Keeping Tabs on Employer Brand

For IBM, it's asking it's applicants to complete an IBM Applicant Survey. I applied for a position at IBM awhile ago. I had gotten an email from a recruiter somewhere in IBM asking me to apply for a position that she thought I matched. I was curious after reading the description (it was somewhat difficult to understand, really wordy and confusing as to specifics of what the job entailed) but I was still interested in what I did understand so I thought I'd submit my information to see what other information they could offer.

Months later, I got another email from IBM (the first contact since said application) asking me to fill out an applicant survey. Of course being happily employed already, I didn't really mind no follow up nor did I make much effort to see what had happened to my application. (Though the recruiter who emailed me originally used a do-not-reply email so finding her would've been quite a task as big as IBM is.) Being the curious marketer in the recruiting industry I am I went ahead and filled out this survey.

One thing though, I got to hand it to IBM, they're taking their Employer Brand seriously. With the Applicant Survey, they'll probably find out that a candidate's experience starting with the application directly effects how these people view their company. The survey included questions about the application and hiring process and how the applicant felt during this process including what the candidate experienced at the interview and on their corporate website.

I'll admit: I was turned off by the application process and the complete lack of follow up. I doubt that my hypothetical employment would be any less likely to get lost in such a huge company than my online application that was personally requested by an IBM recruiter. (Besides the fact too: I'm totally a Mac user.) If anything it was an interesting experience as someone in recruitment marketing/advertising!