Tim Gibbon, president and chief executive of New York-based advertising agency J. Walter Thompson Specialized Communications, said every company has an "employer brand," or a perception employees and potential employees have of a company.

"You already have a brand," Gibbon told a group of recruiters who attended the half-day Las Vegas Review-Journal & Sun Diversity Conference at the Stardust.

"You may not know how to define that brand," Gibbon said. "If you haven't defined it, you can't manage it. If you're going to succeed in attracting, recruiting and retaining productive employees, you have to communicate what makes you special as an employer. Your employer brand should align with your corporate brand, connecting with your employees as you do your customers."

Gibbon said that before a company can devise a set of effective recruiting/marketing materials, the company must determine if there are any barriers to a positive image as an employer. The company must understand what its goals are and how to attain those goals; it also must research who their potential employees are.

He said that can be done in a variety of ways.

"Use your own employee data, exit interview data," Gibbon said. "Define what people like about you, define your ideal prospect, look at your hiring process (and) measure it against your brand. A brand isn't a sticker on your recruiting materials. Make sure the employees' experience equates to the experience you want them to deliver to your customers."

Gibbon said employers should connect with potential employees through a variety of ways, such as a company Web site as well as brochures and advertisements.

"The war for talent is now back with a vengeance," he said. "Employer branding may be more than a slogan, it could be your secret weapon for hiring the best."

Chelle Bize, classified recruitment advertising sales manager of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun, said after the conference that employers in the area needed an opportunity to learn how to more effectively hire a diverse workforce.

"The reason we put this together is the No. 1 and 2 complaints we get is they (employers) get tons of candidates, but no good ones and they lack diverse candidates," Bize said. "We decided to put together a conference that addresses how to hire better and branding issues."

Vincent Archer, a vice president for Harper Woods, Mich.-based The Diversity Network, stressed the need employers have of going beyond traditional forms of advertising, like ads in the help wanted sections of newspapers and on job Web sites.

In Nevada the demand for qualified workers is more pronounced than the rest of the nation because the state's unemployment rate of 4.2 percent falls below the national rate of 5 percent.

"You've got to do more than put an ad out," Archer said. "You've got to do more of the touchy-feely (face-to-face interviews)," he said, adding that efforts to meet recruits in person at such places as job fairs can pay off.

Archer echoed Gibbon's statements about how recruiters should approach their efforts to hire a diverse workforce, such as the use of a marketing campaign.

"Most corporations lack market research defining who and what the ethnic market looks like," Archer said. "Communicating with ethnic markets isn't obvious. Demonstrate that your company has a genuine commitment to diversity."

He said one way companies can better market themselves to a diverse workforce and clientele is by reaching out to affinity groups such as ethnic chambers of commerce and other groups of minority professionals and students.

Debra Nelson, vice president of corporate diversity and community affairs of MGM Mirage, who didn't speak during the conference, said the company takes a "holistic approach" to attracting a diverse workforce.

"We participate in various professional events that target potential employees," Nelson said. She said the company sends its workers out to the events to communicate that the company is an inclusive employer. "We are very actively engaged in face-to-face interaction with potential customers and employees," she said.

Archer added that grass-roots marketing efforts such as one implemented by Ford Motor Co. are another effective way to reach out to diverse clientele, who in turn could become employees. The company's Ford African Ancestry Network initiated a program with other such company organizations in 2003 called the Ford Friends and Neighbors program, in which workers sold cars to friends and family.

He said such programs can directly benefit a company's bottom line.

Jonathan Ahlbrand, chief operating officer of The Diversity Network, also stressed how an effective diversity program can not only result in a quality workforce but also in increased sales. He said as the minority population grows companies should seek to emulate those trends.

According to recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Clark County's minorities make up 44.1 percent of the population. In addition, Nevada demographer Jeff Hardcastle recently said that he projects the county will reach a "majority minority" status by 2020.

"The world is more diverse than ever," Ahlbrand said. "Progressive companies want to mirror the demographics of an ever-changing society. Diversity is a business imperative. When we think of diversity today, it's different than the way we thought about it before."

Ahlbrand said the flipside is that companies that don't make efforts to embrace diversity can find themselves involved in costly lawsuits. He said Coca-Cola learned such a lesson in 2000 when it settled a racial discrimination lawsuit for $192.5 million. He said the company now has a model diversity program in place.

Rodney Williams, co-founder of the Canton, Mich.-based Recruiter Academy, said recruiters should take a more hands-on approach to hiring workers, because many good candidates are already happily employed. He said recruiters who want to be successful should use such techniques as asking candidates to refer other potential candidates.

"You won't get the best if you rely (on) those job seekers who come to you," Williams said. "If (the recruiting Web site) Monster(.com) is your only tool, you're not getting all (of the qualified) people. Recruiting is more than working off of the Net. I use the Internet, it's a great tool."

He said that instead recruiters should find out where good candidates work, live and hang out and sell them on the things they really want.

Williams said that in an area like Las Vegas where it can be difficult to lure qualified candidates, because of things like the weather, recruiters must effectively communicate to potential employees about the challenges and benefits in living in the area.

"Set (an) expectation of what it's like to come out here," Williams said. "You have to be paying fair in the market place. What's fair in the market place is what your competitors are paying."

Alana Roberts is a business writer for the Sun and its sister newspaper, In Business Las Vegas. She can be reached by e-mail at alanar@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4059.