Define Your EVP and Use It to Attract Candidates

In today’s highly competitive job market, attracting top talent requires more than just offering competitive salaries and benefits. Companies must be able to differentiate themselves and communicate their unique value proposition to potential candidates. This is where the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) comes into play.

Understanding the Employee Value Proposition (EVP):

The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is a comprehensive offering that companies provide to their employees. It is the answer to the candidate’s questions: “Why should I work for your company instead of somewhere else? What’s in it for me?” While compensation and benefits are important, EVP goes beyond that and encompasses five main components: compensation, benefits, career, work environment, and company culture.

Defining Your Candidate Persona:

To effectively define your company’s EVP, it is crucial to understand your target audience. This involves creating a candidate persona, a detailed profile of your ideal candidate. By understanding their needs, motivations, and aspirations, you can tailor your EVP to resonate with them and attract the right talent. This can be developed through workshops and employee interviews to understand the detail behind the choices people have made in joining your business. Using a third party to host these sessions can enable individuals to feel comfortable and safe in giving a “warts and all” answer that can help underpin your EVP. It’s crucial that people feel secure in their setting whilst giving answers that feed into your EVP.

Specifying Each Component of Your EVP:

Once you have identified your candidate persona, it’s time to define each main component of your EVP. Start by analysing your company’s compensation structure and ensure that it aligns with market standards. Next, consider the benefits you offer, including health, dental, retirement, tuition, and disability benefits. Additionally, emphasise paid time off, life insurance, and other perks that contribute to a well-rounded EVP. Compensation and benefits aren’t the only thing that candidates will look for, but they are probably the first.

Career development is another important aspect of EVP. Highlighting potential opportunities for training, education, and growth within your organisation can add to your attraction with potential candidates as they seek an organisation that can support them as well as them supporting the business. This could include mentorship programs, skill-building workshops, and clear paths for advancement. Having this defined and available for candidates to understand strengthens your pull as a business.

A positive work environment is crucial for attracting candidates. Showcase your company’s commitment to work-life balance, personal achievement, and employee well-being. Emphasise flexible work arrangements, employee recognition programs, and a supportive culture that fosters collaboration and innovation. As the recruitment market changes, candidates have more and more choices and your organisation must be a place that encourages your employees to have a strong balance between working and balancing their lives.

Company culture is the final component of EVP. Highlight the positive relationships and team spirit within your organisation. Showcase testimonials from current employees and demonstrate how your company values diversity, inclusion, and a sense of purpose. Video content is a particularly effective tool to showcase this. Having staff members at different levels educating potential joiners about the culture within this business helps paint a picture in an easily digestible format.

Personalising Your EVP:

To effectively use your EVP, customisation is key. Segment and personalise your EVP based on the specific needs and preferences of your target audience. This can involve creating tailored messaging, designing targeted recruitment campaigns, and leveraging different communication channels such as your career site, social networks, and industry-specific platforms. Candidates will look across a range of sites to gain a full picture of a company they may join.

Promoting Your EVP:

Once you have defined and personalised your EVP, it’s time to promote it. Leverage various content formats, such as team blogs, videos, and testimonials, to showcase your EVP to potential candidates. Utilise communication channels like your career site, social media platforms, and industry events to reach a wider audience. Additionally, encourage your employees to become brand ambassadors by sharing their positive experiences and stories. The wider you can share your story the more likely candidates are to see the content and engage with the business.

Candidates will look at your company jobs page, Glassdoor, and any social pages you have. It’s important that if you have social media presence that you use them, or they’re simply not worth having. LinkedIn is the one you do need to be posting on. You will have good stories from the people behind your organisation, sharing these on your most visible (and free) platform is a no-brainer when it comes to shouting about your EVP.

Example of Effective EVP:

In this BMW video, employees share what makes BMW Group a special employer and why they chose a career with BMW over other companies. It highlights the company’s commitment to innovation, teamwork, and personal development. This is a fine example of a well-made video that can showcase in a minute and a half what the company stands for an inspire future candidates to choose them.

Not all companies have the budget of BMW but with modern technology, creating compelling content doesn’t have to be expensive. Candidates will want to see people like them in jobs that they might have. This could be a new warehouse candidate filmed on their phone walking around their workplace discussing the positive experience they have had in their opening weeks.

In a competitive job market, defining and effectively utilising your EVP is crucial for attracting top talent. By understanding your target audience, defining each component of your EVP, personalising it, and promoting it through various channels, you can differentiate your company and entice the right candidates to join your company. Remember, an effective EVP goes beyond compensation and benefits and encompasses the overall employee experience, career development, work environment, and company culture. Start defining your own EVP today and set yourself apart in the talent market.