The future state of employer branding

The current state of employer branding at most high-growth startups:

• Why does employer branding matter?
• What does employer branding actually look like for us?
• Where do we start?
• How do we execute?
• How do we know if we’re being successful?
• And who are we now as a company?

The future state of employer branding at high-growth startups:

• We are 100% clear on what we stand for as a company.
• We know exactly what employer branding means to us.
• We are aligned on what employer branding looks like.
• We know how we will measure its effectiveness.
• We commit with support and resources to execute at scale.

So how do you bridge this gap?

It starts with the founders.

They must first:

• Value talent acquisition as much as they value customer acquisition.
• Value candidate and employee experience as much as they value customer success.
• Value employee retention as much as they value customer retention.
• Value culture as much as they value product.
• Commit resources in the form of people and money.
• See people-first as a real business strategy.

This is top-down. Without founders first leading with support, employer branding doesn’t have a shot at the startup level.

And product and revenue will continue to dominate resources and attention.

This is why so few startups pull it off.