Be Wary Of These Employer Branding Job Adverts

This trend I'm noticing for the types of mid-level "Employer Brand Manager" I'm seeing advertised lately concerns me. 😱

Either companies are chancing their luck, or serious education is needed for the people writing these job adverts to build an understanding of what is actually involved in the requirements being asked for. Even if delivered at the most basic of levels.

What I fear is happening is that some poor souls are walking into these gigs out of desperation in a tight job market. And it won't be long before they burn out when realising that what's being asked of one person just isn't feasible.

If they are doable (and it's a big "if"), then it'll be to an extremely rudimentary MVP (minimal viable product) level. If the people hiring are cool with this, then crack on. But be absolutely certain these expectations are aligned before potentially setting yourself up for extremely stressful failure. 😩 🥴 😵‍💫

Please call me out if you think I'm wrong here. Maybe it's me? Perhaps I'm the one who needs to check myself on this, but I don't see how, in these jobs advertised as "stand-alone," with the need to be "scrappy," someone could deliver all of this to anywhere near a decent, impactful standard. Especially if the expectation is that they all need to be delivered simultaneously:

• EVP ownership - research, create, launch, embed across the entire people experience and measure. (So, straight off the bat, this isn't just an 'Employer Brand Manager'?)
• Internal communications to drive colleague engagement and lead internal event planning. (Ah. So, Internal Comms Manager, too?)
• Employer brand creation, including brand design. (So you need a professional creative, also?)
• Content strategy, including persona research and creation, hands-on, creative design, asset production, distribution and measurement.
• Recruitment marketing campaign planning, activation, and measurement, including external events coordination and attendance.
• Maintenance of innovative and compelling content on our social platforms.
• Building and/or maintaining a career website.
• Managing entries for employee-related industry awards.
• Measurement framework building, monitoring, and reporting on a monthly and campaign-by-campaign basis to peers across the business and departmental heads in a way that demonstrates business impact.
• Etc...

Remember, all these have been advertised as individual contributor roles. Don't get me wrong. I genuinely love a challenge. But c'mon, people. Trying to hire three people in one role that's paying c. £40 - 60k???

Does anyone else see a problem with this picture? 🤔

I appreciate that how these ads are read, in most cases, probably isn't how the job posters intend them to be. To help improve things both advertisers and applicants I have some suggestions below:

For Job Applicants:

To ensure you're not walking into an Employer Branding sweatshop, here are two things to ask if you get an interview:

- What support will there be to deliver on these expectations?

• You want to know if you'll have a direct team to work with, be able to get support from people in other departments or have access to third-party help, e.g., from creative, digital, and/or media agencies. If so, great - ask for specifics...
• If they confirm you'll have people in other departments, check that those people know about it and have the time to provide the help you'll need without being treated like an afterthought, as they need to focus on their day-to-day priorities. Make sure you are one of their day-to-day priorities
• If you can work with agencies, ask what budget you'll have and who owns/manages it (although you should always ask about the budget at your disposal in any situation!) If you /your team do, you'll have more control. If the shekels sit in another team, you could be in a constant, frustrating bun fight for finances.

- If you're all alone, align on the expected priorities.

• Depending on size and complexity, building a career site can be a full-time job in itself.
• Are you organising complex events? Depending on the context, designing the exhibition stand, coordinating business representatives' attendance, arranging the giveaway merch, etc. can take up 25 - 50% of your time.
• Are you creating content for social media profiles? Again, this can be a full-time role for several people, especially if they're expected to understand how to run media campaigns natively on each platform. Not to mention trying to cobble together disconnected data points so you can measure and report on performance in a way that different stakeholders give a toss about.

For Job Advertisers:

To ensure you're being clear on what you're asking, be specific in your job advert copy. Instead of:

• You'll be responsible for planning, designing, and executing our employer brand...
• You'll scour the latest social media trends, events, webinars, and community meet-ups...

Confirm the exact role, resources, and support on offer within your listed responsibilities. For example:

• You’ll be responsible - with help from the wider team - for contributing to the planning, design, and execution of our employer brand.
• With the help of our recruitment marketing agency, you’ll be scouring the latest social media trends, events, webinars, and community meet-ups so you can...

In these examples, the specific responsibilities and support a person will have are more obvious.

You may intend to communicate the latter with the former version. It might seem obvious to you, but to an outsider, looking at a list of 10 responsibilities written like the first two examples could, at best, make you look like you don't understand what you're asking for or, at worst, make people think you're trying to take the p....