⚡ Employer Brand Headlines: The "Absolute Beginners" Edition (#126)
Let's start 2022 off right by starting at the beginning.
My mission: move the conversation around employer brand forward.
Employer Brand Headlines, is brought to you by James Ellis.
In this issue…
Your challenges for 2022
What’s on a great career site?
Making sense
The big idea
The days of justifying our existence seem to have past. Between the insane job market for EB pros and the need for businesses to actually meet their hiring goals, we are no longer a curious experiment. We are a major part of a company’s talent strategy.
Which means we’ve moved from “underdog with a good idea” to “meaningful business function” with all the baggage and expectations that come along with it.
So as you walk into work for the first time in 2022, you will absolutely need to step up your game. Assume that anything that was “good enough” last year no longer is. I don’t have the answers, but I have a few challenges that should push you to find your own.
“Nearly always, the effect of spending a lot of money is to make things more normal.” - Brian Eno
One: what would you do if you had one tenth the budget? Don’t worry, I won’t tell your boss that it is possible to build a strong brand without the budget you submitted. On one hand, this is a great strategy to introduce a little lateral thinking, but there’s something more interesting that happens. Forsaking all the stuff “you’re supposed to do” for coverage and have to focus on one thing, you’re going to get REALLY GOOD at that one thing. It’s even possible that you’ll see a stronger return on that depth than you would placing little bets on a million ideas.
“Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming” - David Bowie
Two: What will you stop doing? You don’t have room to let new ideas in (or level-up your skill set) if you’re spending all your time doing what 2021 you was doing. Give something up, then find something that doesn’t fill the gap, but changes the game.
“The truth is, of course, that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.” - David Bowie
Three: What can you do that others can’t? There are enough people in the universe creating mountains of content, most of which can be re-labeled for almost any company. You are innovative? How? Where? To whom? Be specific enough that your mom could understand it. Push the idea as far as reality allows to the point where you no longer sound like a million (no exaggeration) companies who say they are innovative (or whatever).
“Speak in extremes, it'll save you time. ” ― David Bowie
Four: What rule will you break? The time of playing paint-by-numbers and following “best practices” (I hope you can hear my eyes roll from here) is gone. Hiring that consultant to “do it the way they do it in (insert your big-name-brand here)” is a direct flight to mediocrity. The fastest way to break the shackles and think bigger (and even better) is to start by freeing yourself from the rules people say you have to follow. My biggest successes came when I did the thing no one thought was a good idea.
"All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it." - David Bowie
Five: Who will you serve? When you are here to attract all kinds of different candidates at varying levels and skillsets, it’s easy to mash your audience up into one pile marked “talent.” It’s not until you look at one team, one role, one person and see what they need that you’ll stop focusing on covering your bases and focus on making a real impact on someone.
“What I like to do is try to make a difference with the work I do.” - David Bowie
Well, here we are. 2022. Let’s get to work.
Headlines!
Career Site Review: Spotify
My friend Bas did an amazing job breaking down Spotify’s career site, highlighting little quibbles on the way to showing how millions of little design and architecture decisions reinforce their employer brand and establish a compelling candidate experience. (In Dutch, but Google will translate it) [digitaal-werben.nl]
5 Things Marketing Can’t Fix
Shots fired! A great palate cleanser going into 2022. [Maye Create]
Sensemaking for Sales
The mistake we make in recruiting is thinking that “if only they knew x, y, and z about this job, they’d jump at the chance!” so we flood the market (and the candidate) with content. “More information” isn’t as useful to candidates as “help me make sense of all this information.” [HBR]
Six Ways Leaders Can Adapt to the Workplace of 2022
The underlying (and unstated) message is “holy crap! Did you know that without people, we don’t have a business?!” [MIT Sloan]
What Are Brand Identity Elements?
We know the brand isn’t the logo (we do know that right? Right??) But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a pretty standard kit of things you need to establish and promote your brand. Here’s a good list. [Hubspot]
Gen Z and the Candidate Experience
You tricked me! I assumed we had finally gotten rid of articles based around arbitrary generational distinctions! Silly me. Turns out, Gen Z are very unusual in that they like video, hate application black holes and prefer to use the internet. I look forward to this article being repurposed in six months under the new title “Better CX for Gen X/Millennials/Boomers/PeopleWithPulses.” [RecruitingDaily]
Inside the fortune cookie
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” - Pablo Picasso
Thanks, everyone!
There are now more than 1,200 links in the link archive. Enjoy!
Finally, if you have a question, just reply to this email and it comes directly to me.
Cheers and thanks!
-James Ellis (LinkedIn | Twitter | Podcast | Articles)
Where the subject line came from:
David Bowie: Absolute Beginners.
I’m currently reading Dylan Jones’ oral history of Bowie (would recommend). As such, here is a song I think of as one of Bowie’s best, though not nearly as well known as Heroes or Space Oddity. It was part of a pretty bad movie of the same name, so that’s where all this footage comes from. Even if you don’t think the song itself (especially the lyrics) aren’t wonderful (you’re wrong, but I like you anyway), be sure to make it to 6:26 for the percussion section and resolve. (and the live version is pretty great, too)
