Employer Branding Terms

Campus communication is the communication an employer builds with university students and recent graduates around career opportunities, working life and company culture.

Candidate communication is the written and spoken communication an employer has with candidates, from before they apply until the hiring decision.

Candidate experience is the sum of every interaction a candidate has with a company, from seeing the job ad to the offer or rejection.

A candidate journey map shows the touchpoints a person meets from first getting to know an employer to the end of the recruitment process, and what they experience at each one.

A candidate persona is a fictional but data-based profile of a target talent segment: motivations, information sources, decision criteria and concerns.

The career page is the section of a company website that presents the employer brand, culture, open roles and application process to candidates: the digital shopfront of the employer brand.

The consumer brand promises products and services to customers; the employer brand promises a working experience to employees and candidates. They share one corporate identity but differ in audience, message and channel.

Employee advocacy is employees voluntarily sharing the company's employer brand in their own networks: the most credible employer brand channel.

An employee referral programme is a recruitment practice in which employees can recommend candidates from their network for open positions and referrals are assessed under set rules.

An employee story is content that tells a real employee's experience, career journey or a day at work: concrete proof of the employer brand promise.

Employee-generated content is writing, photos, audio or video that an organisation’s employees create about their own work, teams or experience of working there.

An employer brand audit systematically reviews every candidate and employee touchpoint, content and data set to reveal strengths and weaknesses.

Employer brand identity is the set of visual and verbal elements an organisation uses to show what kind of employer it is.

An employer brand maturity model places a company's employer brand management on a scale from "reactive" to "strategic and measured".

Employer brand perception research measures how employees and candidates see the company as an employer through surveys, interviews and focus groups.

An employer brand strategy is the plan that brings target audiences, positioning, EVP, key messages, channels and KPIs together in one roadmap.

An employer brand’s tone of voice defines the words an organisation uses with candidates and employees, how it addresses them and the tone it adopts in each situation.

Employer branding is how a company is perceived as a place to work by current and potential employees: the sum of the experience, values and promises it offers.

An employer branding agency is a specialist agency that manages how a company is perceived by employees and candidates through research, strategy, creative and digital channel management.

The EVP is the essence of what a company offers its people — pay and benefits, career, culture, work and purpose — the organisation's answer to "why should I work here?".

EVP activation is how an organisation makes the value it offers employees tangible in recruitment, development, recognition and the everyday experience of work.

Internal branding is the work that helps employees understand the promise a brand makes to its customers and act in line with it in their own roles.

A realistic job preview is a method that shows candidates a role’s daily tasks, working conditions, opportunities and challenges before they start.

Recruitment marketing applies marketing methods — targeting, content, campaigns, funnel analysis — to attract candidates and convert them into applicants.

A talent pool is a community of qualified candidates a company builds relationships with and keeps in touch with for future roles.