If you ignore the mountain of garbage science and science fiction within Jurassic Park, you can still take away a simple idea: that the tiniest DNA contains the instructions to build massive creatures. Maybe not dinosaurs per se (DNA breaks down pretty hard after a few thousand years), but certainly whales, emus, and you and me.

It doesn’t matter how many itty bitty little pieces you break us into, we are still ourselves, and the DNA ensures that when you cut your finger, a toe doesn’t grow in its stead.

The same can be said for your organisation’s DNA. If you are all about innovation, if your people live to think outside the box and try new things, if they are happiest when they are surrounded by the most cutting-edge tech or ideas, if they stay late not to make a bonus but because they sense that they are on the cusp of a breakthrough, that drive to innovate is something that saturates everyone in the company.

This is why branding professionals always caution others that the logo and tagline aren’t the brand. Is the Nike brand the same when you can only see half a swoosh? Nope, it becomes something different. You can’t look at just a little piece of the logo or tagline and see the whole brand. In fact, it’s likely that you won’t be able to learn anything from it at all.

Here, we have Starbucks (like pretty much every other place humans exist), but we also have tiny little independent coffee shops. At Starbucks, they may be offering me a quick pick-me-up, but the culture dictates precision, efficiency and consistency. I know that if I get a flat white in London, it will be effectively the same as the one in Sydney and the same as the one in Brisbane. You may not think they have the best coffee, the best service, or the best food, you know exactly what you are getting when you walk in. Do you expect a giggle? A surprising flavour? A little something extra? No. This is Starbucks.

But that independent shop also offers coffee. It also offers pumps of flavours to make my latte taste more like a candy cane than coffee. It also offers me a selection of muffins and sandwiches.  Same place? Hardly. The independent place has all their specials listed as jokes from the TV show Arrested Development. They sell little candies that make political jokes. They have a chalkboard out front that makes a cheeky joke about how much I probably need coffee.

They aren’t the same, but that’s obvious. But let’s flip the script. What if instead, I started with the menu boards. At one place, you have professionally designed listings of coffee drinks (and here in the States, it comes with calorie counts and other nutritional data points). The font is professional. The colours muted but aligned with the rest of the space. There might even be a screen on which animated gifs of precise shots being poured and foam designs being drawn may show up. From just this single data point, I can infer that this place is part of some bigger chain, that they make a lot of shots exactly the same way every time.

At the independent coffee shop, the menu made of references to a semi-cult TV series shows personality and tells me I should expect more “fun” than “professionalism.” It might tell me that this place is owned by the person who wrote this (because most “employees” are too scared to go out that far on a limb), which suggests that I might even meet the owner as she pulls that shot. It suggests passion for coffee and life. Is this coffee better than the other place? Maybe not, but based on the tiniest data point, I can infer much of the rest of the shop and company.

Your prospect’s understanding of your EVP isn’t because you tell it to them, it’s what they infer based on lots of seemingly tiny touch points. It is a bird’s nest they build in their mind, collecting bits of whatnot to establish the form of the nest.

As an employer brand professional, your job is to establish and maintain the bird’s nest. But you can’t just tell the bird: no, you’re doing it wrong! Build it wider! If you want to change the nest you change the environment, replacing the coffee stirrers and plastic bag detritus with twigs and grass. The bird, taking what is lying around, will inevitably create a different kind of nest.

So if you want to change people’s sense of your EVP, you need to change the touchpoints. In the same way that you could tell a lot about the coffee shop by their menus, chalkboards and napkins, your prospect will be making conclusions about your employer brand based on all their touch points with the brand.

For example, if your brand is predicated on the promise of better candidate service, look at every element of outreach communication. Is every element driving the idea that you will take care of the candidate? Does it communicate the process and what happens next? Does it help the candidate understand what to expect? Or do you ghost them for weeks at a time and come back surprised that they aren’t interested any longer?

Look at your career site. A company that is claiming to care about its workers had better not have stock art on their career site. It should have stories about how the company goes above and beyond to ensure each person can focus on doing great work when they are there and not worrying about child care, health care, parental care, etc.

A company claiming to truly care about the employee must be clear with exactly how far they will go to provide support. On-site gym? Unlimited paid time off? Maternity and paternity benefits? Spell those out in detail (detail provides certainty and credibility). What about your social channels? Are they filled with job openings or stories about how an employee was supported by leadership, their team, or their boss?

What about your consumer touchpoints? If you sell something that your candidates interact with, will they be getting aligning or dissonant messaging? What about your application process? Does it look like everyone else’s or are you simplifying steps, communicating why you need certain bits of information, how carefully you will protect that data? Yes, even the help text of your application process is another bit of stuff in their mental birds’ nests. Will they be adding another twig or an old cigarette butt?

There’s really no level too granular when it comes to supporting that brand promise and there’s a reason for that: Stating a brand promise is cheap. Proving and reinforcing that brand promise all the way down to the DNA level is how the promise becomes real, because it isn’t easy. (Spoiler: the easier something is to do, the less impactful it becomes because if it is easy, everyone else is already doing it).

So if you think you’ve got your EVP nailed down tight, look around. Look at every single touchpoint a prospect sees in the journey, from passive to active to candidate experience. Look at every item and ask, “is this supporting the brand promise or undercutting it?” No element is too small, from the “thanks for applying” automated message to the signature on the recruiter’s email to the hiring manager’s willingness to turn their phone off during the interview. It all matters.

James Ellis

It’s possible that the stories are true and that a radioactive recruiter bit born-marketer James Ellis years ago. All we know is that James Ellis has become a well-known podcaster, writer, speaker and consultant in the growing employer brand industry. He’s done everything from putting a public Fortune 1000 brand on his back to building a 19-person employer brand activation team within the biggest recruitment marketing agency in the world. What drives someone to write, podcast, speak and work so obsessively towards revolutionising the recruiting and talent industry? Coffee. Yes, he would like another, thank you.

Website: employerbrand.consulting and jamesellis.us

Twitter: TheWarForTalent

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/saltlab

The post What’s your employer brand DNA? The secret to bringing your EVP to life appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

An effective EVP can be used to engage your current staff and attract high-potential candidates to join your organisation.

Your EVP tagline should pack a punch! Karim Ansari reporting for Link Humans shares a few great examples from some of the world’s most attractive employers.

Use the following EVPs from the world’s most attractive employers as inspiration for your organisation to create its own.  

ABB: It begins with you.

Allianz: A home for those who dare.

Amazon: It’s still day one.

Apple: Do your life’s best work here. With the whole world watching.

Australia Post: We’ve got a big history. Be part of our future.

Burberry: Protect, Explore, Inspire.

CA Technologies: Bring What You Bring.

Cisco: Connect everything. Innovate everywhere. Benefit everyone.

Citizens Bank: Maximize Your Impact.

Dell: You thrive, We thrive.

Ericsson: Change the world with us.

EY: Start today. Change tomorrow.

Facebook: Do the most meaningful work of your career.

GE: Imagination at work.

Google: Do cool things that matter.

Groupon: We’re changing local commerce on a global scale.

IBM: Do Your Best Work Ever.

King: Seriously Playful.

LEGO: Succeed Together.

L’Oreal: A thrilling experience, a culture of excellence.

Merck: Invent. Impact. Inspire.

Microsoft: Be the one who empowers millions.

Nike: We lead. We invent. We deliver. We use the power of sport to move the world.

Salesforce: Meaningful work and the ability to get it done, with good people in a good environment, and being fairly recognised and rewarded for it.

Shazam: Help create magic for over 100 million users.

Siemens: We make real what matters.

Southwest Airlines: Welcome on board the flight of your life.

SUEZ: Join the resource revolution.

thyssenkrupp: engineering. tomorrow. together.

Unilever: A better business. A better world. A better you.

Walgreens: At the corner of ideas and action.

Which is your favourite, and why? Share your thoughts in the comments.  

Source

30 Employer Value Proposition (EVP) Taglines from Leading Employers

Karim Ansari

Link Humans

The post EVP taglines from world’s most attractive employers appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

People are your organisation’s most important asset. In today’s candidate-driven market, potential candidates not only know their worth, but have access to resources such as the website Glassdoor, which provide an abundance of information about what it means to work for your organisation. The needs of candidates have shifted also, with research revealing their preference for opportunities to contribute in meaningful ways over other benefits such as salary.

A consistent, authentic, and compelling employee value proposition (EVP) will assist you in attracting the best people to your organisation and appeal to people who will work well within your existing teams.

Nicole Dorskind, Managing Director of talent engagement organisation ThirtyThree, reporting for Forbes states: “A consistent, compelling and coherent brand message will help you become a magnet for the people you want and need to employ. This is the first step to taking control, changing the conversation and appealing to the people who will thrive in your culture.”

Be authentic

There’s nothing worse than making a great new hire, only for them to leave because the position wasn’t what they were expecting.  Start by being truthful about the experience people will gain by working for your organisation. Position yourself from their perspective and communicate the benefits as well as the challenges. (For the right candidate, the challenges of a role will be a point of appeal instead of a turn off!)

Match the realities of the role with an authentic message about your organisation as a whole. “A robust EVP is based on internal research and consultation.”

Engage in immersive research to reveal the truth about what your organisation stands for, as a truthful message is one based on internal consultation. Use objectivity to determine the predominate ideas and messaging.

Use creativity

While being objective in establishing an authentic message about what you can offer as an employer, Dorskind recommends using emotion to convey the message. Expressing this message creatively will help you connect with your target candidates and create a memorable impression.

Incorporate your aspirations

Strike a balance between your current business situation and your goals and aspirations. A powerful EVP can be a guiding force internally, while still being authentic and truthful. For example, Alex Fraser Group uses company values as both as an attraction strategy and a way to engage current employees.

Establishing a strong EVP will assist you in attracting, retaining, and engaging people who will enable you to achieve organisational success.

“Get this right and it more than pays for itself. An effective employer brand means that you’ll become an employer of choice, and build a pool of talent who will flourish in your business — not just for today, but for the future. With the right people working for you, you’ll have a more engaged workforce. And as we all know, more engaged workforces lead to higher performing [organisations]. Who doesn’t want that?”

How has your organisation articulated your EVP? Tell us in the comments, or get in touch with us to discuss opportunities to be featured.

Source

Style and substance: how to perfect your employer value proposition

Nicole Dorskind, Managing Director for ThirtyThree

Forbes

The post 3 tips to master your employee value proposition (EVP) appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.