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Ever bought something that looked brilliant in the advert, only to realise it’s nothing like you expected? I’m guessing you didn’t buy it again. Now imagine that product isn’t a product – it’s a job. You’re not just spending £50; you’re committing years of your life. That’s why alignment between what an employer brand promises and what an organisation delivers as an employer matters.
It’s either both, or none at all
Many companies invest significant time, money, and effort into their recruitment marketing and employer brand, only for the reality, once someone joins, to be completely different. Candidates are increasingly focused on authenticity – both in the content they consume and what they expect from their employer. When an employer doesn’t live up to expectations, candidates aren’t afraid to make that known. In fact, 86% of employees and job seekers research company reviews and ratings to decide on where to apply for a job.
This is why EVPs and employer brands can’t be treated as separate entities. Your EVP – or Employer Value Proposition – is the promise you make to employees about what it’s like to work at your company. Your employer brand is how that promise is communicated to the outside world. If those two things don’t match, candidates will notice, and they’ll remember.
Start by looking in the mirror
Get your internal EVP right first. Find out what your employees love and what you need to fix. Then make sure your external messaging reflects that reality.
An inauthentic employer brand is expensive to maintain. If candidates see a disconnect between your EVP and reality, you’ll spend more on recruitment to fix the damage and have less left to invest internally. That creates a vicious cycle of poor employee experience, negative reviews on platforms like Glassdoor, and rising recruitment costs. In fact, companies with a strong employer brand can see a 50% decrease in cost per hire. Additionally, investing in employer branding that is authentic to the EVP can lead to a 28% increase in retention rates.
You see where I’m going with this?
Fix the inside first, and the outside will follow. Get your house in order, and you’ll spend less on external marketing while attracting higher-quality candidates. Get it wrong, and you’ll waste budget trying to cover up the cracks.
There’s no hiding from a bad employee experience – Glassdoor isn’t a secret. If you don’t fix the internal issues, candidates will find out.
EVP figured out. What’s next?
Once you have an accurate view of your EVP, you can start building out your employer brand. As mentioned, authenticity is what matters to candidates, so put corporate statements about your EVP in the bin. Candidates don’t want to see you telling them that you have great work-life balance, for example – they want to see it. Authentic employee-generated content is going to be a powerful tool in your recruitment marketing kit. The key word there is authentic. Candidates will see straight through content that has clearly been forced by the employer. Unfiltered and authentic content will resonate.
Social is your best friend
A significant portion of your potential target audience consists of passive candidates – those who are not actively seeking work but could be swayed by a tempting job offer. In fact, as much as 70% of the workforce is made up of passive candidates.
This is where social marketing becomes invaluable. It’s important to note that social media audiences differ from each other, and therefore a blanket approach to content will not work. Build out personas of your audience and then think about which channels would be best suited to get your employer brand message across to them. What works on Meta may not work on TikTok.
Engage with your audience in a human way
Generative AI is great for simplifying tasks and can even help you with establishing your EVP through survey sentiment analysis and persona creation. The same cannot be said for engagement with your audience. People will engage with your marketing – and you want them to – but how you respond to this engagement will make or break your employer brand. Don’t automate this. Ensure you have a real person responding to real people and be true to your EVP. If someone calls out a message and you know it’s an area for improvement – admit to it and show what you are doing to work on it. Gaslighting your audience that you are perfect will only create negative sentiment with your brand. Be honest. Be authentic.
Provide your audience with a simpler way to engage further
A lot of your audience won’t actively be looking for a job, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be potential future talent for your business. Directing a mostly passive audience to a live job advert is a waste of time. Instead, provide them a route to find out more and engage with you. A landing page or career site where they can get an idea of what you’re all about and hear from current employees will be much more effective. Encourage them to sign up to hear more or to follow your social channels. This way, you are providing candidates with an opportunity to engage with you at the right time for them.
Find out how your Employer Brand is performing
If you don’t know where you stand with your employer brand right now, don’t fret. As a multi-award-winning employer brand marketing agency, we’ve got you covered. Our OutThink Index has hundreds of companies indexed, with more being added each week. You can have a look and see how you compare against others in your sector. If you don’t see yourself on there, just message us, and we can get you on there so you can start looking at how you can elevate your employer brand and drive top talent to your business.
