The Talent Cast
225 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 28 ratingsFrom James Ellis, the employer brand podcast dedicated to making you smarter about recruiting and hiring. Its time to re-invent employer branding, recruiting and hiring from the ground up! If you’re ready to throw off the shackles of conventional recruiting and employer brand thinking, this is the podcast for you. Nothing is safe. No best practice is sacred. Here, we get serious about what works, so that you can punch above your weight in the war for talent.
For more details: http://thetalentcast.com
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Episodes
The Impossible Employer Brand Metric
May 18, 2020 05:05 - 35 minutesLet us be blunt: the metrics we often use (time to fill, funnel conversion rates, quality of hire, cost per hire, etc) are... imprecise. And to be even more blunt, they aren't the kind of metrics that anyone outside of TA cares about. But what if there was one metric that every leader in every part of the business would immediately understand? Something they could all align to? There may be such a metric, even if it may not be possible to use. Show notes: Yes, the books are starting...
Creative vs Position
May 11, 2020 05:05 - 36 minutesWe all strive to build brand messages that stand out, that stick in people's minds long after they have been seen. So, how do you make that happen? Your instinct might be to ratchet up the creativity, to focus on making something unusual or with exceptional amounts of polish. But I'd suggest that better brand messages start with positioning, and in fact, can beat out more "creative" messages. Let's explore! Show Notes: Yes, the books are starting to roll out!!! The Employer Brand Han...
Finite and Infinite
May 04, 2020 05:05 - 31 minutesMost recruiting functions work (and treat candidates) as if there's always more fish in the sea. They act as if there are an unlimited supply of candidates, so their job is to just find more. But what about in circumstances where there is a fixed number of potential candidates? Aerospace engineers with security clearance, clinical researchers with MDs, veterinarians, etc? In this episode, we break down how employer brand strategy changes when you have a finite talent pool. Show Notes: ...
What Really Changed?
April 27, 2020 05:05 - 37 minutesIn the last two months, we've seen changes to almost every aspect of our lives, both professionally and personally. So it might stand to reason that our employer brands should change, too. But is that true? Perhaps the answer to that question may determine how successful our employer brands and EVPs ultimately are. Show Notes: Sign up for my free newsletter on employer brand headlines Want to ask me anything? I have open office hours. Grab your free spot.
The Four Drivers of Employer Brand
April 20, 2020 05:05 - 34 minutesBy now, you've been thinking about how your employer brand needs to react in light of...[looks around]... well, everything. Whether you inherited your brand or defined it yourself, things have changes and your brand needs to reflect it. But if you just slap a new brand on, how useful will that be? You need to re-think things. Which means you need to understand how your employer brand was formed in the first place. In this episode, we break down the four things that create your brand. If yo...
Culture Wars
April 13, 2020 05:05 - 45 minutesWhat is culture? And why is it I can still ask that question? You'd think after countless books, articles, podcasts, lectures and TED talks, we'd all know what we mean by culture. And yet, that doesn't seem to be the case. If you define your culture by your perks, this month has been quite the wake up call, hasn't it? If you think you can dictate culture, or that it remains static in the face of changing staff, leadership and... well, everything, you're going to be in trouble. In this...
Strength in Diversity
April 06, 2020 05:05 - 46 minutesIt feels to me that we often talk about the connection between diversity and employer brand as if its obvious, but is it really? In this conversation with my friend Madison Butler, VP of People at Sourced Craft Cocktails, we try to explore about the connection between the two ideas. Show notes: Madison Butler's LinkedIn Webinar with Elena Valentine: How Do You Build an Employer Brand When No One Is In The Same Room? Sign up for my free newsletter on employer brand headlines Wan...
Strategy, After the Fact
March 30, 2020 05:05 - 33 minutesIt really is a rare day when someone says, "go ahead and build our employer brand. We'll stand still for a few weeks or months while you figure it out..." More often, we are building a brand on top of existing ideas, collateral and content, trying to disparate ideas together that were never designed to go together. So in this episode, we examine the process of developing a strategy, brand and even EVP after you've already built a bunch of "stuff." Show notes: Webinar with Elena Vale...
Beyond the New Normal
March 23, 2020 05:05 - 36 minutesThis episode is a kind of natural second chapter to last week's Employer Brand In The Time of COVID. In that episode, we talked about how you need to start thinking about how to manage your brand when physical proximity can't be an assumption. In this episode, we go beyond that. Not to what happens beyond the crisis, but how do you think beyond the standard limitations of how we see employer branding as a function, as a player within the business. If you think your employer brand is just ...
Employer Brand in the Time of COVID-19
March 16, 2020 05:05 - 42 minutesWell, it seems like we're all working remotely all of a sudden, huh? While there are plenty of resources on how to manage employees and manage yourself in a remote-office situation, no one has asked how we're going to manage our employer brand remotely. Why does it matter? Because the context of work has dramatically changed. No more posters. no more water-cooler talk, no more information communications channels with which to socialize the brand. Thus, we take a deep dive into how y...
How Does It Feel?
March 09, 2020 05:05 - 34 minutesIf you take the definition of employer branding literally, you might be inclined to make employer brands for all the various teams, offices and roles within your company. I mean, that's how you're going to explain "what it's like to work here" with any kind of granularity and specificity. But what if you let go of the guide rail of "specificity" and focused on creating emotions in the prospects to attract them? And then, what if instead of telling specific stories, you talked about what i...
Employer Brand for Retention
March 02, 2020 06:05 - 28 minutesWe all know our first job is (or expected to be) one of attraction. And we all know that if we build a strong brand, it will impact retention. But how many of us are intentionally involving ourselves in the thorny retention issues of the company? In this episode, we talk about how you can get involved and how you can play a role in one of the most complex and important issues of any company.
The Authenticity Illusion
February 24, 2020 06:05 - 34 minutesWe all "know" that the employer brander's mantra is to create an authentic brand. What does that even mean? Is that even achievable? Is that even really a thing? Sadly, we've all brainwashed each other and ourselves into aspiring to something that crumbles with any scrutiny. But don't fret. Behind that fuzzy-bunny facade is something far more useful.
How to Work With Recruiters
February 17, 2020 06:05 - 34 minutesWhile your employer brand is really owned by everyone in your company, your recruiters do a great deal of heavy lifting to communicate, frame and amplify your branding message. So why do so many push back on your work? Don't they know that you're trying to help them??? In this episode, we get nitty gritty on building great relationships with recruiters to be the best possible advocates for you and your employer branding.
The Modular Employer Brand
February 10, 2020 06:05 - 26 minutesThe mistake in employer branding is to treat the brand as monolithic, as a single tagline repeated until you are blue in the face. In reality, a strong brand is modular, allowing you to pick and choose how to present it to various audiences while still maintaining a core (and very much aligned) sense of the company. But you can't do that on the fly. You need to build your brand to be modular from the ground up. Show notes: Sign up for my free newsletter on employer brand headlines...
The Three Minds of Employer Branding
February 03, 2020 06:05 - 26 minutesIn the beginning, many of us saw (and our bosses saw) employer branding as "stuff that needed to get done and solved." But as we solved issues, we started asking, "is this the right problem to solve?" and "how can we solve this issue so it never happens again?" But even this isn't enough. Having mastered tactics and strategy, there's still another mind you need to embrace in order to maximize your employer brand impact at work. Show notes: Sign up for my free newsletter on employer brand h...
Employer Bran, Fast and Slow
January 27, 2020 06:05 - 30 minutesMost employer brand professionals and practitioners or driven (and often pushed) to solve immediate problems, the kind that have immediate impacts, the kind others can see. But solving those kind of "urgent, but not always important" problems is now you you'll succeed in this role. Success comes from seeing the fast, urgent and immediate problems, but also looking to resolve the slow, important, and unobvious ones, too. Show notes: Sign up for my free newsletter on employer brand headlines W...
Lean Into the Suck
January 20, 2020 06:05 - 54 minutesIn this long conversation with the one and only Elena Valentine, we get into what employer branding means, branding fan fiction, telling better stories and all sorts of other goodies. Don't miss this one! Show notes: What?! You don't know Elena Valentine?! Twitter, Skill Scout, LinkedIn Sign up for my free newsletter on employer brand headlines Want to ask me anything? I have open office hours. Grab your free spot.
Useless Facts
January 13, 2020 06:05 - 27 minutesTo quote the one and only David Byrne (of Talking Heads, duh): "Facts are simple and facts are straight Facts are lazy and facts are late Facts all come with points of view Facts don't do what I want them to" Go to any career site and you'll see facts. Oodles and oodles of facts that mostly tell us nothing. And yet we keep stuffing facts into our work, despite the fact that they don't differentiate our brands or do much to support our narrative.
The Expectations Game
January 06, 2020 06:05 - 32 minutesIf you want to attract candidates, promise them the moon. But if you want them to engage and even stick around, you are going to have to learn how to set, manage (and occasionally exceed) candidate expectations. Employer branding is very much about excelling at the expectations game.
No New Tale To Tell
December 30, 2019 06:05 - 26 minutesRomeo and Juliet is the same story as West Side Story. Star Wars is a samurai fable. Mad Men is the same story as Breaking Bad. As you think about developing and managing your employer brand, you might wonder how your brand is supposed to stand out and be unique and authentic in a world where there are millions of brands, all vying for the same territory as you. Is it really possible? In this episode we think about story structure as a metaphor for how you can build your own brand.
Why Employer Brands Fail - Part Three
December 23, 2019 06:05 - 25 minutesThere are six common, but rarely-discussed, reasons why a company's employer brand initiative (or project or function) will fail. In this, the final in a three-part series, we'll break them down two at a time so you can avoid costly pitfalls and public failure. In this episode, we cover "No care and feeding plan" and "integration and activation."
Why Employer Brands Fail - Part Two
December 16, 2019 06:05 - 26 minutesThere are six common, but rarely-discussed, reasons why a company's employer brand initiative (or project or function) will fail. In this three-part series, we'll break them down two at a time so you can avoid costly pitfalls and public failure. In this episode, we cover "reflects politics rather than reality " and "poorly defined ownership."
Why Employer Brands Fail - Part One
December 09, 2019 06:05 - 29 minutesThere are six common, but rarely-discussed, reasons why a company's employer brand initiative (or project or function) will fail. In this three-part series, we'll break them down two at a time so you can avoid costly pitfalls and public failure. In this episode, we cover "poorly defined goals and intentions" and "built on the wrong stuff."
The Integrated Employer Brand
December 02, 2019 06:05 - 28 minutesThe Hatfields and McCoys. The Capulets and Montagues. Cats and Dogs. Me and Decaf. Employer brand and marketing. These are the feuds that never seem to die. What might be missing from your employer brand is to end the madness and make better friends with the marketing team, not just to access their tools (and budgets), but to move your organization towards one where employer brand and marketing aren't just civil, but integrated. Welcome to the future of the integrated brand.
Employer Brand 101
November 25, 2019 06:05 - 45 minutesThere are lots of articles (and a few books) that talk about the various work of employer branding within a company, but here is the the 101, the "here's what it means to be an employer brand practitioner" you can hand your new staff or someone interested in switching roles to help them see beyond the tactics and really make a difference. Show notes: Sign up for my free newsletter on employer brand headlines Want to ask me anything? I have open office hours. Grab your free spot.
Content Creation for Employer Branding
November 18, 2019 06:05 - 48 minutesGet your pen and paper out, folks! This is a deep dive into a tried and true process you can use to build a content creation machine that will help you build a steady stream of authentic, sharable content. And the best part? It's effectively free. Yes, free. In this episode I reveal a process for building 300+ long-form content pieces that are social-ready in less than a year and for almost no money. Sign up for my weekly employer brand headlines newsletter.
Making an Impact?
November 11, 2019 06:05 - 27 minutesWe've all been convinced that we need to talk about how joining our company will help you make an impact, make a mark, or generally have some purpose. But why? Is it a legacy of milliennial-attraction panic or something else? In this episode, we get serious about whether or not you should be listing "making an impact" as part of your employer brand. Find me: Recruitcon - NashvilleEmployer Brand Headlines Stay up to date on the podcast and the employer brand industry 99 Employer Brand Activ...
On Choice and Employer Brand
November 04, 2019 06:00 - 35 minutesWhen was the last time you asked yourself, "how are candidates making a choice?" Or "if I am asking people to choose my brand, what are they basing that choice on?" It seems funny that it almost never comes up. Because the means by which human beings make choices, be they about food, mates and even jobs, should be front and center of our own thinking. So in this week's episode, we go deep into how people choose to change their lives, and some surprising ideas on how to leverage that proce...
Make Your Employer Brand Stick
October 28, 2019 19:42 - 28 minutesYour employer brand isn’t your EVP. It isn’t your media plan. It isn’t your video, social media or advocacy strategies. It’s about what the staff says about what it’s like to work there. In this episode, we breakdown the three phases of every good employer brand strategy and how to make it really stick. Find me: Recruitcon – NashvilleEmployer Brand Headlines Stay up to date on the podcast and the employer brand industry 99 Employer Brand Activation Hacks
Junk Drawer (Vol 2)
October 28, 2019 19:36 - 41 minutesWe did it a year and a half ago and as we approach the end of year three, its time to clear out the notes and half-baked ideas to create a clean desk to begin year four. From attribution, metrics, behavior change and all things in between, thank you for listening. Show Notes: Andrew Gadomski’s article on measuring employer brand How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp Find me: HireConf – NYC Recruitcon – Nashville Employer Brand Headlines Stay up to date on the podcast and the employer brand industry
Does Salary Matter?
October 14, 2019 05:05 - 27 minutesAll the data suggests that salary is still the (or of the) primary drivers for job choices. But in a world where salary is be coming more transparent (and therefore similar), does a few bucks one way or the other really matter? The answer may surprise you. Find me: HireConf - NYC Recruitcon - Nashville Employer Brand Headlines Stay up to date on the podcast and the employer brand industry
Is Your Employer Branding Working?
October 07, 2019 05:05 - 28 minutesOkay, okay. You know employer brand is important as a means of attracting and hiring the great talent your business needs to grow. You've invested time and energy (and money!) establishing and promoting that brand, but... But... How do you know it's really working? That's what we'll talk about in this week's episode! Find me: Hired - Chicago (This week!!!) HireConf - NYC Recruitcon - Nashville Employer Brand Headlines (weekly digest of the EB world so you always look smart)
Should Employer Brand Ignore Recruiting?
September 30, 2019 05:05 - 31 minutesHave we made a huge mistake, putting recruiting at the front and center of our employer branding strategy? Hat tip to Ted Meulenkamp Find me: Recruitcon - Nashville HireConf - NYC Employer Brand Headlines (weekly digest of the EB world so you always look smart)
Reflect It or Change It
September 23, 2019 04:05 - 23 minutesA strong employer brand starts by revealing what exists. Your job is to uncover who the company is and what it's really like to work there. But that's only half the job. You can't stop there. Because there are few people in the position you're in, one that can see so much of the company, the different locations, teams, roles, styles, purposes, and desires. And with that position comes the responsibility for you to make the company better, to make the company more like the company it wants to ...
How Employer Brand Pros See the World
September 16, 2019 04:05 - 21 minutesIf you make your living as an employer brand professional, what is your job? Is it to write better job posts? Raise your Glassdoor score a little? Suggest better outreach messaging? Manage a CRM? Make hashtags? Obviously, you'll likely a lot of those jobs, but those jobs are in service of a single idea, one we often lose sight of as things get busy (and they are always busy). So here's your reminder of how you should see your job, and what you are being paid to really do. Find me: Recruitcon...
Make The Familiar Strange
September 09, 2019 05:05 - 14 minutesHow do you attract attention to your brand? Interestingly, its a lot like how you're going to build internal buy-in. You're going to make the familiar strange (and the strange familiar). Show notes: Communicating the New by Kim Erwin (great book!) Find me: Recruitcon - Nashville HireConf - NYC Employer Brand Headlines (weekly digest of the EB world so you always look smart)
Elephant In The Room
September 02, 2019 05:05 - 28 minutesEvery company and every brand has that thing they don't talk about. That thing that everyone knows but bends over backwards to avoid referencing. They have an elephant in the room. And if you're in charge of your employer brand, you can choose to ignore the elephant, but your candidates (who can see it clear as day) will think you're being disingenuous. Or, you could take into account that elephant and find a way to work it into your messaging. Because if you aren't managing your elephant, it...
Skin in the Game
August 26, 2019 05:05 - 27 minutesThe race to "easiest possible application" has not been a race worth winning. Our ATS's are clogged with applicants we wouldn't hire in a million years simply because we've made it so easy. So what's past "peak easy application?" A world in which we actively and intentionally make it harder for people to apply, to leverage the process itself and insert messages that filter great candidates from the rest. It's time to expect candidates to put some skin in the game. Find me: Recruitcon - Nashv...
Create Meaning
August 19, 2019 05:05 - 29 minutesInfluencing ratings, encouraging talking points, framing values and establishing a shared north star for every one in our company may sound like our job, but it isn't. Our job as employer brand professionals is far deeper, far more difficult and interesting. Our job is to create meaning in the minds of our candidates and employees. Did no one tell you? Oops. Find me: Recruitcon - Nashville HireConf - NYC Employer Brand Headlines (weekly digest of the EB world so you always look smart)
Raise the Stakes
August 12, 2019 05:05 - 30 minutesYou know your employer brand is important. I know your employer brand is important. And there are probably a few other people in your company who would agree. But a lot of people see investment in employer brand as a vanity project, as a fluffy-bunny nice-to-have project and not the crucial element in hiring success we know it is. You might be inclined to try and fly under the radar to get your work done, but a better strategy might be to show everyone how crucial employer brand really is. Yo...
Creating Business Value with Employer Branding
August 05, 2019 05:05 - 28 minutesIt's not a magic trick. A strong employer brand doesn't just attract a better class of talent, it actually helps shape perceptions of everyone in the business. Done well, you can help people inside and outside your company see the business as more valuable than before. Find me: Recruitcon - Nashville HireConf - NYC Employer Brand Headlines (weekly digest of the EB world so you always look smart)
What Is A Job?
July 29, 2019 05:05 - 29 minutesHold up! It's not an arcane or crazy question or abstract zen koan. It's a legit question: what exactly is a job. Turns out that how we see it, how we answer that question has huge repercussions on how we find and develop talent in our organization. Find me: Recruitcon - Nashville HireConf - NYC Employer Brand Headlines (weekly digest of the EB world so you always look smart)
Make Patterns, Not Consistency
July 22, 2019 05:05 - 16 minutesBuilding consistency is easy: take what you already did and do it again. Take what someone learned and use it without learning. Follow the leader and paint by numbers someone else laid. And if that's all branding was, robots would take all our jobs. But it isn't. In fact, great brands are about consistency, but about understanding the core elements within the brand experience and think of ways to re-apply them to other arts of the business. They don't try to copy, they create patterns. Which ...
Reach and Clarity: Why Your Employer Brand Is Never Really Done
July 15, 2019 05:05 - 29 minutesThinking about employer branding can get complicated in a hurry. There are so many ways to describe, measure and understand your brand, it makes it hard to compare one brand to another. When I audited brands, one tool I developed was the "reach and clarity" model, a way to see how you stack up against another brand simply and see where you should be applying your energy. Want to hear it? I thought you might. Find me: MRA Minneapolis Recruitcon - Nashville HireConf - NYC Yes! you can have my ...
The Bonsai Tree
July 08, 2019 05:05 - 20 minutesThere seem to be two schools of thought on employer branding: reveal the brand and be authentic as possible, or manufacture what you think your audience wants to hear. These two positions seem mutually exclusive, but employer branding success happens when you find that middle path. What path is that? You'll just have to listen in to find out (though the title kinda gives it away). Find me: RecFest - London MRA Minneapolis Recruitcon - Nashville HireConf - NYC Yes! you can have my ebook!
How To Pay For Your Employer Brand
July 01, 2019 05:05 - 45 minutesThere are ways to spend a lot of money on your employer brand (and a lot of reasons to do so), but how on earth do you pay for it? In this episode, we walk through one scenario to show you how even you can pay for an impactful employer brand. Find me: RecFest - London MRA Minneapolis Recruitcon - Nashville HireConf - NYC Yes! you can have my ebook!
Painful Questions
June 24, 2019 05:05 - 36 minutesYou can't find better solutions until you ask better questions. But too often we couch, hedge and soften our questions because deep down, we don't REALLY want to know the answers. Rather than build questions to make ourselves look and feel better, if we build the most painful questions possible, we rip the blinders from our eyes and discover see the world for what it really is. Only then can we make real impact. Find me: Transform - Boston RecFest - London MRA Minneapolis Recruitcon - Nashvi...
The Perfect Career Site
June 17, 2019 05:05 - 41 minutesEver been to an amazing career site? Me neither. Regardless of the platform, this thing you rely on to help candidates fall in love with your brand is a lot closer to stale bread than pastry. So we examine the question of how to build a great career site. Places I'm speaking: Transform - Boston RecFest - London SRSC - Philly MRA Minneapolis Recruitcon - Nashville
Challengers
June 10, 2019 05:05 - 41 minutesWhen we talk about brands, we usually talk about brand leaders, the people in the market with the leverage and power to do amazing things because they are the market leaders. No one talks about the power of the Zune brand, they only talk about iPhones. And that's great if you're one of those handful of leaders. But what about everyone else? It turns out, if you aren't a leader, you're one of two brands: a follower or a challenger: those willing to stay safely out of the lead, and those willin...