“Before a candidate goes into an interview, before a journalist picks up the phone, before a client approves a proposal, there is already an opinion formed about your organization. And most of the time, that perception isn't born from the information you share. It comes from what employees say when no one has asked them to talk.”
Think about the last time you evaluated a potential partner, supplier or professional opportunity. You probably started with LinkedIn. You read reviews on Glassdoor, looked for comments on forums or social networks, tried to understand what it's like to work for that company. Before any direct contact, you already had a perception built up.
This is precisely what happens in all organizations. Every day.
According to various studies, 86% of interested parties research organizational culture and employee evaluations before applying for a position. This means that most talent-related decisions are being influenced by conversations, testimonials and reputational signals over which companies often have little influence/control.
The question is no longer whether your brand, as an employer, exists. It does. The real question is whether or not it is being managed strategically.
“Your brand's most credible voices are already part of the organization. The question is: what are they saying?”
Eemployer branding goes beyond Human Resources
For too long, the employer branding has been treated as an extension of recruitment: careers pages, talent attraction campaigns or occasional content about the day-to-day running of the company. An interesting asset, but rarely a priority. The approach made sense when the impact was limited to hiring. Today, it's no longer enough.
When an organization communicates its purpose, culture and values externally, but employees publicly describe a different reality, the problem is no longer just one of attracting talent. It becomes a problem of trust. And trust influences everything: customer relations, media perception, retention capacity, reputation with investors and even the legitimacy of leadership.
That's why employer branding can no longer be seen as just an HR tool. It is increasingly becoming a strategic dimension of reputation management, and therefore a natural ground for corporate communication and public relations.
The challenge of authenticity
“Authenticity” has become one of the most used words in the discourse of brands looking to attract talent. The problem is that it is often used to describe something that only seems genuine, and not necessarily something that corresponds to reality, which weakens organizations. The difference between the value proposition presented in the onboarding and the real experience of employees tends to be obvious to everyone... except, sometimes, to those who designed the institutional narrative.
The organizations that succeed today in building attractive brands are those that start with the most difficult internal work: listening consistently, creating real mechanisms for feedback, The company will be able to take action on recurring problems identified in exit interviews and communicate honestly what it means in practice to work for that company.
Because internal reputation is not built with slogans. It is built with practice and experience.
Leadership communicates, even when it is silent
The relationship between executive communication and employer branding became inseparable.
Whenever a CEO speaks publicly about organizational culture, in an internal meeting, in an interview or in a post on social media, he or she is contributing to the construction of the organizational culture. employer branding of the organization. And when you choose not to communicate, that silence also conveys a message.
Candidates observe. Employees interpret. Journalists evaluate.
In a context of pressure on trust in institutions, the visibility of leadership has become one of the most relevant reputational signals. Recent studies show that 75% of people trust companies whose leaders communicate clearly about values, purpose and positioning.
Even before there is an institutional campaign, there is already a public reading of the organization.
Employer branding: a matter of business
The financial impacts of employer branding are widely documented. Organizations with good employer branding are able to reduce recruitment costs, improve retention levels and increase team commitment. But the most significant impact is something else. The line between corporate reputation and reputation as an employer has disappeared. The way a company treats its employees directly influences the way it is perceived by the market, customers and public opinion.
There are no different reputations. There is only one. And it inevitably starts within the organization.