Why Employer Branding Matters More When Everyone's Applying in a Tough Economy

There's a pervasive belief that employer branding becomes irrelevant during economic downturns. 📉

When redundancies are high and application volumes are through the roof, why bother investing in your reputation as an employer? People are desperate, they'll apply anyway, right? And employees won't leave because the market sucks, but if they do we'll just replace them quickly with the people queueing around the block. (Mwaa ha ha haaaa! [cue Mr. Burns gleefully rubbing his hands together])) 😱

I get it. When you're advertising roles on a Friday afternoon and receiving 1000+ applications by Monday morning, it feels like you've won the talent lottery. But here's what most people outside of this space miss - volume isn't victory. 🥵

High application numbers can mask a serious issue. Without a clear employer brand revealing your cultural and employee proposition realities, you're not attracting a cross-section of the talent market. You're attracting everyone, which means your hiring team is drowning in irrelevant CVs whilst strong candidates slip through the cracks and your recruiters spend weeks sorting rubbish instead of interviewing relevant people. (And AI is struggling to fix this with incoming, tighter regulations).

Even during recessions, savvy candidates aren’t desperate. These people research companies thoroughly. If your employer brand is weak they might apply, but reluctantly whilst they’re holding out for the bigger, better deal.

Employer branding isn't marketing fluff when times are tough. It's a filtering mechanism that helps relevant people find you whilst deterring poor fits.

Even with high unemployment, speed is important. I know there’s a lot of debate about whether Time To Hire should matter and I think it absolutely plays a part.

Yes, I believe quality is FAR more important and, when over-egged, TTH does more harm than good, but great quality at better speeds is the dream. It’s like when my kids get cocky about their homework, “I’m working smart, dad, not hard!” To which I reply, “Yeah, but imagine how amazing you’d be if you did both.”

Projects need staffing, teams need building, opportunities get missed. Empty seats means lost revenue. A strong employer brand reduces TTH by attracting pre-qualified, pre-interested candidates who apply sooner and move through your process faster because they already want to work for you.

Without that brand foundation, every hire starts from zero. You're convincing and persuading from scratch with each candidate.

Markets cycle. The desperate candidates you hire today might leave the moment opportunities improve. But the people who joined because they genuinely wanted to work for you? They stay. They refer others. They become advocates.

Employer branding isn't about gaming the system when you have leverage. It's about building a sustainable talent pipeline that works regardless of market conditions.

So yes, employer branding matters. ESPECIALLY when everyone's applying.