While considering topics for the project, my goal was to seek something that could benefit me professionally in addition to meeting all of the class requirements. The topic that I would like to propose is Employer Branding and Digital Media: Effectively Managing The Employer Reputation Online.
Even in the current economic downturn, many human resource professionals I speak with say that we are still in a “job seeker’s market”, meaning that talent for truly qualified and talented individuals is still at an all-time high. When prospective job seekers consider new employment opportunities, they are just as likely to research a company’s reputation online as the company is to conduct some sort of background check during the hiring process. Some companies are aware of what type of reputation they hold as an employer; others tend to have no clue. My project would build the case for this type of activity among employers while also researching best practices that can be implemented.
While this is a somewhat specialized topic, it does appear that there is enough information available to fully research articles and analyze enough information to develop the course projects. A brief query via the SNHU Library shows a combination of scholarly resources, such as Management Science journal and the Journal of Interactive Marketing, as well as industry publications like the Society for Human Resource Management’s HR Magazine. Some sample article titles include:
- Employer review websites: how to manage your reputation online (Barbach, 2019)
- Social media-driven antecedents and consequences of employees’ awareness of their impact on corporate reputation (Schaarschmidt & Walsh, 2020)
- Damage to an employer’s reputation can trump free speech and justify dismissal. (Mondaq, 2019)
A follow-up Google search yielded thousands of results. (These obviously would need to be closely reviewed and vetted prior to inclusion.)
This topic will help me continue to develop a professional brand that I started to build about seven years ago. While I work with this topic on a weekly basis in my consulting work, most of my own knowledge is self-taught from talking with business owners and conducting my own casual research. I have never spent a significant amount of time reviewing “scholarly” resources and what they may have to say about employer branding and employer reputation management.
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Barbach, A. (2019, March 26). Employer Review Websites: How To Manage Your Reputation Online. Mondaq Business Briefing.
Damage To An Employer’s Reputation Can Trump Free Speech And Justify Dismissal. (2019, October 29). Mondaq Business Briefing.
Schaarschmidt, M., & Walsh, G. (2020). Social media-driven antecedents and consequences of employees’ awareness of their impact on corporate reputation. Journal of Business Research, 117, 718–726. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.11.027