Brand differentiation in German online job boards : an exemplary evaluation of Siemens' efforts at Stepstone.de to illustrate how a differentiation score model can support employer brand management

The increasing overload of information that bothers people is affecting businesses on online job boards as well. Although there is no doubt about the benefits of those platforms, companies are threatened to get lost in the sheer mass of similar advertisements. Considering the background of the shortage of skilled professionals it is especially interesting, whether online job boards provide possibilities to further differentiate an employer brand from competitors’. This article describes a model for calculating a value of differentiation. Using the example of Siemens AG and Stepstone.de it will be shown how brand differentiation can be undertaken on online job boards and how it can be measured. Therefore the model can be understood as a blueprint und suggestion for an analysing tool. The result of the study shows seven factors of differentiation for online job boards and six factors of influence for the company. Regarding Stepstone.de it is shown what influence its features have on the perception of an employer brand. The example of Siemens AG illustrates that even for a DAX-Group potential for improvement can be identified.