Thinking in 10X 📈🚀 EBH

Speaking of thinking bigger...

It’s important to start with the idea that what we do it art, but that it is a kind of focused, purpose-based art. We are here to make people decide to fall in love with a company or cross it off their mental list.

Done poorly, it’s easy to say that it’s not been done at all.

But done well, and you’re making art.

To start, you need a creative brief. It doesn’t have to be complex. You could start with the sort of thing that created Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

🧮 It seems telling that of these nine examples of “good employer branding,” at least four of the companies don’t have employer branding teams. Maybe because the article was written by [checks bio] a product marketer at an org design agency 🙄… »

🧮 …but not as telling that we now feel the need to talk about “human-centered” employer brands. Was there a different kind that no one told me about? »

🧮 Replace the word “you” with “your company” in Katrina Kibben’s latest, and you’re well on the way to finding what makes your company worth talking about. »

🧮 Four ways to make work more meaningful. »

🧮 If you want people to change, they need to own the change first. »

🧮 Remember: Culture is action. Thus, culture is tool for creating change. »

🧮 Don’t forget your brand ambassadors! »

🧮 2 principles of the best problem solvers. »

🧮 Stop. Book 15 minutes in your calendar. Close your other browser windows and flip over your phone. Then start paging through this. If you don’t have it bookmarked by the end of the 15 minutes, I’ll give you your money back. »

🧠🔌 AI Idea of the Week: 3 smart ways brand builders can use AI. »

🏛️ All 2,000+ articles from this newsletter are in a searchable archive. Go get ‘em!

If you’re interested in getting you and your TA team out of their rut,
reply to this email with the word, “Unstuck.”

Want to see a neat recruiting trick?

Send a stranger this message”

I happened across your LinkedIn profile and was really impressed. I think you'd be a great fit with...

Your response rate will be so low, that you'll have to power-spam thousands of people just to get anyone to engage.

Now send this message:

Um, it's 6:30. Why are you still at work? Did your passion for [industry] turn into 24/7 stress? Maybe you need to find a place where your passion isn't used against you...

Your response rate will be about 2x (but mostly because your previous response rate was so low). If you target companies with low Glassdoor scores, I bet you can push the response rate to 4-5x.

Now try this:

My head of product management said something really funny yesterday. Actually, it started funny, but then it got me thinking...

Presuming you send this to product managers who have been in-role for more than a year, who might be ready to start thinking about a promotion, this could get you a 10x response rate over the initial message.

How did we make this magic happen?

We started with a clean sheet of paper, knowing that “default” messaging means that it’s what hundreds of thousands of recruiters are sending out already (and even if it was a “good” message, the fact that everyone used it destroyed the value to us).

Then we asked, “What would our targets want, because offering them a job isn’t working?”

Do they want autonomy?

To sleep better at night?

To be seen as an expert?

To know that their company supports them?

To feel like they are performing at their best?

Not everyone wants all those things, but if we know a thing or two about our targets, we can make some good guesses here.

Then we asked, “What is something we know about our company or our audience that no one talks about?”

We can stand out by offering something no one else does.

Because we are hyper-focused on what they really want.

So yes.

10x change in efficiency without a new tool or platform.

10x change in productivity without new headcount.

10x change in value to the company just by thinking.

This is the everyday power of employer branding.

It’s not a tech stack or a set of magical words recruiters parrot.

It’s thinking about who you are and what you offer to achieve more.

Way more.

It’s budget time, I know. So let’s grab 15 minutes to figure out if there’s a way I can help you make the maximum impact with minimal expense. Book some time and we can figure out how to make your 2024 amazing.

***This Newsletter Contains No ChatGPT***

-James Ellis [LinkedIn] [Website]

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