We are partnering with a few early & growth-stage tech startups with inspirational founders for their talent requirements. Attracting the right talent has been an uphill task with some of them whereas with others it was much smoother. The key difference we found is how they are managing their “Employer Brand”.
EVP Employer Value Proposition
60% of the candidates we reached out to for one of our clients, refused to engage claiming it’s “too risky” to join an early startup. The reality is that they probably found almost no presence/content they could relate to as a potential employee when doing their research.
In today’s fiercely competitive job market, with the balance of power in the job seeker’s hands, startups need to share their EVP clearly to attract and retain the most talented and the best additions to their culture. It is important to establish the right image of the organization in the eyes of employees & the talent marketplace. Strategic content and communication that offer clarity on a startup’s EVP are key for employer branding rather than only a rosy sales pitch.
Share your story
Founders of an early-stage startup reached out to us to recruit their team of the first 15 employees. They onboarded us with care and shared their story, their purpose, and did a workshop for us to understand the products. We worked collaboratively to build content to attract the right talent. The results were there to see, other than one miss, all 15 employees we hired were part of the core team which launched the platform.
Sharing your story, who you are, your purpose, the problem you are solving, and the impact your startup is making will help the prospective employees decide whether they connect and align to your story or not. Sharing how the company is planning on expanding for the next 3-5 years and how that will impact potential employees’ careers will bring credibility and help them make a decision. It’s much better to attract fewer applicants who are the right talent and connect with your story than to attract many applicants who don’t know your story and just tried their luck.
Importance of the job description
In our experience, most companies underestimate the impact a Job Description makes on their brand and EVP. A good JD should engage potential job seekers and get them excited to pursue the opportunity. To attract the right candidates, along with the key areas of responsibilities, an overview of the organization capturing the culture & specifying the non-monetary perks of working with the company will go a long way in attracting the right talent:
- What Impact the role will have
- How the job can give the employees a sense of purpose
- How the company is focusing on well-being of employees
- And how the culture gives a sense of belonging
The job interview experience
One of the first touchpoints with your company for a candidate is the job interview stage and directly impacts the employer brand image. This experience should be carefully curated. Many candidates lose enthusiasm at the interview stage as the experience was not good for example:
- They had to wait for a long time without proper communication.
- The interviewer was not prepared and did not know anything about the candidate.
- The interviewer could not give the answers to questions about the company and role with clarity.
- Too many rounds of interviews and the same questions being asked over and over again.
Social platforms to share your EVP
Given the widespread usage of social platforms, social media is a key medium for boosting employer branding but we have found most startups do not put enough focus on this. Beyond marketing to your potential customers and investors, your business’s social media presence can also act as a powerful signal of what it’s like to work for your company, with the active involvement of your team, founders & company leaders providing insights that can help candidates make decisions about your potential as a career destination.
Our takeaway
In 2011, economist Rachel Kranton and [now] Nobel Prize-winner George Akerlof published the findings of a 14-year study that revealed that our grandparents lived in a production economy, our parents lived in a service economy, however, today, we live in an identity economy.
Our conception of who we are, our identities, and not just economic incentives—influence our decisions. All startups should build their employer brand and EVP keeping in mind that employees today have needs or desires that are emotional as well as rational and are seeking to build a career with:
- A sense of Impact
- A sense of purpose
- A sense of wellbeing
- A sense of belonging
Contributors:
Kasturi Chatterjee (Partner)
Khyati Rajani (Client Solutions Specialist)
