Is your corporate employment brand fake, or authentic?

Presenting a phony version of your culture can be harmful in the long run. Take strides to convey a more genuine representation of your company to potential hires.

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That’s because HR and executives approve the messaging, and they rarely know what the employment brand truly is, so communicators end up with stuff like this:

Seems pretty cool, right? It’s inoffensive and inclusive, and it makes us feel good about ourselves and our organization—but for the most part, it’s a big lie.

That’s marketing. It’s not marketing’s job to tell you the truth. It’s marketing’s job to get you to buy something. Sometimes it’s just some product or service. Sometimes it’s the church down the street with the cool young pastor and a rock band. Sometimes it’s working for your organization.

Corporate messaging is often a reflection of what executives hope and dream for the organization to become, which may or may not represent reality. They’re all in on making it happen, but it doesn’t make it true.

Who wants to work for an organization that puts up a commercial of some manager unable to communicate what needs to be done, and Bobby down in accounting carping that he only got a 14-pound turkey from the company this year? No one.

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