility as an employer
The result?
A report showing you how the UK’s leading architecture practices compare when it comes to attracting talent.
See where your practice ranks
We’ve already audited some of the UK’s leading architecture practices.
Take a look at our Architecture Employer Brand Audit to see how they scored, what they’re doing well and where the biggest opportunities lie.
You might even spot a few ideas you can take back to your own practice.
After all, the practices that win the best talent aren’t always the biggest.
They’re the ones giving candidates the best reason to choose them.
