Key takeaways:
- Francesca McCaffrey at MassMutual, Keri La Ra at U.S. Bank, and Danny Francisco at Bristol Myers Squibb shared key steps for talent leaders to equip recruiters with employee value propositions.
- Using quarterly meetings to meet with recruiting teams can help provide training and education around your company’s EVP to help bring in top talent.
- It’s essential to supply your recruiters with resources on your EVP to create authentic connections and use their feedback to measure the progress of your EVP.
A key part of leveraging your employee value proposition (EVP) is equipping recruiters with resources and materials to support their efforts. Setting up recruiters for success is essential for using the messaging within your EVP, which enables recruiters to be energized when engaging with candidates.
The Talent Marketing Board spoke to several employer brand and recruitment marketing leaders at large companies about how you can educate recruitment teams on your EVP, provide resources to support their success, and gain feedback on how your marketing materials are performing.
Here are some key steps to effectively equip recruiters with your organization’s EVP.
Educate and Train Recruiters on the Employee Value Proposition
Provide Presentations Around the EVP
A key first step in deploying your EVP is educating and training your recruiters on the messaging and pillars that candidates find most valuable. Talent Marketing Board Member Francesca McCaffrey, Employer Brand Marketing Consultant at MassMutual, shared how you can inform recruitment teams on your EVP pillars during a panel discussion about activating EVPs across your enterprise.
“I think that one thing here is going on the road internally and doing presentations to your recruiting team and to their hiring managers and their stakeholders, and really getting teams energized about using the EVP messaging when they’re hiring,” Francesca said.
She explained how these presentations should include information about the toolkits for EVPs to support recruitment efforts and provide education on marketing materials.
One key area Francesca said to focus on is language for social media and in-person events to engage with candidates.
“That’s just as important,” Francesca said. “Make sure recruiters have some tidbits that they’re able to share and they feel comfortable with.”
Make sure recruiters have some tidbits that they’re able to share and they feel comfortable with.
Francesca McCaffrey, Employer Brand Marketing Consultant at MassMutual
Empower Recruiters with Authentic Storytelling
It’s essential that your recruiters provide candidates with a genuine and authentic experience when explaining information to your company’s EVP. At U.S. Bank, Talent Marketing Board Chair and Head of Talent Attraction and Experience Keri La Ra shared how empowering recruiters with talking points can make the candidate experience more authentic.
“We’re also making sure that our recruiters have a voice,” Keri said. “They are the number one touch point with candidates, and the talking points are absolutely critical.”
She said it’s helpful to understand how the EVP resonates with recruiters during their outreach to candidates. Her team provides exercises for recruiters around how they would activate their EVP outside of standard outreach.
“How could they infuse the EVP when they’re talking to candidates?” Keri asked. “There’s still that authentic connection they’re making based on their own journey within U.S. Bank. We’re trying to empower our recruiters to have that authentic story to share with candidates as well.”
We’re also making sure that our recruiters have a voice. They are the number one touch point with candidates, and the talking points are absolutely critical.
Keri La Ra, Head of Talent Attraction and Experience at U.S. Bank
Resources to Help Recruiters Leverage the Employee Value Proposition
Provide Access to EVP MaterialsAcross the Enterprise
After providing initial training around your EVP, it’s critical that your recruitment teams have access to the resources to help them leverage the pillars you wish to highlight.
Talent Marketing Board Chair Danny Francisco, Digital Project Manager of Strategic Talent Attraction at Bristol Myers Squibb, shared how her team provides EVP materials to all employees.
“One of the things we worked on and made sure we were thinking through in the beginning was a data asset management system,” Danny said. “Our corporate brand team has a portal and we have a talent acquisition section of that portal that is available to all employees.”
She explained how their portal continues to grow with resources and how everything across their enterprise has access to the company’s EVP materials. When recruitment teams need to refer to the materials, they can download resources as needed. Danny explained all the materials are pre-approved by their legal team, which makes it easier for people to access and share.
Francesca noted how toolkits can provide support for recruitment teams as well.
“Put together a toolkit for [recruiters] somewhere on your intranet or in a folder so they might be able to access things like LinkedIn banners, talking points, or the boilerplate language about your company, as well as the full language of your EVP,” Francesca said.
One of the things we worked on and made sure we were thinking through in the beginning was a data asset management system. Our corporate brand team has a portal and we have a talent acquisition section of that portal that is available to all employees.
Danny Francisco, Digital Project Manager of Strategic Talent Attraction at Bristol Myers Squibb
Employee Advocacy Programs are Essential in Supporting Recruitment Efforts
Incorporating employee advocacy into your recruitment efforts enables employees to share their experiences within your organization. Francesca shared how employee advocacy helps recruiters to amplify their voices and engage with top talent.
“A lot of times when we think about talking points, we think about a leader giving a speech on a panel or at a conference,” Francesca said. “But recruiter-to-candidate interactions at events at your booth, that’s just as important. Making sure recruiters have some tidbits that they’re able to share that they feel comfortable with naturally talking about your EVP is really important.”
Keri added how creating a shared experience through brand ambassadors and employee advocacy helps recruiters feel more comfortable in sharing their stories.
“This brand ambassador concept, I would say start that as soon as possible,” Keri said. “There’s so much value in that alone, and in getting people comfortable to tell your story and not contriving it. But everybody’s telling the same story because what’s relevant for each employee might look and feel a bit differently.”
Gain Feedback From Recruiters on Marketing Materials
Internal Feedback Provides Insight into What Resonates with Recruiters
It’s important to understand how your EVP messaging is performing by gaining feedback from your recruiters. This includes determining which pillars recruiters use and value the most.
Danny explained how regular conversations with recruitment teams are essential to guide your strategy.
“It’s sometimes those regular wrap-up meetings and the monthly reviews that you get those, ‘We just hired three people, and they all said they saw the ads on LinkedIn,’” Danny said. “They said that’s why they applied or that’s why they joined. Those are those ‘aha’ moments.”
Francesca noted how these regular conversations with recruiters are helpful for adjustments and providing better connections in the candidate experience.
“One thing that I’ve always found helpful is having regular conversations with recruiters,” Francesca said. “Making sure that conversationally, you’re connecting with people often and getting those anecdotes of what pieces of content candidates bring up in interviews, or when they react to when a recruiter will send links to certain blog articles or pieces of social reports.”
She shared how using tracking links to measure performances of content and seeing how employees interact with marketing materials can help provide further feedback on what resonates with recruitment teams.
External Feedback Helps Measure Which Marketing Materials are Performing Well
Along with getting internal feedback, Keri explained how measuring external experiences can provide insight into which marketing efforts are most effective.
“The only thing I would add is understanding what’s happening in the consumer world and the evolution there,” Keri said. “It’s also keeping tabs with your consumer marketing teams on how things are evolving there that might be impactful to what you’re doing on the recruiting side of the house.”
Elevate Your Employee Value Proposition with a Community of Senior Talent Leaders
Francesca, Danny, and Keri shared more insights around activating your EVP across your enterprise during a panel discussion hosted by the Talent Marketing Board. They gave insights into gaining leadership support on EVPs, measuring the progress of EVPs, balancing expectations, and much more.
Our community of senior talent leaders is sharing best practices around activating EVPs at large organizations. If you lead employer brand and recruitment marketing at a large company, you can apply to learn more about some of the strategies your peers are deploying to advance EVPs and equip recruiters with resources to bring in top talent.
