NAS Talent Talk

Your values are not your employment brand.

January 3, 2012 at 2:46 pm sarahwering 1 comment

By Charles Kapec

Having helped develop many employment brands, I know that one of the more common misconceptions among employers is the idea that their corporate values are their employment brand.

Corporate values serve a vital mission within any organization. They tell customers what you believe in. They also tell your employees what behaviors are important and how you operate. What they do not do is engage candidates or explain why they should work for you. Consider the following:

Values are not a differentiator.

What are your company’s values? Chances are they include words like Excellence, Quality, Integrity, Respect, Accountability, Diversity and Teamwork. If you are a healthcare organization, add in Compassion, Competence and Caring. Let’s face it. The values that contribute to success within any business are essentially the same. Focusing on these words in your employment brand does not set you apart or tell anyone what makes your company different as an employer.

Values are not compelling to candidates.

We look at metrics on career websites to learn where visitors go and what interests them. The path that candidates take most often is the simplest – they go straight to the job search. Other pages that score highly include benefits, career areas and day-in-the-life profiles for job families. Unfortunately, pages that contain mission and values information are among the least visited on any career site. Candidates are busy. They go to the information that they intuitively feel will impact their decision to apply or not to apply.

Values serve a more internal purpose.

The time to focus on values is during the orientation of a new employee. You want to instill your values in new hires to help them understand what is expected of them. You need to reinforce values for current employees through ongoing training. And you should set up recognition programs to reward values-based performance. Yes, your values shape your culture, which in turn helps define one aspect of the employment experience. But the words themselves do not have great meaning divorced from the actual experience of working for you.

If not values, then what?

What is that intangible “something” that can set you apart and help define your employment brand? That’s going to take some discovery and thought on your part. What draws people to your company? How are you different from your competitors? Why do people stay with your organization – or why do they leave?

Do the hard work (employee focus groups or surveys, external focus groups, discussions with leadership, conversations with recruiters and other HR team members) to learn who you are and what you have to offer. Then, get a great creative team to help you put it into context and develop a verbal and visual expression that tells your story and demands attention.

I promise you – all of that Teamwork and Accountability will lead to Excellence and a Quality employment brand with Integrity.

Charles Kapec is a Senior Creative Strategist at NAS Recruitment Communications. With the agency since 1993, he partners with clients to develop employment brands and to provide a wide range of creative solutions.

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