Why Your Employer Brand Is a Key Area of Focus in My Client Discovery Phase

One of the most valuable parts of my process is the client discovery phase – where I get to dive deep into an employer’s brand, culture, and hiring challenges.

Working internationally puts me in touch with a wide range of companies and brands. One of the most valuable parts of my process is the client discovery phase – where I get to dive deep into an employer’s brand, culture, and hiring challenges. My goal? To help you craft an employer brand that attracts and retains top talent.

I recently worked on a large-scale project in Korea, helping a company reassess and elevate their employer brand strategy. They recognised that a strong employer brand isn’t just a marketing tool—it’s a decisive factor in whether a candidate chooses to join and stay with your organisation. If candidates don’t clearly understand your values, workplace culture, and employee experience, they’ll move on to a competitor that does.

Candidates need to know what they’re becoming a part of, what you stand for, and what they’re going to get out of it – this is all a part of your employer brand. Let’s be real here: a half-assed job isn’t going to cut it.

Position Yourself as an Employer of Choice

A strong employer brand doesn’t just spring up overnight. It takes time to meticulously craft and to get the messaging right. When I work with clients, I look at employer branding and really hone in on the experience from a candidate’s point of view. Specifically, I like to look at:

• Your market position

• The competition

• Your content and messaging

• The candidate journey

• Your ability to create an inclusive and unbiased hiring process

Market position helps to establish credibility. If your competitors have a bigger market share or are outperforming you, what is it about their messaging that connects with people better than what you’re currently doing? Similarly, if you’re outperforming others, why is that the case?

Content assets are crucial. The better informed candidates are throughout their journey, the more likely they are to have a better experience and remain engaged in the process. What assets are you sending out? Is the branding and messaging consistent?

This also links to creating unbiased recruitment processes. Are your candidates supported at each step of the process? Are you making the role and application process accessible to everyone, from physical access for those with visible disabilities, to online access for those with invisible disabilities, such as anyone neurodivergent?

Customer experience is everything, and if you’re not looking after your candidates properly, then you’re going to suffer as a consequence.

Going beyond attraction and application, I then questions clients on how this is reflected in the day-to-day operations of the business. There’s no point attracting talent based on an exceptional employer brand if a few months in they aren’t seeing the values, culture and identity you positioned for yourselves.

A bad brand will lead to a lot more than a loss of staff, a damaged reputation and staff dissatisfaction.

The Impact of Employer Reputation (Good and Bad)

It may seem obvious, but it’s always worth repeating: a good company reputation attracts top talent, making it more desirable to work for, while a bad reputation can hinder recruitment efforts and lead to higher turnover rates. In fact, 96% of businesses believe employer brand and reputation can positively or negatively affect revenue.

When your reputation is on point, everyone benefits. You attract top talent, improve retention and reduce hiring costs in the process. You boost employee morale, as everyone wants to work with you, and they’re happy to. Sometimes this even leads to industry recognition via awards and media coverage.

What’s the end result? A positive brand image. The way your company is perceived is generally more positive.

However, when your reputation is a bit lacking, it becomes a real struggle. It’s much harder to get candidates through the door, let alone top talent. As a result, you might find you need to offer higher salaries or extra incentives just for candidates to even consider it.

The end result? A poor brand image that decreases employee morale, a lack of productivity and higher turnover rates.

Naturally, no business wants to find themselves in this position. Fortunately, there are ways of improving a bad reputation.

Repositioning Your Employer Brand

When I work with clients on employer branding in my client discovery phase, I hone in on key areas. There are several factors that influence how a brand is perceived, and these include:

•   Work/life balance

•   Company culture and workplace diversity

•   Corporate social responsibility

•   Leadership quality

•   Compensation and benefits

•   Career development opportunities

Having poor scores in each of these categories means we’ve got a lot of work to do. We can then identify actionable steps to improve.

To start with, you should focus on your core values. What is it about your company that separates you from everyone else, or is fundamental to how you do business? Honing in on this allows you to create a brand that resonates with people.

Next, you need to showcase these values in an authentic way. You can’t just make up values and hope they stick; you need to live by them. Showcasing your positive workplace culture, employee achievements and unique benefits authentically across various channels helps build credibility and get your message across.

Perhaps the most important aspect is aligning to your target audience. Their expectations determine how they perceive your brand, so your positioning should resonate with what matters most to them.

The bottom line? This all takes time, and a considerable amount of effort. But I’m here to support businesses that might need a little helping hand. Together, we can craft narratives and strategies to reposition your employer brand, and help get you where you want to be. And believe me, you want to be in a position where your cost-per-hire is 50% less.

Standing Out To The Best Talent

Remember when I said that top talent is more attracted to positive employer brands?

Here’s the secret why. When your reputation is that good, you remain in the minds of the wider public. This means you’re not just being considered by the best talent on the market at the moment, but also by top talent in the market.

What do I mean by that?

Passive candidate pools. Top talent currently employed but not actively looking for roles. If your branding is in a strong position, then the best talent in the market would consider leaving their current roles to work for you. There’s a number of reasons why they’d do this, such as a lack of professional development or poor work/life balance, but it still says a lot about your reputation compared to your competitors if this is the case.

In other words, a strong employer brand gives you a powerful advantage over your competitors.

Changing The Job Seeker Mindset

We all have bills to pay, but you shouldn’t let filling job positions come down to salary alone. Sure, you could offer the highest salary out of everyone in your industry, but when it comes down to it, if your employer brand isn’t in a good position, you might not have this talent for very long.

The needle is quickly moving to balance remuneration with job satisfaction.

Ask yourself:

• Are employees happy working for you?

• Are there clear opportunities for advancement?

• Is leadership strong and supportive?

The job seeker mindset should be focusing on the wider aspects of the position rather than just the salary.

Candidates need to feel as though they’re comfortable at any business they work for. Company culture is fundamental to how they perceive you and why they stay. And what aspect of a company can nurture and retain staff effectively? Your employer brand.

Closing Thoughts

I like to think we’ve come full circle now on our little journey through the branding stage of my client discovery phase. Employer branding isn’t just about attracting talent – it’s about keeping it.

If you haven’t guessed already, I am quite passionate about making sure the companies I work for are doing everything they can to stand out in their markets. Focusing on the employer brand is just one of the ways in which I do this.

If you’re curious about the strategies I adopt to help reposition a company’s brand, then do get in touch. As Head of APAC at PiC, believe me when I say I’ve seen it all, from employers that have nothing in place to companies that have mixed messaging.

It’s never too late to start building and maintaining a good, strong brand. Together, we can develop a strategy that strengthens your reputation and drives long-term hiring success.