Creating an employer brand that eliminates weaker candidates
The ability to attract and retain the most talented candidates can make or break a company. In GIVE & GET EMPLOYER BRANDING: Repel The Many And Compel The Few With Impact, Purpose and Belonging, employer brand experts Bryan Adams and Charlotte Marshall show how traditional branding, which involves selling a company’s strengths, inevitably leads to poor candidate selection. The most effective employer brands take the opposite approach: instead of trying to attract candidates, they try to repel them so that weaker candidates are eliminated before they enter the hiring process.
GIVE & GET EMPLOYER BRANDING outlines a more effective way to brand and manage the employee experience. It redefines the concept of an employee value proposition by matching a company’s strengths with candidates’ aptitudes and desires. Instead of a sales pitch aimed at seducing candidates, this approach harnesses the value to be found within the cultural realities and expectations of the company. The authors noted, “High performing organisations don’t want or need more candidates—they want more of the right candidates.”
When organisations follow conventional employer brand thinking and lead with their strengths, they will ultimately flood their funnels with unqualified applicants. Instead, employer brands should repel the many and compel the few. The best way to attract top talent is to embrace the harsh realities of the company, those it would typically hide from candidates. The authors help companies capture their unique ‘brand of adversity’ and show how struggles can be harnessed to elevate the value of joining and staying with the organisation. They teach a simple approach to craft a meaningful employee value proposition based on a mutual value exchange that they call Give and Get.
The Give and Get approach works to attract and retain candidates who are a good culture fit. The employer brand statement is paired with an employee value proposition, defined by a give (what an employee must be prepared to provide, commit, or sacrifice) and a get (what an employee can expect in return). This approach is radically different from conventional employer branding methodology, focusing solely on an organisation’s opportunities, benefits, and strengths. Employer brand becomes much more effective when these attributes are combined with the challenges people in the company face.
The Give and Get approach helps candidates decide whether they have what it takes to succeed by highlighting what it is really like to work at an organisation. The construct and principles behind the framework effectively repel most of an external talent audience and compel the few, better-matched individuals to apply.
The book covers:
- Traditional employer branding versus Give and Get branding
- Crafting employer brand stories
- Developing candidate personas
- Defining employer brand essence
- Activating the employer brand
- Measuring employer brand effectiveness
Understanding the talent audience on a deeper level allows companies to create meaningful experiences. Companies can more effectively communicate their brand by crafting a persona—an archetypal representation of each audience segment with unique priorities, preferences, and perspectives. Segmenting the talent audience into different personas provides the opportunity to understand and cater to each of the different brand strengths, benefits, opportunities, and expectations. By defining one or more personas, companies can create a more meaningful brand experience with their external talent audience instead of one generic brand experience bearing the weight of responsibility to engage with everyone.
By demonstrating how to craft and share stories that create an emotional connection between a company, its people, and its candidates, GIVE & GET EMPLOYER BRANDING equips corporate recruiters, managers, and C-level executives with the ability to turn the entire workforce into a team of ambassadors and advocates, armed with insights, messages, and stories that make them proud to be there.
About the Authors
- Bryan Adams is the CEO and founder of Ph.Creative, recognised as one of the leading employer brand agencies globally with clients such as Apple, American Airlines, and GVC. He is also a bestselling author, podcaster, creative strategist, and specialist speaker.
- Charlotte Marshall was named the 2019-2020 Employer Brand Leader of the Year and has successfully built and launched five Fortune 500 employer brands. In addition, she is an in-demand international speaker and the global employer brand lead at Danaher Corporation.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
