⚡ Employer Brand Headlines: The "Finest Worksong" Edition (#108)
My mission: move the conversation around employer brand forward.
Employer Brand Headlines, brought to you by James Ellis
In this issue
Recruiting thinks too small
Do you belong?
Connecting your brand to purpose
Taking audio seriously
The big idea
How you see a problem determines the solution.
If you see “traffic” of a problem of too little road space for cars, the solution can only be to build more lanes onto the roads.
If you see the problem as “how do we increase the number of people who can travel on a road at one time?” the solution starts to involve trains, buses, and bikes.
And if you see the problem as “how do we make everyone’s commute easier and smoother?” maybe the solution is hybrid/WFH models and more strongly-staggered business start times.
Those three problems are effectively the same, but how you frame and state the problem establishes what the solution can be.
It’s not academic. In talent acquisition, the issue is even more clear. Ask sourcers what will help them recruit better and faster, and the answer is always “more tech and tools!” Ask the same question to recruiters and the answer is always “we need more bodies!”
And if you see the problem of attracting and hiring great talent through TA’s lens, the solution will be to add more lanes. Have you ever heard someone in TA say,“ we need less technology, it gets in our way!” or “There are too many people on this team: we can’t get anything done!” Of course not. From a recruiting lens, this is a recruiting problem, and thus you only see recruiting solutions.
But there are other ways to see the problem.
In fact, if you stop thinking of TA as the place where recruiters find people and instead as the team that connects our strategy and culture to complete strangers in a compelling way, shepherding them through a complex process they don’t 100% understand, all sorts of different solutions present themselves.
What can the business be doing to engage talent?
What can the hiring managers be doing to ensure great candidates feel that the interview process is more collaborative than combative?
How can we be more clear on what we offer and the kinds of people who will find success here (and who won’t)?
When you stop framing “recruiting” as a TA problem, you see it as a business problem. And that means there are a LOT more ways (and resources) to solve a business problem.
Headlines!
Dealing with a Talent Shortage? Then Liberate Your Talent Strategy
See? There are other ways to see the talent problem.
A sense of belonging is what drives well-being—and it’s disappearing
“Belonging” is a term that’s fraught for me. It suggests all want to belong to the same things and thus becomes another one-dimensional ruler to measure something far more complex. But I can’t escape the conclusion that the idea of belonging matters. Here’s further thinking on how the groups we belong to drive the choices we make.
Behind every great merger, there’s a great merger branding strategy
Learn some lessons from people who manage changing brands.
How Brands Can Put Purpose at the Heart of Their Marketing Strategy
A decent set of points on the power of purpose (but -2 points for using Dove Real Beauty" as an example: we know!) and how a brand that offers similar sets of features and value (sound familiar) can differentiate.
Social Audio Branding – Setting the Stage for Sound Strategy
For someone with a near-fetishization for audio (don’t get me started on my DAC and headphone amp set up), I haven’t really taken advantage of audio yet. But the opportunity for branding (awareness, engagement, validation, etc) is enormous.
Amazon's Formula For Asymmetric Competition
For my fellow strategy nerds our there, how to look at your competitive situation to maximize your own outcomes (lessons from Amazon).
www.brandingstrategyinsider.com • Share
What you're getting wrong about burnout
Apologies for the formatting, but this is the only way I can get around their paywall. That said, there’s a really good chance you’re suffering from burnout and don’t know it (what?! why?! I can’t imagine!). As someone who recently has his Friday night destroyed by an off-hand message on Slack, we need to figure out how to solve for (rather than defend against) burnout.
Quick hits
Inside the fortune cookie
“Asking for feedback creates a critic. Asking for advice creates a partner.” - Shane Parrish
Thanks, everyone!
There are now more than 1,000 links in the link archive. Enjoy!
Reminder: The more people at your org who read my books, the better your job will get! employerbrandbook.com (They’re free!!!)
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:
R.E.M. - Finest Worksong
By James Ellis, Employer Brand Nerd
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