Employer Branding and Talent Attraction Unpacked

In episode #06 of Talent Acquisition Matters, we sat down with Brian Vigeant, Co-Founder and CEO of CultureHQ.  

It was insightful to get his take on employer branding and talent attraction, where he shared a ton of tangible tips for our listeners to take away.  

We’ve highlighted our favourite three points below for you!  

Should there be a change in prioritisation of employer branding and talent attraction as a funnel of potential candidate sourcing?

“Our story is interesting because we came from the internal standpoint of thinking about culture internally, and then we evolved to painting the picture from the inside out and displaying that externally.   

So, that’s where culture HQ has learned a lot. We’ve talked to a tonne of recruiters and heads of talent and employment brand leaders and trying to understand how they are ultimately attracting talent into their organisation.   

When you think of talent acquisition, I feel like traditionally, or at least, as I was learning, it seemed like everything was very transactional in the way that people were recruiting talent. It was like ‘we have these 30 roles that we have to fill, now let’s go and fill them’ – it’s very transactional the way that you’re thinking about it.   

For me, I thought that doesn’t seem the most effective way, especially now, in what’s probably the most competitive talent market that’s ever existed. It’s how do you really tell a better story to attract talent.   

You have to showcase what’s so unique and special about your company and be able to amplify that across channels, whether it’s on LinkedIn and your career site, on different forums, and blogs. If you can let that shine, that’s ultimately going to transition you from selling why you’re so special to them to them becoming more of a buyer and ultimately wanting to join your company.”  

Showcasing D&I in your business: how valuable is it?

“I saw a stat somewhere that said that one of the most important, or most impactful ways to recruit and attract diverse talent, is by just displaying the people within your organisation, and showcasing the inclusiveness of the culture and how it actually looks.  

Examples include being able to highlight stories of individuals that exist within your company, being able to bring that to the forefront, and showing that, hey, regardless of where you come from backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, race, ethnicity, you can exist here and you will belong.   

Being able to showcase that legitimately through stories is a powerful way to attract diverse talent. Because I think, again, when people think about hiring diverse, it’s all about numbers. It’s all about metrics. And people kind of lose this sort of emotional connection, of how can you just tell a story that’s ultimately going to help someone envision themselves at your company.”  

What’s the best way that someone can curate the right hiring assets or candidate attraction assets to then put out there on socials?

“What I have noticed is that too often, I think people overcomplicate this and get so fearful of what they’re projecting, and how they’re going to be perceived.  

Will it be the right message? Are we going to start dissuading talent from coming into our organisation? And so then it becomes that cookie-cutter approach, that vanilla type messaging, where now you’re trying to be everything to everybody. And now you’re nothing to everybody.   

I think a lot of people have historically just said: 

• Hear our values, we treat each other with respect. 
• We work hard. 
• We play hard. 
• We have great benefits. 

It’s the same type of messaging that ultimately doesn’t help you showcase your uniqueness.   

But I think people do that because they overcomplicate, and they become fearful of their uniqueness. And so, I think it’s really just twofold, of curating your story and understanding this. 

And really, the first one is understanding the market conditions, then ultimately, what top talent is looking for. That’s number one. 

And then number two is really understanding your employees, why they chose to work for you, what they love about the culture, what matters most to them, and why they’re still excited to work here. 

Understanding those two audiences of what candidates and top talent are looking forward to, what is the market dictating right now and then ultimately understanding your employee base, then be human with your messaging.”  

To listen to the full episode, click here.