If your employer brand walked into AC-12, would it come out clean? As David Ogilvy once said, “Interrogate the product until it confesses.” But swap “product” for employer brand and suddenly you’re staring down the barrel of something a lot more relevant. Too many companies act like they’ve got nothing to prove. They trot out their values like a checklist, talk about their “great culture,” maybe throw in a dog-friendly office and a vague promise of “flexibility.”
And they expect talent to just buy it.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wee donkey
But as Line of Duty’s Ted Hastings often said, “I’m interested in one thing and one thing only – the truth.” And that’s exactly what your employer brand needs to reveal.
The truth about what it’s really like to work there. The truth behind the slogans. The truth you’ll only find by putting your EVP in the interview room and turning up the heat. Because right now, too many employer brands are giving us the same jargon-filled script. “We’re innovative, collaborative, and passionate.”
People don’t buy a quarter-inch drill. They buy a quarter-inch hole
Theodore Levitt observed that people don’t buy products or services, they buy solutions to their problems. Same goes for jobs. People don’t care about your headline perks – they care what this job means for their life, their ambitions, their identity.
Especially if you’re not the biggest name in the market. Because when you’re the underdog, you don’t get to phone it in. You don’t get to play it safe. You have to go deeper. You have to ask tougher questions of yourself.
Interrogate your EVP like you’re leading an AC12 investigation
Surveil your culture. Interview your people. Dig into exit interviews like cold cases. Cross-reference what you say with what actually happens. Burn the boilerplate. Freeze the clichés. Shake the shiny surface until something real and raw falls out. What’s the truth at the core of your employer brand that no one else is brave enough to say? Because that’s the stuff talent notices. That’s the thing they remember when choosing where to put their time, energy, and future.
In short
Big organisations have the luxury of reputation. You may not. But you do have an advantage: the power to be real. So put your employer brand under surveillance. Ask it the hard questions. And don’t stop until you have them bang to rights. And then we’ll be sucking diesel.
Need a little help?
We hope you’ve found this article helpful. If you need help, support, or just a chat about your employer brand or talent strategy, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Between you and me, much of our best work has started with a cup of tea, a chocolate Hobnob and a video call.
