How does an individual "sell" the need for a clearly articulated "employment brand" to senior management?

Let's understand this. Employees are a company's greatest assets. It doesn't make a difference whether the product is cars, medicines or cosmetics. Also if a company is big, medium sized or small. A company is only as good as the people it keeps.

In order to succeed, you need right people (talent), not the best one. Lets remember even ordinary people can produce extra-ordinary results given a conducive environment. In order to hire the right talent (may not be the best talent) more importantly, an employer must be known by several factors such as culture, internal opportunities, compensation & benefits, ethos & value system, employee relations and many more. Only if these are clearly known a decision can be made whether the employer is good or not, for that particular person under consideration. The right candidate will consider every influencing factor when he is making a career decision, since it's critical to all.

In times like today, when the demand supply situation is not balanced, many companies have been compromising on having the right mix of talent. That in turn, calls for a compromise on business goals. There is no tangible result in the short term. However, in the long run, positive result are inevitable. The question to answer is: Do you want to face a hiring crisis, now or ever?

You don't need to pay a million dollars to an executive who performs well to make an employer brand. In fact, thats a bad idea, anyways. Smaller things must be taken care of really well and bigger will follow on their own. Recognize the smallest achievement of an employee in front of people. Let them spread a word of mouth, which is the strongest known medium of PR. Next step could be recognizing these achievements in front of your customers. They would spread the word for you. In fact, they will also recognize this effort and give you more business. It is a slow exercise though, but it produces immense and commendable results. This is specially good for companies which are small and have budgeting constraints. Even such companies, will start active programs for building employer brands in a bigger way at a later time, once they realize the worth of doing it.

- DeTimes