May 23th, 2023
First thoughts about EBcon 2023
On the 11th of May, we reunited again with the enthusiastic HR & Employer Branding community for the 4th edition of EBcon 2023, the regional Employer Branding Conference, powered by talent attraction experts from Catalyst Solutions.
Recruiters, professionals and people driven by a strong passion for new marketing strategies, had the chance to attend face-to-face keynotes and Masterclasses. Twelve masterminds from all around the world, each came with their insights to create the perfect puzzle and discover together the true meaning of employer branding.
This year we attentively prepared an extensive agenda and invited global brand managers and project founders, representing reputed companies in their area of expertise, to share the main reasons why they managed to get at the forefront of groundbreaking changes within the labour market.
Check what big names from the Employer Branding World shared their successful stories at EBcon 2023!
Each one of the speakers highlighted different facets of marketing strategies that worked for their companies and encouraged other professionals to delve into the heart of EVP: company culture, reshaping the system through gaming, the hiring competitive market, remote work, values and teamwork benefits, retaining employees methods, organigrams, strengthening strategies, social listening capabilities, AI, and, nevertheless, the Most Desired Employers survey data.
Here are some of the best parts that really stuck with us at EBcon 2023 and hopefully you will resonate with them and inspire you as well:
We truly live in a new reality! Other days, other expectations.
Peter Hammer, Global Brand Director at Nagarro, took the participants for a bit back to the 1990s, the golden age of HR. The expectations on both sides were low: the only thing the candidate was looking for was a job and the salary, no other wishes to be granted by the employer. On the other side, the companies had all the power to exploit and mistreat the employees as long as they had their money for their work.
As time passed, it wasn’t about employment procedures changing, but about the employee’s expectations gradually changing and growing. Nowadays, the salary simply doesn’t “do it” anymore.
Hammer evidentiates: “If our best tool kit used to be the salary, now it no longer is.” Additional perks should be added, values like creativity and freedom, performance bonuses, work flexibility, and companies need to project all those benefits, if they want to attract talent.
And this is also the biggest differentiator between your company and your competitors. It all stands in your company culture values. Culture needs to be symbiotic along strategy. You could provide the same services or products as your competitor, you are not unique, but you can have the same mechanics dressed differently.
Suddenly, your brand isn’t just a logo, but a story of the values that built your company into what it is.
Why are WE ARE HIRING! announcements a huge turn off?
Such a simple statement, with no other information makes the candidate run away, a bold approach that Nikos Foros, Employer Branding Solutions Lead at Kariera.gr, started his session with.
Coming from a recruitment agency that develops HR software and 4000 ads/month, and showing how the mindset works on the Greek research market, Foros applies DRAS method to his company: Different, Real, Attractive and Specific.
Simple “We are hiring” leads to poor candidates, poor productivity, and, automatically, less profit for the company.
Foros challenges everyone to think:
• What your talent wants?
• What your company wants?
And the sweet spot between these two questions is your EVP as a company.
An EVP (Employee Value Proposition) means stability, vision, innovation, status, benefits, team, personal development and professional growth.
Through finding the localization of your brand on the market, and what your company culture is, you can bring this package on the table in front of your candidates. Connect the EVP to your candidates’ experience and then consider their expectations. The last step is to align your employees to your company’s DNA.
AI it’s only a tool. Your ideas are still needed!
84% of the people who use AI are unaware that they are interacting with an AI.
Seeing the percentage on the big screen, we inevitably think of how long it would take for us humans to be totally replaced by AI. Because AI does it all.
But Nili Haikin, CEO Founder of VitaminP Agency, went as far as asking representatives to come up on stage and demonstrate how we still need real people to create content that engages audiences.
The challenge was the following:
Step 1: Turn on the phone camera.
Step 2: Pass the phone to a colleague.
Step 3: Shoot a video
Step 4: Name 3 reasons to join your company
Step 5: Upload, tag, smile and enjoy the hype
This is a type of content that cannot be created by AI!
Your social media content should be a reflection of your inner world where your creators live.
Go on Instagram story, or on Tik Tok and show your employees, your open spaces at the office, a day in the life of working at X company.
You are free to use AI to bring a new, engaging edge to your products, services, and your strategies as a whole. But don’t let yourself be replaced by AI!
This edition of EBcon was a welcomed employer branding booster, with each speaker bringing refreshing ideas and techniques to take your strategy to next level!
A huge thank you! to our main partners for this event:
If you are curious of other companies that excel in their sector, check out the Top Most Desired Employers 2023 and find out their stories!
For Top Most Desired Employers in each sector of the labour market, follow us on our pages at Catalyst Solutions, on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn!
Also, you are invited to participate at EBcon 2024, if you missed the chance to get inspired by speakers around the world to transform your employer branding strategy!
