How to build your company’s reputation as an employer

Although unemployed people outnumber job vacancies in both Czechia and Slovakia, the situation is different when it comes to skilled roles. If you are looking for a candidate with a specific profile, a position can easily remain unfilled for months.

Whether you fill it often depends on whether candidates think of your company when they start considering a change, and what they think of it.

People choose from companies they know

When someone with professional experience considers a new job, they do not start by browsing hundreds of job advertisements. First, they think of a few companies in the area that they know are hiring and have a reputation as good places to work. The technical term for this is mental availability: a brand succeeds when people think of it at the moment they are making a decision.

The same applies when you approach a candidate directly. If they have never heard of your company, they will first try to find out who you are and what you do. A company they already know has a head start before the first conversation.

“If candidates don’t know the company, they ask the usual questions: what it does, what the team is like and who their manager would be. Essentially, they are trying to establish what kind of reputation the company has,” says Marek.

Candidates use this information to judge whether changing jobs will be worthwhile. In our experience, beyond salary, the factors that most influence whether they accept an offer are benefits, the working atmosphere and work-life balance. Candidates often form an impression of these before they speak to the company for the first time.

A company’s reputation can make candidates turn down offers they would otherwise accept

“We have had cases where a candidate rejected an offer solely because of what they knew or had heard about the employer,” confirms Marek Skička.

This is not necessarily limited to the experiences of current or former employees. Some candidates turned down offers because of what they associated with the company as a whole. An employer’s reputation therefore determines more than whether candidates think of you. It also determines whether they are willing to speak to you at all.

A regional example: Volvo and eastern Slovakia

Eastern Slovakia shows how quickly a regional labour market can change. Carmaker Volvo committed to employing at least 3,300 people at its plant near Košice. It launched recruitment for production roles in September 2025, offering operators an average gross monthly salary of EUR 1,280, plus a variable component and a thirteenth-month salary. In September 2026, the plant reached 1,000 employees and launched its first shift. It aims to hire around 300 more people by the end of the year and continue recruiting in 2027. Slovaks make up 95% of its production workforce, meaning Volvo recruits primarily from the domestic labour market. To help people from the surrounding area get to work, Volvo also arranged a new train service with a shuttle connection to the site.

For manufacturing, logistics and construction companies in the region, this means competing for the same people with an employer that everyone in the area now knows. And competition could increase further: according to Greta Grohoľová from the SARIO agency, 26 investment projects are being prepared in eastern Slovakia, with the potential to create up to 10,000 jobs. Companies have an advantage if local people already know what it is like to work there, what they offer and that they treat people fairly. A company that only starts raising its profile when it is short of staff will most likely have to make up for its competitors’ head start by offering higher pay.

We discussed how to recruit in these circumstances at the expert HR breakfast we organised in Košice. One of our panel guests, Miki Plichta®, summarised the event on his blog.

How to build a good reputation

Employer awareness does not come from a one-off campaign a month before a major recruitment drive. It is built through what local people repeatedly see and hear, and what employees say about the company. The following approaches work well:

Find out how the market perceives you: Ask new employees why they joined you, and candidates who rejected your offer why they chose otherwise. Read reviews on Google and employer review platforms. This will help you identify what to build on and what to improve.
Be specific about why candidates should want to work for you: Everyone promises “a stable company and a great team”. Instead, look at what your company actually offers and what employees appreciate about it. Focus on what matters most to candidates: your benefits, how the team works and whether people can balance their work and personal lives.
Be visible where people actually live or study: Work with vocational schools and universities, offer student placements, hold open days, engage with regional media or take part in events in the towns and villages your employees commute from. A modest but regular presence works better than a single major event.
Let your employees speak for you: A recommendation from someone a candidate knows carries more weight than a job advertisement. For example, you can introduce rewards for referring candidates who subsequently join the company.
Be consistent: If a company changes its slogan, visual identity and the things it promotes every year, people will remember very little. Choose two or three things that genuinely distinguish you as an employer and reinforce them in everything you do.
Track where your candidates come from: Ask every applicant how they heard about you and record their answers. After a few months, you will see which activities bring people to you and which are not worth investing in.

Your recruitment process says a lot about you

Every applicant who goes through your recruitment process takes away an experience and will tell others about it. A candidate who received a timely response and an explanation of why things did not work out this time may well recommend you to someone they know. Do not expect a recommendation from someone who never heard back.

In our work, we repeatedly encounter three main reasons why applicants lose interest during the recruitment process:

A slow and unclear process: Candidates do not know how many stages are left or when they will hear the outcome. In the meantime, another company calls.
Misaligned expectations within the company: When HR and the future manager have not agreed in advance on what is essential for the role (must-have) and what is merely desirable (nice-to-have), the process feels inconsistent.
A lack of trust: Candidates do not understand where the company is heading, or their prospective manager fails to convince them during the interview. Salary alone is then not enough to persuade them to join.

A recruitment agency consultant is an “ambassador” for your company

The consultant is often the first person a candidate hears about your company from and can therefore significantly influence their perception of it. If a candidate is initially uninterested, the consultant explores why and answers questions that a job advertisement would not address.

“We try to present the client fairly and in a positive light,” adds Marek Skička.

At the same time, we know when to stop. If a candidate firmly rejects an offer, we do not pressure them into another interview. A forced conversation would help neither them nor you, and the candidate would leave with a negative experience they would share with others. Treating candidates fairly when they decline is just as much a part of a company’s good reputation as a quick, clear recruitment process.

The consultant will also tell you why candidates hesitate or reject your offer. This gives you feedback from the market that would be difficult to obtain on your own, helping you understand what to build on when developing your employer brand.

The local labour market may not be enough

Even a company with a good regional reputation can reach the limits of what local recruitment can deliver. We therefore recommend combining several sources and choosing them according to how quickly the company needs people and how many it needs:

Direct outreach in the local market: A consultant identifies and approaches professionals who are not actively looking for a job (direct search).
Foreign nationals already living and working in the country: They know the local environment, have their residence status arranged and can often start the fastest. Yet companies frequently overlook this group.
Workers from EU countries: EU citizens do not need a work permit; the employer simply notifies the labour office. Recruitment in neighbouring countries can make particular sense.
Recruitment from non-EU countries: When local and European sources are insufficient, the next option is recruiting employees from countries such as Uzbekistan, the Philippines, India or Nepal. Obtaining permits takes several months, so planning ahead is essential.

Unsure whether you can meet your recruitment needs locally? We will give you a clear picture of who can be found in your region and on what terms, and recommend a combination of approaches that makes sense. Get in touch with us.