Intro

So good morning everyone. Welcome to, this if you, boot camp this morning. Your 30 minutes start of the day. Well, in some parts of the world may be end of today. But let’s see. Just checking in now. Can you all hear me? Well, just to make sure that I don’t start this webinar without proper sounds. Rookie mistake, I would say. Made it once. All right, I assume so. Amazing. So let me share my screen. I will be looking upward sometimes. That’s not because I’m looking away from the screen, but because there’s the presentation in front of me. So here we go. In just 30 minutes. Today I’m going to tell you all about, how you can create the best EVP in the coming year. Right? So, this actually also the reason or why we are doing this is because speed and experience are everything in today’s recruitment markets, right? So why spend hours and hours on learning while you can have all the most important information in this 30 minute bootcamp? And, don’t be afraid if you miss anything or you have any, individual questions for your company, then you have the possibility to book in a 15 minute sparring session with me after the session. So you can also align on all your individual questions, that you might not have the time for today. I will cover some questions towards the end of this masterclass. If time allows and, if you have any questions or you have any comments, you can leave them in the links underneath the LinkedIn events on LinkedIn. So that’s a bit of the. Information.

Who is Donja Laarhoven (your awesome speaker)?

So maybe before we start, it’s short about me. So my name is Donya. I’m the co-founder and CEO of employer. And, we we started four years ago, and, we’ve been we’ve achieved quite some things to be proud of over time. So, last year we became finalist in the HR Technology Awards. I’ve been, for seven of the year in tech in 2022 and, currently with a team of nine brilliant minds, we’re covering Europe and Australia and to creating some employers and employer brands that stand out of the crowds. So we’ve facilitated more than 85 ATP programs for large brands, like for example, uncommitted tickets and, sprinkles and more to come.

Why are we all here today?

And the reason why we’re all here today is because what we’ve realized. I’ve been in all of your shoes. So I’ve been. Recruitment. Recruitment leads and employee branding specialist myself in the past. And there’s just one thing we cannot overcome. And that there’s no possibility to attract talent if there’s nothing attractive to find about you. Right? And it seems super logical, but, knowing all of the customers and research we are doing, it is still nuts.

What the #%$@ is an EVP?

So what the heck actually is an EVP? Let’s start with that. And the easiest way is just to make you realize what an EVP actually is, because there’s lots of different, different definitions for it. So as a morning exercise, I just want you to think, of course you’re all happy in your current jobs and you will never want to leave. But if tomorrow either McDonald’s or Starbucks will, offer you a job you can’t refuse. There’s no right or wrong in this question, but I just want you to imagine if both of these companies offer you a job you can’t refuse. It’s first instance. Which brand would you choose? Just think of it. An important to realize is that there’s no right or wrong in this question. You can even leave your answer in the in the chat if you want to. But the reason why I’m giving you this exercise is because whether you love McDonald’s or not, maybe you have read something about them in the newspaper or on online news sites. Maybe you, have had some great or terrible experiences in service. Or you may know someone that works for brands, right? There’s no, right or wrong in a way that’s everybody has a certain sentiment about what it would be like to work for a certain company if you, proactively manage it or nuts. Right. So it’s super important to, influence this space and utilize your EVP and all the pros and cons behind it to influence the sentiment that job seekers have about you. And that is actually what an EVP is all about. So there’s lots of different definitions of what and long definitions also that we actually hate. But in short, it’s all about the art of showing why talent should work for you and not for your competitors. And that all just in four seconds, because we all live in this white culture where, attention span of people is not really long anymore. So online, you only have four seconds to grab the attention of your job seekers, and only if you attract them with the right message, they will, commit and look further and continue reading, either on your website or any of your online profiles.

What defines an excellent EVP?

Oh. So, the best EVP is a combination of four different areas. On the one hand, obviously what you’re telling me to offer. So what is the exact, persona that you’re looking for? What is their purpose? What are they looking for? And what are the terms and conditions that you can commit them with that with them. Then, on the other hand, what is your actual true culture DNA? What is the true identity of your company? Because if you cannot define the true identity of your company, you you will lose people anyway because you can attract them with the most amazing story out there. But if then the reality when they enter is super of of super difference, then you will lose your people’s anyway. And sometimes the best EVP or employer brands are not even driven by the pros of your internal identity, but maybe by the cons. And I will explain you why after this slides, some. One thing that’s mostly overlooked is connecting those two categories with your company strategy. And why this is so important is because you don’t want an EVP just to become a recruitment project, but you truly want it to be linked to the future strategy of your company so that it becomes a game changer in your company as well. Because if you, for example, are going to automate in your business and you need completely different persona profiles, or for example, if it turns out that your internal identity doesn’t match with the future people that you need, then you need to adapt your strategy, right? And only by giving insight into all of those four categories, you will, know, where the sweet, sweet spot is for you. And the fourth one, super essential, is to make it unique. So you need to have a competitor benchmark to understand, hey, what are my competitors doing without the other and other hands as well? What are industry standards? So and what is my industry already doing so that I can make sure that what I’m doing is going to be different and stands out of the crowds? And a great example about show casting your cons in your EVP is what this Dutch placement office of the company did. So this is one of the largest placement offices in the Netherlands, and they were really struggling in they didn’t even have issues with attracting people. But because of that terrible Dutch weather, they lost people within like 2 or 3 months because they just couldn’t stand the cold and rain. So what they did is they had a persona, an EVP session, similar as, we, we always do with employer and they and they had, one of their most successful placements in this room. And they started to, to find the similarities between all these successful placements. And what turned out is that they were all of most of them were dog owners, because dog owners are used to going outside, even when it’s cold or windy or rainy, because they just have to go outside with their dogs and they just care for them and they love it. So they didn’t mind going outside through weather and winds. So they created this whole large campaign with pictures and videos about people in the rain with dogs, and this turned out to be their most successful campaign ever by actually highlighting something bad that they could never overcome. This turned out to be their most successful, employer branding campaign.

Why is an EVP Important?

So why an EVP, it’s super important to understand that the talent shortage will continue to grow. And this is, so this is something that people because of the technical developments in this world, people think that technology will mostly overtake jobs. Right. And that’s not true. There will of course some of the jobs will be taken over, but they will also continue to grow if they continue to develop a lot of new roles. So by 2030, we’re looking at this down shortage of 11%, which is almost double of where we are at today. On top of that, we have younger generations entering the job market and they are super in-demand and online. So 91% of millennials are actually active on social media. And by 2025, which is in one year time, 75% of the job market actually exists of millennials or younger. And that is super mind blowing to understand, because the whole behavior is going to move towards the online worlds. They also search for companies at least one hour before they search, before they start to apply, and 65% will not apply at your company if they don’t like what they see. And also important to understand is that they will not only apply at your company, but they will most of the time because they have the chance. Also apply at 2 or 3 of your competitors. So the question is not if you need an EVP, but how frequently fast you can create one. So if you are expecting lengthy EVP programs, then we are not your party. We are not your master class.

What does the EVP landscape look like today?

The reality today, based on a 112 EVP scans that we’ve performed, is that 93% of the EVP that we’ve looked at, we’re we’re we’re outdated or undefined, and 82% of the content that is used is mostly commercial content that companies just, I think is an easy exercise. Copy paste and use for employer branding purposes as well. But your commercial brand is obviously created for a whole different target group, right? So that’s where things often go wrong. What we’ve seen in this reality is that most of the FP programs take about 6 to 12 months, and cost you at least 25 K. And that was one of the biggest frustrations. Also, back in my day, and looking at the employer score. So the completeness and engagement with your employer branding, we squat, we create scores for companies, from 1 to 10. And the average employee score curently is 4.3. Resulting in of the realization, actually, that a lot of companies are still lacking in the online space. But your management expects recruitment results yesterday, right? So employer branding is not something also you decide once and you decide okay my ADP today is this and then it will still work in two years time. No employer branding truly requires continuous monitoring of your data. What is going well? Your target group constantly changes, but your company also changes, right? Plus you can define a global EVP. So what is unique about your company today? But it could for example, be if you’re a digital company that your target group for developers is super different than, for example, your salespeople. So there’s a constant mechanism behind it to adapt towards the different target groups.

What are good and bad examples of EVP?

So what that looks like an employer branding space is, for example, this header photo of a company’s career sites. You don’t see any people. There’s no filter, there’s no emotion. The only thing it’s, triggering me for is maybe I’m getting hungry because, the sandwiches look so delicious. But this is like a commercial image plotted on an employer branding site without any purpose behind it. But what good looks like is, for example, one of my favorite employer brands is from. Can you truly see within one tagline the emotion behind future. This race is like an innovation thing for me. It’s a design company, but it’s also about yours. So it’s about me and they’re attracting and they’re all about my future. And then also combined with video and with the bright spaces, this is just really strong in those four seconds that you are attracting people. But then also this EVP is super, super well done because, in just one sentence, you know, for example, a person like me should not apply for this company. So it is super clear in what type of people they are looking for problem solvers, of problem lovers, outspoken introverts and quiet rockstars. There’s a place for you here. So if you feel attracted by one of those three categories, you will continue to read. So this is super strong. And another one is for example, from like, super nice images, people looking at you, but combined with like sporty things and moving the world is their tech line, which gives you an essence of, of course, their sports background and that they’re always on the move and that there’s like, movement behind it. So, really well, tech line that raises your attention right away.

What are the results of having a strong EVP?

So the results of a strong EVP is not only that you can attract new people. Of course, if you have your perfect persona and you know what your competitors are doing and you align with the purpose of your new job seekers, your, what we see with current companies is that the applicants funnel, by having a strong EVP will executed online, will actually, raise your, your recruitment funnel will have at least 20%. But the best thing is that’s recruitments directly in 2024 is all about retaining people, because there’s such a shortage in this market that you also want to keep your people with you. Right. And a strong EVP just really makes sure that also your best employees want to stay because they feel the perfect match and they are super proud of a company that’s sharing this with their, with their, employees.

Where do I start in my EVP journey?

So I can imagine that you think, okay, great story, I’m convinced. But how do I start? And how do I also not only start myself, but also convince my business and my management that this is super something essential? So we have created a four step framework. That’s obviously everything that we are. It’s employer. Also about is being fast. Also make your work more fun to make it feasible and flexible.

So the most important step and let me tell you that back in the day. In my previous jobs, I have learned by making the mistakes that the best employer branding strategies always starts with data. Because if you do not have your data rights, you will spend money on the wrong things and you will, maybe, I don’t know, skip some steps that you’re not ready for. So what is important is now looking at 2024 is to really have, strict for yourself. What am I hiring goals? How many new open rules are going to are there? What are yeah, the data points that I’m actually, managing this year and then together with your business to define the ideal persona candidates. So maybe for your global company, but also if you have some challenges in certain departments, you can also create a definition of your certain departments, a focus areas. Then also look online and give get an insight in what is your current EVP actually all about. And we hear all the time from people, well, we’ve never defined an EVP or we don’t really have an EVP. Let me tell you that every company already has an EVP. Because people already look online for things, and you already have created a sentiment about what it will be like to work for you. Even if you’ve actively managed it or not. So look online and see what your competitors are doing compared to you. So this benchmark is super essential to also convince your management because looking at what your competitor landscape is doing just helps you to see, okay, how can I position myself different than them and how how can I improve?

Then the second step is my personal favorites, because in all the research that we’ve done in the past, we’ve heard several employer branding agencies. ET cetera. Saying, yeah, we create new. These are employer brands based on external data, which is super ultimately. You can use it, obviously, but the unique facts are in your, DNA of your company is only tractable with your own people. And next to the fact that involving your own people in this process also just creates a super high engagement boost, because those type of EVP and persona workshop are super valuable. Interaction is where the magic happens because, for example, if you would ask your employees what’s unique about your company and they would say to you in a questionnaire, there’s a family feeling, then you cannot just copy paste family feeling and put it on your website. No, I truly want to understand what is behind this family feeling that is so unique for this company. Is it because you give each other feedback, or because your friends outside of work? Or what is the actual unique factor that you mentioned this family feeling? And people also want to just sit in a trusted environment and open the conversation. So workshop sessions are really essential in this space. Of course, you can, empower your, this data with a questionnaire, because if you’re a large company, of course, and you want to abstract more people or involve more people, then you can, also utilize a questionnaire, to reach a larger audience. And on the other hand, when you do those two elements or when you focus on those two areas, there’s certain focus areas in your questions you want to focus on. And that’s what they think of the culture and values, the compensation and benefits, the great opportunities about your management, which is super essential in today’s world as well, and about work life balance.

Then. Of course. Connect this to your EVP strategy. Where do you want to be in three years? Create then this gap analysis of your current focus areas with your, EVP outcomes. So is there a gap between what my selling needs or where I want to be and what we currently are sharing? And then a gap analysis of your current personas, future and your future personas. Because if there’s different requirements behind it, this is something you need to discuss with your management.

And then based on all of those three elements, you can define your new EVP. And the best EVP structure is to start with this tag line that triggers the emotion of your job seekers within four seconds. Then you immediately underneath that wants to, empower this tag line by, words or values that, underline actually your EVP tag line. Then you also want to define a tone of voice because you can be super professional, or you want to be like scale up ish, fun and inspiring tone of voice that’s going to attract completely different people. And then, in this flow, you also want to involve, employee quotes who actually also underline their EVP. And then of course, in the descriptions of, in the text in your vacancy texts, and that you want to underline your newest EVP and then also in all of the sentences and power this with great content because people are not going to read. You want to trigger their emotions with great content.

The 4-step EVP framework in action

So our first four step framework in practice looks like this. So, all the companies that we’ve worked with you, it’s important to then create a whole, overview, a branded overview of your new EVP. So based on this workshop, you get a complete overview of the persona. You get insights in the EVP, the chances that you have within your EVP. What? Working at a company actually looks like the channels that that we’re using. And then based on the four squares that I’ve just mentioned, you want to find the sweet spots and, where you can create uniqueness in all of the four different areas. And based on this square and the behavior that you get in the, in the, in your, EVP, you want to create taglines, you want to define the values and you want to define descriptions, as an employer and then obviously translate this into amazing vacancies and social media content. And this is all to be done in just four weeks. So whenever a company says, I need months and months and months to create new as EVP. I don’t truly believe in it because you have to understand that an EVP, even if you spent 12 months on it, you will never score ten right away because you always need to execute it and then monitor it and then see what the most successful things are. So the best flow is to create this within four weeks is to plan your EVP and persona workshops. You can do 1 or 2, or if you have more, target groups, even more, simultaneously, you start your data research. So you want to have your data straight. And then you want to have, you want to host a strategy session in which, in which you invite all of your most important stakeholders in this process because you truly want to involve them and make them included. To actually get to the strategy of the company and to link it to the EVP strategy. And then you can consolidate all the different outcomes and creates based on this framework. You can create your EVP and personas, and that can all be done in four weeks. We have proven it, in practice, a lot of times.

What are do’s and don’ts when creating an EVP?

Then some dos and don’ts. Always keep it agile and fast. Don’t get into company politics. Just make sure that you move on with your projects. And you make people around you enthusiastic. If you have critical roles as sets, organize separate EVP and persona sessions. Also truly, test with using smart tools like ChatGPT and other tools that are connected to such platforms currently because they can really make your life easier and also continue to measure the impact. If you’re going to create ATP themes and create a content calendar, just see which posts work best. You see, with which tagline you are getting most of, direction to your career site and always, get the data straight to prove, the impact of the actions you’ve performed. And it’s truly essential to understand if you don’t get more recruitment results, something is going wrong, because we truly can emphasize on the fact that employer branding will improve. Good employer branding will improve your recruitment results. So by being more visible online and sharing the right message, you will get recruitment results in the end. So if you don’t, then that’s a sign that you need to adapt things and you need to get into action. And don’t, get into the sentiment that it’s not working. No, you just need to change some things.

Closing comments before Q&A

So if you want to, define a strong EVP in this year, you can obviously do it yourself. You have lots of information online to be found. The only thing is that sometimes if you don’t, if you’ve never done it before, we can’t tell you how long it will take. And of course, it’s for free. So that’s the best thing. And you can use our tips and templates to do it yourself. And you can keep measuring the impact with your, with your own, data sets. If you say, okay, I truly want to have a new EVP fast. I don’t have the resources over or I’ve never done it before. Then you have the possibility to, to ask us. And we, as the employer, have created, an amazing EVP program to help you create an EVP in one month, for, really attractive budgets. And. Yeah, if you want more information about this EVP program afterwards, you will receive an email requesting, the information about it. And of course, everyone, you can all go big and extensive, you can go for this six plus month process and 25 plus budget. If you want to, we have some companies that we truly believe in, and we can connect you to. But of course, assets. Practice what you preach. You always need to start with data. And we have, because a lot of our customers that we’ve worked with, needed convincing of their management, why employer branding was important and wanted to have data to prove how they are performing compared to their competitors. So we have created a free EVP scan where you get exactly that data that you need. So within this free EVP scanner you will get an email for registration office. After this webinar, you get an analysis of your current EVP. It will be benchmarked at two of your competitors and it will be compared to your industry standards. So you get an insight into strengths and weaknesses of your current ADP, and you can use all this data as the ultimate business case for management. So as next steps you will receive assets. This email, you can find the recording of the session, the registration to this free EDP scan. And if you have any individual questions or difficulties within your current, own business, you have the possibility to book of 50 minutes of free consult with me. Just to go over some of the, direct questions that you might have. So then, perfectly within time, I hope that you’ve gained a lot of new information about, this about your EVP journey and how to kick it off, the right way. 

Question 1: Is employer branding part of marketing or HR?

Well, this is different in many, many companies. But most success we see within employer branding is when HR slash recruitment is in the leads because it is different employee running then general marketing. But the involvement of marketing just empowers your employer. Brants. So I would advise you to always include them in the process. But you, as recruitment must stay in the lead because, it’s your purpose. It’s your, responsibility rights to attract people. You also have recruitment, interview. So you know what’s happening within your target group and within your space. But marketing skills can help in this process. So, for example, have SEO specialists or content creators involved in a process that will only empower your employer running journey. So I think then the second one. Oh, sorry. So I hope that answered your question.

Question 2: What are your experiences, with Chat GPT? For which purposes have you successfully tried them before?

GPT just can help you. Well, at least if I look at myself, I can better review texts than, created from, or created from a blank page myself. So what helps me with tools like ChatGPT when you have your prompts, right? Because you truly have to understand how the prompts work and how you need to influence such a platform. But if you know how to process work, then ChatGPT can easily help you just with the start. Because I kind of have an allergic reaction on EVP you can immediately recognize on LinkedIn, etc.. What an EVP of what a chat GPT post is, for example. So you really need to be cautious that you have your own tone of voice and you have your own, words that you use. But it can help you to just, get some those themes or inspiration for social media posts, or it can help you to just kick start a text that you can then afterwards review. So it just helps. It supports you in a way. But you have to be cautious that you remain your own tone of voice.