Key takeaways
- Define what the organisation offers and expects, using current workplace arrangements.
- Compare the recruitment message with employee and candidate experience.
- Audit the career page, vacancy text and hiring communication for conflicting promises.
- Carry the same expectations into onboarding and investigate gaps in practice.
Your employer brand is your reputation as an employer: what candidates and employees think and say about working for the organisation. Employer branding is the work you do to explain and influence that reputation.[1]
Start with the actual workplace. Compare what the organisation says with what people experience, then make the promise clear across recruitment, onboarding and employee communication.
Explain what the organisation offers as an employer
Write down the mission, values, culture and the work people contribute to. Explain the benefits and rewards employees can expect, alongside what the organisation expects from them.
An employee value proposition describes what the organisation stands for, offers and expects as an employer. Include the work, development and working arrangements as well as rewards. Use the conditions available to the people you are addressing and update the message when they change.[1]
Audit the touchpoints candidates and employees see
Review job descriptions, the career page, social channels, acceptance and rejection messages, onboarding material and internal communication. Check whether they describe the same organisation and expectations.
The candidate journey guide can help you map those contacts. Look for gaps between the early recruitment message and what someone hears when they begin preparing for work.
Consider an illustrative open-banking company hiring an Implementation Manager. Its career page promises support from experienced colleagues, but the vacancy also needs to explain the balance of customer conversations, technical coordination and provider relationships. Ask a recent starter which introductions and support they actually received. If the promised support was missing, give the manager a practical action and review date before repeating the promise in the next vacancy. The open banking employee journey shows how those contributors fit around the new hire.
Ask how people perceive the workplace
Ask candidates why they applied or accepted or declined an offer. Ask employees how they would describe the organisation to a friend, why they stay and what they would change.
Compare that feedback with the message in your recruitment material. If an advertised promise does not match the experience, investigate the workplace issue as well as the wording. Repeating the claim more often does not resolve the gap.
Use the channels candidates can find
A job description explains a specific role; the career page can show the wider workplace through accurate information, photographs and employee experiences. Keep both connected to usable application instructions.
Public reviews also give candidates information about the organisation. Read the feedback and respond thoughtfully where appropriate. Keep responses grounded in the facts you can share, rather than trying to control someone else's account of their experience.
Carry the message into the employee's start
After an offer is accepted, the new employee needs arrangements that match the expectations created during hiring. Connect recruitment information with the welcome, manager conversations and role learning.
The company culture in onboarding guide explains how to discuss values through everyday work. Request the hiring guide for a practical reference on job information, applications and interviews.
Sources
- CIPD. (2025, December 18). Employer brand. https://www.cipd.org/en/knowledge/factsheets/recruitment-brand-factsheet/
Where CapoFine fits
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