South African Employer Brand Positioning: A Content Analysis of Graduate Job Adverts

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Abstract

While graduate unemployment is high in South Africa, recruiting top talent remains a key priority amongst employers. As such, recruiters aim to differentiate themselves so as to become employers of choice for top graduates. The battlefield for talent is not only in interviews and in retention but it starts with advertising. For this study, 400 online graduate jobs were collected over a period of 12 months. A content analysis was conducted to observe how employers position themselves as employers of choice to recent graduates. The research question for this study was, what branding signals on the job adverts do employers communicate to graduates.
Job adverts from various sectors were purposively selected for content analysis. Supported by the employer branding theory (Lievens and Slaughter 2016; Pawar and Charak 2014), I observed how South African employers embed their brand promise into their recruitment narratives. To establish a link of how job advertainment discourse connects with employer brand strategies I used thematic coding. Themes like benefits, career development promises and opportunities were considered.
Three findings stood out. First, most companies promised development opportunities for graduates. These included mentoring, coaching, continuous training and learning programs. These opportunities are expected to inspire graduates and promise career growth in the long run. Second, the promise made by companies had emotional branding components which included benefits like, rewards, support and success. These were critical as they resonated with graduates’ values. Third, the findings also revealed that most companies do not present their value propositions which can enable them to create a competitive advantage. Most companies still mainly present generic offerings, meaning that they are not differentiated in the graduate market.
Overall, this study highlights the strategic role of job adverts as a communication strategy that can give employers an advantage when competing for talent in the graduate market. This study further contributes to employer branding theory by articulating how brand promises are expressed when recruiting graduates. It also offers a conceptual understanding of employer brand promise.

Author

• Nthabeleng Rammile, Stellenbosch University