What is your startup’s EVP and why it matters
It’s no secret that hiring the best talent in today’s market is increasingly a challenge.
A crucial part of this growing war for talent is the ability of companies to attract the right talent rather than simply playing a numbers game with emails and LinkedIn messages.
As a post by Smart Recruiters put it, “today’s job candidates stress the importance of company culture, social initiative, and work-life balance more than previous generations”. What this means for recruiters is that companies need to increase emphasis candidate facing strategies.
We’ve already spoken about Employer Branding in a previous post, but now let’s turn to the idea of Employee Value Proposition and why it matters!
Using the definition of Tulsie, an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) focuses on the unique attributes, qualities, and benefits an employer provides for their employees in exchange for the employee’s talents and experience.
If your employer brand is the creative expression of your promise to a potential employee, an EVP defines the values and characteristics you want your company to be associated with as an employer. In other words it is the ‘why’ that underpins your employer brand.
As the diagram above shows, the “give and get” of an employment deal goes beyond simple monetary remuneration. When setting a recruitment strategy, companies should closely align their EVP to focus on areas such as:
- Rewards: Salary, Vacation Days, Other Benefits?
- Work: Job-interest alignment and work-life balance
- Organization: Market position, product/service quality, and social responsibility
- Opportunity: Career growth opportunities, development and training opportunities, and organization growth rate
- People: Company culture, Manager and coworker quality, senior leadership reputation, and camaraderie
It might be easy to look at the list above and just add a bunch of perks to your job listing, call it an EVP and then begin your talent hunt. But this misses the core of an effective EVP: making your candidate care about what your company stands for, and feel motivated to want to join.
These are not only high-quality candidates but typically the most productive members of any given team in the long run.
EVP is not a stand-alone strategy
Building an EVP strategy is much like building any strategy — it requires implementation. As the diagram below highlights, your EVP is transmitted at each stage of the hiring process by recruitment marketing.
From initial awareness building in public events, reviews, and social media, candidates will already be forming an idea of what a company is like to work at. This narrative will likely define their perception of the hiring process and can be shaped further down the funnel. Interview experience, compensation packaging, and even onboarding can also be ways to transmit an EVP.
In this way, your EVP must reflect the company’s core values and be woven into everything you do. It is not a one-time strategy, it is a living heartbeat of what your team stands for.
Think of companies you would love to work at. What is about them you love? Why do you love them? Understanding these questions can begin helping you to share your own company’s EVP and communicate the value to a hiring manager. Ignoring your EVP restricts your employer brand and eventually could even spill over into your core business.
Invest time in getting your EVP right and your quest for talent will gradually become easier and easier as great people join your community.
