Why Recruitment Is More Than Just Marketing

The Myth Of EVP

Remember the scenes in Edward Scissorhands where all the houses look exactly the same – neat, suburban, nothing differentiates them? This reminded me immediately of the concept of EVP. The idea behind the employee branding proposition is that everybody wants the same thing, works for the same reasons, and is attracted by one all encompassing message, which flicks everyone’s switches. This is of course a myth, as people are unique, they have unique desires, passions, ambitions, and very personal reasons for choosing to come to a company, and ultimately to stay there or to leave for pastures new.
What this means to me is that we need to move away from the thinking around the “marketers message” towards one to one engagement to identify what each individual, individually wants, and how you as an organisation can deliver that or not.

‘Employee Branded’ NOT ‘Employer Branded’

One of the things that I’ve learnt through my work with organisations like Oracle, BBC, KPMG and Hard Rock, is that the ‘employer brand’ is probably better termed ‘employee branded’. How people view your workplace and whether they want to sign up or not, is dictated by the message that goes out- day in and day out-from your employees, and their connections with the world outside your organisation.
When we first moved into the digital age, recruiting got hijacked by the digital media mafia who dictated that all recruiters should be marketeers. This was a great concept, but whilst all the recruiters were away marketeering, who was actually doing the actual recruiting?
The simple reality is that you can only engage in an authentic way when you connect employees with their peers in other organisations, and allow them to tell the truth. Through these unique relationships, potential candidates will work out for themselves what their personal value proposition is, and whether or not they want to sign up for your dream.
I believe that our objective in employer branding should be to persuade the people connected to us that they really don’t want to apply, because we’re just not the type of place they would really want to work. In the end, those that are left connected and still not put off will be the perfect employees, because they understand the culture and the organisation warts and all.
In the pre-conference workshop I will be hosting with Todd Wheatland at #ATC2015, we will be exploring the concept of being’ employee branded’ and the ways in which some organisations are enabling these relationships to flourish for the good of everyone. I hope you can join us.