⚡ Employer Brand Headlines: The "Limbo" Edition (#109)
My mission: move the conversation around employer brand forward.
Employer Brand Headlines, brought to you by James Ellis
In this issue
Finding edges
Measuring the brand
Stop selling jobs
Happy at work?
The big idea
This week, I got a chance to talk to a bunch of TA leaders (virtually, where they were finishing dinner, but I was in my dining room - the future is weird) and one of the big questions was “how do find the ‘why?’”
(a step backwards: we were talking about job postings and how the first thing one needed to do was figure out a “why” to communicate to candidates, and how that why should differentiate and illustrate the value being offers. Obviously, to EB pros, this is nothing new. Anyway…)
In the moment, I answered tactically: run an audit, look at 3-5 competitors and what they are talking about and offering, identify blue ocean spaces to plant a flag, etc etc etc.
But on reflection, I have a better answer: Go to the edge.
Your edges are your brand. The places you push the boundaries a little further than others, the thing you choose to care about just a little more than others. The edges are the ways in which you are different.
Companies are 98% the same: they offer a salary, expectations, the tools to do the job, and probably some nice people to sit next to while you work. Thus, those things can’t be your brand. They are true for everyone.
But more and more, I sense that the real work of EB isn’t the stories we tell, the videos we make, the social posts we write, the job postings we build, or the websites we manage. The real work is in helping the company we work for/with to find the courage to be different, to own that difference, to be proud of that difference, when every molecule in the org structure is begging you to sit down and shut up, to just write “we’re a great place to work” as if that’s a complete thought and just post it everywhere.
Headlines!
5 Tips for Measuring & Showing the Impact of your Talent Branding Efforts
I lovelovelove the idea of responding to the question “what are your KPIs?” with “How does a great employer brand help you?” and working from there.
Where Netflix’s Bid for Competitive Talent Misses the Mark
While I am a friend of the author and Netflix is a talent competitor of my day jobs’, I thought this was right on. Optimizing on salary as your brand is a short-term win and a long-term path to failure.
Beyond EVP: Employment Isn't a Product to Sell
I do not agree with the entire argument (example: if EB is going to live in HR, HR needs to evolve a LOT, first), but I agree with the broader concept that the transactionalization of work is killing… all of us on a lot of levels.
Best Practices Are for Suckers
Yeah, I wrote a thing. It started as something I wrote in this newsletter two months ago and I’ll be presenting it at ERE later in September.
How to Pick a Job That Will Actually Make You Happy
TL;DR: It needs to be rewarding. But defining the way it is rewarding is at the core of our employer brands.
amp-theatlantic-com.cdn.ampproject.org • Share
Who Do You Want Your Customers to Become?
Pulling this out of the way-back machine, but thinking about (and talking about) who you want prospects and employees to become is a great way to think about what you offer.
Creators’ Site Patreon Acquires Recruiting Firm Clear Talent
How hard is it to hire recruiters? So hard that some companies buy tech recruiting companies just to build out their capability.
The Great Resignation Doesn’t Have to Threaten Your DE&I Efforts
Put another way: change creates opportunity (but only if you actively try to take advantage of that opportunity).
Quick hits
Inside the fortune cookie
“Yet, if we are not doing strategy now, when will we do it? Surely, if a strategy has any value, it must be something we are doing now.” - Stephen Bungay
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:
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By James Ellis, Employer Brand Nerd
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