I know what you are thinking. I am thinking it too. Not another employer branding article.
Hear me out.
My new “thing” is recruiter experience. My theory is that if we look after the recruiter experience (things such as scalability, agility, tools, technology, process, allocation, etc,) and hiring manager experience (relationships, coaching, visibility, etc.), then the holy grail that is candidate experience should look after itself.
Despite that above, we see many organizations creating EVPs and overall employer-branding strategies that simply set our recruiters up to fail.
Let us set the scene. Organization xyzzy has the best website money can buy. A buzzword-busy EVP that covers all the usual bases. Thousands of pounds of agency-generated content showing how cool the org is and how happy its people are.
However, when you visit its social networks, there is no employee-generated content (we all know this is the Everest of employer branding). Glassdoor/Indeed reviews … they take a battering. Job advertisements … the repeated hiring suggests that retention is a problem.
Things in reality in the left hand do not match up with the dream that is being pitched in the right.
Organizations must stay true to the “why” and “who” when it comes to all things employer branding. Your EVP should be actual without too much aspiration. Your pillars must ring true with every single person who touches your organization. Your experience must not only foster but encourage people to truly be themselves and hopefully share their true feelings and emotions from their own journey.
That is the best way to competitively gain an edge in employer branding — by having a loud and proud talent brand. Trust, as we all know, is diminishing in all walks of life. We don’t need to add to it through false employer branding and ultimately recruitment marketing.
You can’t be shouting at your recruiters to fill more vacancies, find rare talent, or pinch people from your competitors when you are simply setting them up to fail with the false internal and external story you are creating. You are severely damaging their ability to hire that no flashy website or cool sourcing tool will be able to rectify.
Keep it real.