Employer Branding Isn’t a Video; It’s the Story Behind It

Having worked with recruitment firms on their marketing for over two decades now, both as an in-house employee and as an external consultant, I quite often see a similar pattern when the topic of employer branding comes up.

The conversation very quickly turns to content.

“We should probably do a video.”
“Let’s get some consultant testimonials.”
“We need to update the careers page.”

And while those things absolutely have their place, they’re rarely where the conversation should start.

Because a strong employer brand isn’t the video, the photos, or the beautifully designed webpage. Those are just the outputs. The real work happens before any of that is created.

The Rush to “Get Something Out There”

There’s often a sense of urgency around employer branding. Recruitment firms know they need to attract good people, competition is high, and there’s pressure to just start putting something out into the market.

But rushing straight into production can create a bigger problem.

You might end up with something that looks great, but doesn’t actually represent what it’s like to work in the business.

And if the story you’re telling doesn’t match the reality someone experiences when they join, that’s when problems start to appear.

Start With the Questions That Actually Matter

Before producing any content, there are a couple of very simple questions that need answering:

Who are we actually trying to attract?
What do we want them to understand about working here?

It sounds obvious, but many businesses skip this step entirely.

The things that appeal to an experienced, high-billing recruiter will be very different from what someone new to the industry might care about. Likewise, a highly competitive, performance-driven agency environment requires very different messaging compared to a firm built around flexibility and work-life balance.

Without clarity on this, employer branding quickly becomes generic. And generic rarely attracts the right people.

Culture: What You Think It Is vs What It Actually Is

Before you can communicate your culture externally, you have to understand it internally. And this is where things can get interesting.

Leadership teams often have a view of the culture they’ve built. But that perception doesn’t always align with how employees experience the business day to day.

The only way to really understand it is by speaking to the people who live it every day.

That might mean running internal surveys, holding small focus groups, or simply having honest conversations with people across the business at different levels and in different job roles.

Questions like:

What do people genuinely enjoy about working here?
What makes the environment different from other recruitment firms?
What kind of person actually succeeds here?

The answers you get are often far more valuable than anything you might assume.

Authenticity Will Always Outperform Perfection

One of the biggest risks with employer branding is trying to present an idealised version of the company.

But authenticity is far more powerful than perfection.

If your environment is fast-paced, competitive and expects people to push themselves to succeed, that’s not a negative. For the right person, that’s exactly the kind of environment they’re looking for.

Where problems arise is when the story being told externally doesn’t match the reality someone experiences when they walk through the door.

Selling a “warm and fluffy” work-life balance culture when the reality is long hours and a high-pressure desk will only attract people who quickly realise the role isn’t what they expected.

And when that happens, the cost isn’t just the hire itself.

The Hidden Cost of Getting It Wrong

A bad hire affects far more than just the recruitment process.

Research from organisations like the Society for Human Resource Management suggests replacing an employee can cost between 50% and 200% of their annual salary once you factor in recruitment, onboarding and lost productivity.

In recruitment businesses, the impact can be even more noticeable.

You’re not just replacing a person. You’re dealing with:

The time and cost of hiring again
Disruption to team performance
Management time spent onboarding someone new
Lost billings while a desk isn’t performing
Potential reputational damage if someone leaves and shares their experience publicly

All of which reinforces the importance of getting the employer brand story right from the beginning.

Employer Branding Is a Strategy, Not a Project

Another thing I often remind clients is that employer branding isn’t a one-off task.

It’s not something you “complete” once the video is filmed or the careers page goes live.

It’s an ongoing strategy that evolves with the business. It requires consistent messaging, regular content, and most importantly alignment between the internal culture and the external story being told.

The videos, testimonials and social content all matter. But they should come after the thinking has been done.

Final Thought

If there’s one piece of advice I’d give recruitment firms thinking about employer branding, it’s this: slow down before you start producing anything.

Spend the time understanding what your culture actually looks like today, what makes your environment right for certain people and not others, and who you genuinely want to attract to the business.

Once you’ve done that groundwork, the content becomes much easier to create and far more effective.

Because the best employer brands don’t just look good. They accurately reflect the experience people are walking into.

And that’s what ultimately attracts and retains the right people in the first place.

Find out how ThinkinCircles can help you get the retention you deserve,
book a call today