Comments on: Recruiting hearts, not minds

By: Nicholas Creswell

Nicholas Creswell — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:04:27 +0000

“Your brand isn’t a marketing exercise. It’s your soul, the distillation of the experience of all your people.” Well said!

To have an employer brand that not attracts candidates but that retains them once they’re on board, you have to have be frank with yourself in understanding the elements of your employer brand that are aspirational, as well as those parts which already exist. And if you don’t spend at least as much time looking after the internal elements of your employer brand as you do on the external communications, then I suggest your priorities are imbalanced.

A terrific piece – thanks for sharing.

By: Nick Price

Nick Price — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:29:11 +0000

What completely resonates for me is the fact that people you recruit are exactly that – just people. We talk a lot about this in the work we do – we aim to understand the work people do in the context of their overall lives as it helps to understand their motivations and what they look for in an employer.

We know that many organisations confuse the ‘branded’ element of their recruitment marketing as their employer brand – which we know is not the case – and the description of the employer brand being the ’soul’ of the copmany is a good one.

By: Ton Rodenburg

Ton Rodenburg — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:49:45 +0000

Hi Jared,
With all my heart i have to compliment you on writing the best and most profound true reflection on the art and heart of employer branding that i’ve read since long! Your heading is so true!

I think employer branding in this new definition is the most important and relevant strategy for any company now: how to build and engage the team you will achieve your results with? My simplest definition of employer branding is: Building strong relations with the people you want to work with….
And the best people to work with always have loads of choices. They can earn salaries or have a car anywhere. They can choose projects whereever they like. The real and lasting difference is in the soul of the company: in it’s meaning and in it’s strong and relevant inspirational culture.

It’s about social innovation. Employer branding strategies of now are about strategies how to engage the people who make the difference for your brand, who áre your brand. That which gives these ‘differentiators’ a meaning to work for you. Finding what binds them together and what inspires them. Whith these ‘actual clienst’of your employer brand, lie the key messages to others outside, and the reasons to share your brands community. After finding these answers, creativity can be used to strengten the messages by imagination: an image says more then a thousand words. A strong creative concept can be the leverage for a message of meaning in a community, inside and outside.

I surely hope that this new perceptiuon of employer branding gains school, and that it inspires business leaders to really focus on more meaning and dialogue with their most important customer: the people that make (or break!) their brands!

Kindest regards
Ton