It's almost 2024. Hire like it. 🔥 EBH

For starters: Don't let others define YOUR value

Based on the thousands of employer brand professionals I follow and know on LinkedIn, here’s how to build and manage a great employer brand today:

Be transparent!

Not that we should be sharing salaries. Or feedback. Or the decision process behind candidate selection. Or who the hiring manager for the job is. Or who else is on that team. Or what it means to say we have a “great culture.” Or what we mean when we say, “we care about our people.”

But you know: be transparent.

Be authentic!

The business world has turned the word, “authentic” into code for “it’s okay to put a rainbow sticker on your laptop” and “feel free to join an ERG.” Not, “My insurance claim was rejected, so I have to spend all my non-working hours arguing about and it makes me so mad that I think about rage quitting, except I need that meager insurance.” And not, “I have to take care of my child and my aging parents but for some reason my company is demanding I come to the office three days a week so I can zoom with people at home and I’m so stressed out, I drink more than I should.” And definitely not, “I have no sense that my job will exist in six weeks, let alone six months or six years, but my company is acting like they are ‘supporting’ me because there’s an ‘employee assistance program’ which is an out-sourced stranger telling me to breathe.”

But otherwise, sooo authentic, absolutely.

Tell employee stories!

You know, I’ve seen a LOT of employee content, but very very very little of it is what I would call a “story.” Usually, it is “This is why I joined the company” or “Why this is a great company to work for.”

Where’s the employee story that says, “You know what I hate about this job? That priorities change every twelve seconds and it never feels like I’m making progress. But my weekly one-on-ones with my boss help me see that I am growing and developing and she’s got me earmarked for an entry-level management position on her team, so I keep plugging away.”

A story has drama. Conflict. Meanwhile, we’re building brochures that talk.

Repeat the values!

We all know that our values “are” our brand. Values like, “solve our customers’ problems,” “best idea wins,” “act like owners,” and “diversity and inclusion” which you see over and over and over again.

And once you say the values enough, people will believe you have an amazing culture.

Right?

​Be consistent!

Say the brand tag. Then state the pillars. Then share the story. Again. And again. And again. And again. And then again on Tik Tok. And again on our “talent community bulletin.”

Just like if I were to say, “Happy! Happy! Happy!” to you over and over, you’ll suddenly be happy.

How did we get here?!?!

Employer brand was supposed to be the lever that changed recruiting and hiring for the better. It was supposed to get us past “post and pray” into something closer to “attract and repel.”

Instead, we’ve been co-oped into becoming the company cheerleaders, making pretty pictures on social media, propping up bullshit policies, and putting further layers of lipstick on the pig.

We’ve been saying the same things over and over and recruiting hasn’t changed. It’s still a game where the company has all the power over candidates, shares as little as humanly possible, and then complains that candidates don’t trust it.

2024 is around the corner. Are we REALLY going to keep asking the same questions, having the same arguments, and letting others define our value?

🔥 Shots fired! The Economist drops “the L word” into the conversation with How to Get Lying out of Hiring »

🧯 A great read: Have we “process-itized” our marketing thinking to the point where aren’t effective? »

🧮 What if recruiting and retention are the same thing? »

🧮 How purpose attracts more people to your company… »

🧮 …even while the day-to-day grind makes it hard to remember that purpose. »

🧮 Use the scientific method to create organizational change? (See also Viral Change by Leandro Herrero) »

🧮 Every brand has to be a growth brand »

👖 An example of how Levi’s turned its consumer brand around »

🧮 11 skills you still need in the AI era »

🧠🔌 AI Idea of the Week: The future of AI won’t be writing. It will be building autonomous agents »

🎙️ I get to chat with Brian Fink about how employer branding and sourcing support each other. Don’t miss it! »

🏛️ All 2,200+ articles from this newsletter are in a searchable archive. Go get ‘em!

If you’re interested in learning how to build a strategy from scratch,
check out my free strategy course.
Anyone can be a more effective strategist!

I know that it must look like I do lots of things in lots of different directions. But the truth is I really only care about helping you see beyond “what everyone else does” to hire better.

To do that, I offer a number of different approaches to achieve the same thing:

• Video-on-demand classes. Off-the-shelf training to level up quickly ($40-90)

• Clarity Call. In 30 minutes, let’s change your point of view to see new options and get unstuck ($75)

• Coaching call. In 60 minutes, we’ll find some new ways to approach your challenges ($400)

• Retainer: A package of direct coaching, training and strategy help ($3,000)

• Employer brand team training ($7,500)

• Complete employer brand strategy solution ($17,000-$35,000)

All routes get you to the same place: better hiring at your company.

• 105 free (or almost free) ways to activate your brand »

• Employer Brand Breakdown series »

• Biotech Recruiting limited run email course »

• Proof employer brand works »

• Biotech Recruiting Chat series »

• Employer Brand minute series »

• The Brand Plan podcast »

• The Talent Cast podcast »

• On-demand video courses »

***This Newsletter Contains No ChatGPT***

-James Ellis [LinkedIn] [Website]

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