The choice is yours (*theirs)
And you can't beat that with a bat
You know what’s funny? Two recent clients of mine hired me NOT to write their EVP. They had one. Some big agency built it for them. But when it feels… generic, soft, undifferentiated, and less-than-actionable, I get to build something sharp. Something that cuts through the noise.
Got an EVP that feels lifeless (and your leadership will spit out their coffee if you suggest a “new” one)? Ping me. I’d love to show you how to make that EVP actually work for you.
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How do candidates make choices?
This is the crux of literally EVERYTHING we do, but we don’t dive into it very often.
If you asked recruiters and TA leaders, they often say candidates choose the company that offers them the most money.
If you asked leadership, they’d suggest their “amazing” culture (undefined) is how candidates make decisions.
And if you asked candidates, well… they’ll probably tell you whatever they thought you wanted to hear.
Like a series of broken clocks, they are all correct every once in a while. But it doesn’t really offer us much in terms of how people… you know, make choices. What we need is a structure of how people choose. Something like a choice architecture.
Specifically, we can look at David Rock’s SCARF model that actually drive a candidate’s decision making process:
Status – our relative importance to others.
Certainty – our ability to predict the future.
Autonomy – our sense of control over events.
Relatedness – how safe we feel with others.
Fairness – how fair we perceive the exchanges between people to be.
In short, these are the things we seek when making decisions and a lack of any of them threaten that decision in our favor.
Consider the candidate looking at two jobs. They are wondering which one gives them the most status, the most certainty, the most autonomy, the most connection and the sense that they aren’t being had.
So what?
Great question. Here are my thoughts:
Status: yes, you should show how your alumni went on to do amazing things. Yes, you should show off when your people present at conferences (not just that day on LinkedIn, but on your career site). Yes, you should talk about how your directors are on industry panels and advisory boards. Yes, you talk about your product awards on your career page. Talk about how you will pay for speaking opportunities and award submissions. When people compare you with another company, show them the level of status they can be joining.
Certainty: This is crucial. 99.999999% of what is said in an interview (on both sides, natch) is crap. Spin. Hype. PR. Lies. Aspiration, etc. The more a candidate can believe ANYTHING they learn about you, the better off you are. That means showing the good and the bad (showing the bad means they believe the good far more). But also show them what your company does to ensure their success. The award-winning onboarding process. Your mentoring process. The professional development budgets. Peer review meetings. Whatever it is, saying you offer a lot of good stuff is one thing. Showing how much you care about their success is way better.
Autonomy: This is a double-edged sword. There are people who don’t want much autonomy. They want to color within the lines and follow the instructions. But even those people want to know that they aren’t without choices. They want to know that you do more than say “we support internal mobility.” They want to know how you ensure the manager someone is leaving doesn’t talk smack about them after the fact. They want to know what training and support you offer to facilitate that promotion or role switch. They want to know if you do promotions once a year or when people deserve it. They want to know how and where they will be able to make their own choices.
Relatedness: Isolation at work (especially when people are working from home). Are you doing all the usual office activities over zoom (that never translates), or have you re-thought your team structure, roles and expectations to ensure people feel connected to each other and the work? You have? Talk about that on the career site!
Fairness: Yes, there are people who will move across the country if there’s an extra nickel in their paycheck. You didn’t want them and you weren’t going to keep them, so don’t optimize around them. I’d wager that 99% of people will consider the “smaller” offer provided that they could ONE: see the value you offered beyond the salary (some might call this an “employer value proposition”) and TWO: feel that the salary was fair. No one will make a choice when it feels like they are being taken advantage of, so talk about the efforts go put in to provide a fair offer.
Are there other ways to develop a choice architecture? You bet. But this one is straightforward and quickly maps to what we do all day. So start thinking about how people choose and you can offer them more valuable offers, they kind they will say “yes!” to.
😵💫 Katrina Kibben’s got a free class on removing bias from your recruiting content »
😵💫 It’s not just candidates: Everyone wants more feedback than you’d think »
😵💫 I remember a client saying years an years ago, “we can’t use that video as a recruiting ad because it doesn’t feel like a commercial.” Turns out, there are places where your home-made style works way better than the glossy commercial »
😵💫 Nike has been amazing example of the power of branding. That story has a new, rather sad chapter »
😵💫 You had to know this was coming: WIX will now write all your blog posts for you. Remember: when everyone else is adding to the wave of garbage content, the company saying something interesting, different and human will stand out like a beacon »
😵💫 Disruptive AI for video is coming »
😵💫 Brand building in the ago of chaos »
😵💫 How to influence your organization »
🏛️ All 2,400+ (five years worth!) articles from this newsletter are in a searchable archive. Go get ‘em!
Problem: Your leadership is complaining that no one wants to work there.
Maybe it was a Glassdoor review. Maybe it was a peek in the ATS. Maybe it was a complaint heard in the lunchroom. But now your leadership is convinced that people don’t want to work there. Worse, they added in some Boomer garbage about how “no one wants to work anymore.”
Here’s the raw truth: people are thrilled to work at places that value them. And they would rather keep looking than pick a place that doesn’t value them.
Solution: Show and tell all the ways you value your employees.
This isn’t an excuse to google “how do I show my employees I value them.” It really isn’t. Instead, look at all the programs that you already have that are designed to support them, reward them and grow them. Turn it all into a list. Put it on your career site.
Next, allow managers to highlight their great people. Ask them for a name and a 1-2 sentence reason why that employee is so valuable. Then, make a video of that person where you read what the manager wrote and the employee’s reaction.
Congrats, you have killer employer branding and recruitment content for years, and you’ve made it clear how much you value your people, attracting more.
Speaking of passing it on…
To celebrate the two-year anniversary of Employer Brand Labs, I’m putting on a free course on how to better take advantage of LinkedIn to grow your employer brand. August 27, at noon Eastern. And yes, if you register, I’ll send you the recording.
Would you do me a favor and share the link? Either on social or just email it to a co-worker or friend who would value it? Thanks!
Be more informed as you think about building your brand:
Start: Compare 25 employer brand building companies side-by-side. It’s how you make a better decision about who will help you best in your EB journey. It’s free! »
Then: Three case studies that prove how an employer brand can be built in just three weeks. A 250-person manufacturer, a 300-person construction company, and an 800-person video game company. Just hit reply ad we’ll set set up a time to walk you through the case studies and answer questions.
What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple.
Whether you are willing to do it is another matter.
- Peter Drucker
Four books
An employer brand buyers guide and agency listing
Four courses
150 videos
240 episodes of podcasts
Conversations on 23 podcasts
Seven “deep dive” resources
18 articles
All in one place: EmployerBrand.ing
The 1991 classic, sampling McCoy Tyner.
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