Your perfect employer: 8 ways to help you find them

If there’s one thing all jobseekers share, it’s the desire to find their perfect employer. However, a sprinkle of clever marketing can make almost any company appear irresistible on the surface.

Unfortunately, this is seldom the case. Many professionals go their entire career without finding their perfect match.

So, how do you find the perfect employer for you? In this blog, we share 8 ways to help you do just that.

What is perfection to you?

What makes an employer perfect? Is it the salary, the benefits, the people, the work or something else entirely? Truthfully it all depends on who is answering this question. Perfection is subjective, and what appeals to you will likely not have the same draw for another. The first step in finding your perfect employer is identifying and understanding what’s most important. Assess the benefits on offer and align these to what you actually want and need. This could be as simple as more money, or as complex as self-actualisation. Whatever it may be, knowing what’s perfect to you, and then using this knowledge to guide your job search, is a great way to start the search for your perfect employer.

Check their Website

Now that you know what perfection means to you, let the research begin! A good place to start is the company website. Here you can learn a lot of basic information about a prospective employer. Who are they? What do they do? Where are they based? What jobs are available? What benefits are they offering?

Then you can dig a little deeper. What is their purpose (mission and vision)? What are they passionate about (diversity, equality, sustainability, etc.)? Is the website well designed and does it provide a strong user experience? Is their content informative and engaging? Do they have any financial documents available (e.g., an investor page)? Successfully answering these questions are great indicators of what an employer could look like. Just be aware that all company websites will highlight only how ‘perfect’ they think they are, armed with a decorative career page selling you the dream. But, beware of bias, and ensure you don’t solely rely on this source to guide your decision making. Expand your search and leverage other more ‘neutral’ resources.

Check their social media

Social media (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) is a great compromise because you get to witness how an employer interacts with their key stakeholders – customers, employees and the broader market. Sure, these platforms are still company controlled, but you get to see how they engage with their target audiences and how they respond.

There is also other information you can find by analysing employers’ social media platforms. Photos showcase internal culture. Posts highlight corporate strategy. Followers reveal caliber of customers. Comments demonstrate customer sentiment. These insights all add to your picture, helping you work towards a more informed employment decision where the chances of a perfect match are heightened.

Read their Reviews

However, you may want a source with even more neutrality. Review platforms are an excellent way to source these insights from typically less biased perspectives. Employee and customer reviews reveal the good and bad of organisations which can often lack in other channels. However, just remember that typically only people with fantastic or terrible experiences leave reviews for companies, which can sometime skew perceptions in polar opposite ways.

Nonetheless, Glassdoor and Google Reviews are two useful review platforms you can use in your search. In these forums, employers have no control over what is published and are forced to retain both negative and positive reviews about them. This results in a more accurate reflection of what it’s actually like to work for a supposed ‘perfect employer’. In particular, Glassdoor showcases reviews from employees that considers everything from the hiring process and salary to internal culture and senior leadership. As such, these are helpful resources to leverage when contemplating joining a perfect company for you.

Analyse their job ads

Job ads are a window into any given company, and include role-specific details that are highly relevant and otherwise difficult to find. Great job ads should contain granular details about what your responsibilities, expectations and employment will look like if your application is successful. Does the job description seem vague? Do the benefits look a bit disappointing? Are the expectations unreasonable? These could all be red flags in your employer research. It’s always a good idea to benchmark a job with market standards and your own expectations and desires.

Furthermore, when looking at job ads holistically, they reveal other subtle clues about an employer and their hiring strategy. Are there lots of job ads for a particular role adjacent to yours? Perhaps their growth focus is somewhere else. Do they have lots of job ads currently active across the business? Perhaps they have a turnover problem. What does their hiring process look like? Are you required to undertake skills assessment, competency-based interviewing or simply dazzle with your CV? You’ll most likely find job ads on top job boards (e.g., Seek, LinkedIn, Indeed) or on their company career page. Either way, job ads are another strong tool in you’re arsenal to evaluate a company.

Word of Mouth/Referrals

Some industries (e.g., technology, engineering) rely more heavily on word-of-mouth and referrals for talent mobilisation than others. The old saying “it’s who you know…” rings true across these sectors. A great way to learn about a company, is simply by asking someone with knowledge about it. This is a great option for larger companies where someone in your network may know something or someone to assist you, but may not always be possible for smaller companies. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on a current or former employee, they can provide you with the lay of the land and all the insights you need to help determine if a particular employer is the perfect match for you.

Utilise Resources at your disposal

Talent in todays’ employment market is more informed than ever before. They can find and access an abundance of information on most companies. This includes a company’s performance, financial position, strategy, commitment to sustainability, headcount trends and more. This information is gold in your research.

Where can you find this? Publicly listed companies publish regular financial reports on the ASX. Market research companies publish company and industry reports that detail every nook and cranny. You can also use industry-specific websites, news publications and other resources that each provide valuable knowledge in your job search. Talent willing to go to the next level in their research, are far more likely to have the complete picture of any organisation they join subsequently.

Ask Questions all the way

Finally, if you’ve already entered the hiring process, another helpful tip is to ask questions at all stages. Seek out answers that resolve your unanswered questions from your search. Most companies now encourage talent to ask question in interviews, and this is a great opportunity for you to uncover the final pieces of the puzzle. How an employer responds to these questions, could be what confirms whether you’re on the right track for the perfect career move.

Finding your perfect employer is an arduous task. Perfection is subjective and hard to reach for everyone. However, there are plenty of ways to help you get there. Understand what perfection is to you, do the research and leverage the resources and tools at your disposal. Doing these things effectively will give you the strongest chance of attaining the best employment outcomes. At Ignite, we strive to provide talent with the best employment experiences possible. We are currently looking for exceptional talent to join our business in an exciting growth phase. For more information, visit our website career page, check our reviews, ask a friend or visit the ASX and see if what’s perfect for you can be satisfied by us.

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