How to Land a Career in Employer Branding

Employer branding exploded over the last few years, underscoring the value it offers to the masses. And with it brings a whole new career field to break into. If you’re considering a career in employer branding but aren’t sure where to start, this article is for you.

What is employer branding?

You’ve likely come across employer branding countless times. As a job seeker, maybe you explored a company’s hiring page on a job board, grabbed some collateral at a hiring event, or had a recruiter email you about an opportunity.

As an employee, maybe you’ve been tapped to be in a company culture video, encouraged to submit employee referrals, or asked to reshare a job openings post to your LinkedIn. Although this is a very simplified way of showcasing employer branding, it’s also one of the easiest ways to illustrate the different touchpoints you’re constantly exposed to.

Employer branding is how a company represents itself to candidates and employees. It conveys a consistent message about its employee experience, what it offers its employees, and why someone would want to join. This messaging can be shared through their career site, job boards, hiring events, recruiter communications, content, social media, ads, awards, and much more.

Think of it this way: employer branding is for talent acquisition, as marketing is for sales. It’s about creating awareness, attraction, and conversion (applications). The goal of employer branding isn’t just to attract more talent but to help attract the right talent. It provides a window into an organization by offering specific information and insights so candidates can ensure the culture, people, job, and values align with what they’re looking for. An employer brand also aims to avoid people who wouldn’t thrive in their unique environment.

I’ve worked in employer branding for the last decade. Watching how much it’s evolved and being part of it has been exciting. New talent is joining from other job functions and bringing a wealth of skills. Companies are investing more and providing resources/budgets to take the role further than in the past, raising the bar for all of us in the field.

We’re just scratching the surface. There’s so much to explore for those looking to transition into this field.

Which area of employer branding appeals to you?

Employer branding is a big function. As you consider your transferable skills and interests, it would be helpful to know what areas to focus on to ensure you’re targeting the right roles. Here are three main avenues to consider:

Branding: you’ll own the overall strategy and brand. This means figuring out the brand messaging (e.g., the EVP, pillars, communications), positioning the brand, initiatives, and channels to invest in, reputation management, etc. You’ll likely manage the high-level strategy and will work with internal and external partners to deploy tactics to activate it. Someone in this role will thrive if they’re a big-picture thinker who can synthesize a lot of information to pull together a strategic plan, are good at influencing others to get buy-in, and can project manage well.
Marketing: you’ll activate the brand with specific tactics. Based on the strategy and goals, you’ll implement marketing initiatives to achieve a certain outcome (e.g., apply, come to an event, sign up for a talent community, etc.). This can include short-term projects or longer campaigns. It might focus on one area or require an integrated marketing strategy. Similar to corporate marketing, someone in this role may need specific skills to execute, such as content creation, social media management, email marketing strategy, event planning, advertising, and more.
Generalist: you’ll own both the strategy and the activation. This isn’t uncommon for companies hiring their first employer brander, smaller companies with lean teams, or companies hiring contractors. You’ll blend both the branding and the marketing function to be a jack of all trades.

Of course, these areas can have more specialized roles, especially for larger organizations with full employer branding teams. For example, a company might have branders who focus on specific segments (e.g., markets, industries, or job functions). These branders will take the overarching employer brand and figure out how to strategize it based on what’s relevant for their target segment.

A company might need recruitment marketers with specific tactical skills like media buying, content development, PPC strategy, or event planning. So, rather than owning the marketing strategy from end to end, you may own an area or two to specialize in.

Which skills should you build first?

Depends on where you’re coming from and where you’re going. People who break into this field often come from HR, talent acquisition, or corporate marketing. Based on that, you’ll be stronger in some areas and need to build up in others. Additionally, what you’re targeting will narrow down what you want to invest your time in.

If you’re going for a branding role, I’d recommend building stronger skills in communications, project management, brand strategy and development, presentation, and analytical skills. For a marketing role, maybe focus on things like content creation (especially copywriting, light design for social media assets, and short employee-generated videos), how to work with specific platforms/channels used in recruiting (such as job boards, social channels, CRM), general knowledge of ads/PPC, event planning, and working with internal/external teams to produce things for bigger initiatives such as booth design, collateral, and so on.

If you already have these skills, then it’s just a matter of getting a deeper understanding of talent acquisition and employer branding so you can illustrate how your skills can apply to this role’s needs.

Again, employer branding is a huge function. I recommend looking at job descriptions and LinkedIn profiles of people in these roles to see which skills consistently show up and what interests you the most. This can help you determine which skills will be most impactful.

How can you build these skills?

If you’re working somewhere, the easiest way would be to connect with your talent acquisition leader (or the employer brander, if they have one) to see if there are stretch projects you can work on.

If you’re open to freelance or contract opportunities, search for those roles or contact those in the industry to see if you can do micro-projects to build your skills. Employer brand teams typically run lean, so it may be easy to find opportunities to do project-based work to bulk up your portfolio until you’re ready for a full-time role.

Consider consulting or working at an agency if you already have solid skills but want to break into the industry. Many companies use employer branding services for a specific focus, such as building the EVP, creating a career site, crafting social media posts, designing collateral, managing ads and PPC, etc. This can be a great way to transition into the industry using those much-needed skills you already have.

Lastly, you can get more involved in industry-related activities, such as events, communities, webinars, certification courses, etc. The next section provides more on that.

Which resources are available to learn and grow in employer branding?

Honestly, I didn’t even know where to start with this section because there are so many options these days. I only wish I had these when I was first starting out! Of course, you can simply search or ask those in the industry which they prefer to build out your resource list. However, these are some great options to start with:

Publications:

ERE
Rally Recruitment
Employer Branding Hub by Link Humans
Employer Brandwagon by The Martec
Universum Employer Branding Resources
Job board blogs such as LinkedIn Talent, Glassdoor’s employer blog, and Built In’s employer blog

Books:

“Employer Branding For Dummies” by Richard Mosley and Lars Schmidt
“Give and Get Employer Branding: Repel the Many and Compel the Few with Impact, Purpose and Belonging” by Bryan Adams and Charlotte Marshall
“Talent Chooses You: Hire Better with Employer Branding” by James Ellis

Certifications, Training, and Courses:

Events:

Communities:

You can also simply reach out to people in the role to network (myself included!). If there’s one thing I know is true about many employer branders, they’re generous with their time and knowledge. Whether it’s a quick message to point you in the right direction or ongoing calls to exchange ideas, share insights, or simply learn from one another, they’re likely open to connecting.