In today’s tight labor market, ensuring that your employer brand is authentic—and that your organization delivers on its promises—has never been more essential in attracting and retaining top talent. Indeed’s US Marketing Director, Carmen Bryant, explains why and gives us a sneak peek at her keynote ahead of Indeed Interactive.
Q. In our current, competitive job market, we've seen the rise of the term “employer of choice.” What does that mean to you?
A. I think the term “employer of choice” means you are very clear about who you are and what you stand for—delivering on the variables that are important to the talent you want to hire—and then megaphoning that out.
We're in a very tight labor market. We always say that great candidates have great choices. I think we’re now in a place where, honestly, even average candidates have great choices. In this new paradigm, if you want to be an employer of choice and attract any talent—let alone top talent—you have to be very clear about who you are so that they can self-select to work at your company.
Q. In your Indeed Interactive keynote, you'll be speaking about the importance of authenticity and keeping promises during the recruiting process. Why is that so important?
A. Candidates have an expectation of transparency; people really want to see that you walk the walk as well as talk the talk. To be authentic, an employer has to know who they are and what they stand for— and they also have to know that they can't be everything to everyone. Knowing who you are as an organization, and owning it, means knowing you won’t attract the entire talent population, but you will draw in the ones who are in alignment with your organization’s values.
Q. Why is this topic so timely?
A. There's so much conversation around employer brand right now, but there's a lot of clutter around what it really means. By encouraging employers to think about their brand as a promise, I hope we can streamline the conversation, cut through the noise and build brands that better attract top talent.
When you make a promise and then break it, the risks are greater than if you had never made the promise in the first place. For example, if you promise a great work–life balance and don’t deliver, it will be harder for people to forgive you then it would be if you had never promised it in the first place.
Q. What is one thing employers can do today to ensure that their employer brand is authentic?
A. I would say the first thing employers can do is read their company reviews on Indeed. Reviews are a great place to spot check and see whether what you are saying about yourself is in alignment with what is being said about you.
Q. What can employers expect to take away from your session and others at Indeed Interactive this year?
A. I'm really excited about this year's Indeed Interactive, and our focus on The Talent Equation. I’m particularly excited about the focus on being (or becoming) top talent’s top choice because it’s something that moves the needle at every level of the organization, for every company.
Attendees are going to walk away with really actionable takeaways and will be inspired by what they hear from the wide array of different presenters. There’s also so much opportunity for networking—the connections that attendees forge with one another will help them progress in building stronger, more authentic brands and becoming employers of choice.
Join us at Indeed Interactive May 13–15 to solve for your own talent equation. Register today!
Carmen Bryant is currently the US Marketing Director at Indeed where she is responsible for the development and execution of the integrated marketing plan and go-to-market strategies in the US; the Idea Center, Indeed’s executive briefing center; and Global Evangelist Programs, which includes the global alignment, training and development of Indeed’s recruitment evangelists.
