Hello, fellow sufferers of "corporate-approved messaging" fatigue! (It’s a club, we meet at the bar.)
In the latest episode of "The Next Step," I dive headfirst into the giant pool of employer branding garbage that's flooding the internet and emerge with AI-powered life rafts. All inspired by my friend Ashten Fizer and her interview on the Chad and Cheese Show, who's apparently as tired of the EB-BS as I am.
💡 Things to listen for:
1. The "Worst Day Ever" Stories Technique (Yes, Really) I'm proposing something radical: what if—and stay with me here—we actually told the truth? 🤯 I share how to use AI to analyze employee stories about their worst days, because nothing says "we're confident in our culture" like admitting it occasionally sucks. As my CHRO friends have nightmares about this idea, I calmly explain how AI can make this both legal AND revolutionary. You're welcome, legal team!
2. Turning Slack Convos into Culture Gold (Without Getting Fired) Want to see your HR director break out in hives? Tell them you want to show candidates your Slack channels! But wait—there's a method to my madness. I explain how to ethically mine your company's digital water cooler for authentic cultural insights without exposing who exactly called the new logo "a drunk toddler's finger painting." The AI does the dirty work while you keep your job!
3. One-Size-Fits-All Messaging? That's So 2019. Are you still sending the same generic job descriptions to everyone? pats head condescendingly That's adorable. I walk through exactly how to use AI to create hyper-personalized recruitment content that makes candidates think, "Are they reading my diary?!" Pro tip: don't actually read their diary. That's illegal. Use LinkedIn instead.
🔥 Why I'm Getting Worked Up About This:
As I emphasize throughout the episode (while trying not to spill my coffee): "We're not here just to tell a story that people fall in love with. We're very much trying to prove an idea." If your employer brand content could be swapped with any other company's by just changing the logo, what's even the point?
Try This Now: Your First AI-Powered Employer Brand Exercise
Want to experiment with my approaches before your courage fails you? Here's a simplified version to try today:
Identify a specific candidate persona you want to target
Find 3-5 LinkedIn profiles that match this persona (no, not your ex)
Copy your employer value proposition (if it's longer than a paragraph, you're already failing)
Open ChatGPT or Claude and use this prompt: "Here is my EVP: [paste EVP]. Here are profiles of people I want to attract: [paste profiles]. Here is my job description: [paste JD]. What are 3 ways I can modify this job description to appeal specifically to this audience? Also, write 3 social media posts that would attract these candidates without using 'We're hiring' or 'Join us' because I'm not a corporate robot."
Let Me Solve Your Employer Brand Challenges (Before They Solve You)
Send your specific challenge in a voice memo to me, and I might feature it in an upcoming episode. Just speak clearly, unless your challenge is "how do I speak clearly," which is a paradox I'm not equipped to solve.
As I say repeatedly in the show because I'm slightly panicking about the future: "We need to take these tools seriously, and we need to do it today." Not tomorrow. Not after your 2:00 meeting that could have been an email. TODAY.
Subscribe now unless you want to be the last person clinging to your "award-winning culture" stock photos while everyone else evolves!
If you find the podcast valuable, tell someone else about it. That's how we all take the next step together.
Here's to taking the next step,
James Ellis
Employer Brand Labs
P.S. Don't worry about subscribing to yet another "big transformation" program. This series is about taking just one meaningful step forward with AI at a time. I'd love to hear what you think of the first episode!
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