How to craft your perfect Employer Value Proposition

In an era where talent has numerous employment options to consider, it's essential to stand out as an employer of choice to attract the best candidates. This is especially true for large organisations that require a diverse array of skills.

So, how can you differentiate yourself from the competition? This is where the concept of an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) can be beneficial. Your EVP is your most important key to attracting and retaining top talent.

But, how do you identify and create your EVP? Below are the three key steps to craft your perfect employer value proposition.

Looking for a quick start? Download our EVP workbook.

1. Research and understanding 

The first stage focuses on laying the foundation for your EVP strategy by evaluating your internal organisational landscape and the external competitive environment. To build a strong EVP, it's essential to understand your current organisational landscape. This step helps identify what your organisation already offers and any opportunities for improvement.

Action items at this stage include: 

• Run an employee satisfaction survey: Gather insights by surveying your employees, focusing on aspects like benefits, work culture, and growth opportunities. This data provides valuable information for identifying areas where you are strong and areas that need to be improved.

• Interview stakeholders: Conduct interviews with stakeholders to understand the organisation’s perceived strengths and weaknesses.

These steps not only help you shape your EVP strategy, but  ensure that your EVP aligns with your organisation's strengths, addresses weaknesses, and stands out in the talent market.

Analyse competitors' EVP

Get to know your competition by studying the EVPs of four to six competitors in your industry and location. Conduct a SWOT analysis based on your findings to pinpoint your unique selling points and areas for improvement. Here’s a few questions for your SWOT analysis to get you started:

Strengths (S):

• What are the unique qualities and strengths of our organisation as an employer?
• What benefits and perks do we offer that are highly attractive to employees?

Weaknesses (W):

• Are there areas where our competitors outshine us as employers?
• Are there challenges in our workplace that hinder employee engagement or satisfaction?

Opportunities (O):

• What emerging trends in the job market align with our strengths as an employer?
• What can we do to leverage our strengths to attract top talent in the current job market?

Threats (T): 

• How are our competitors positioning themselves as employers, and how does it compare to our EVP?
• Are there industry-specific challenges that may affect our ability to attract and retain talent?

2. Strategic formulation and personalisation 

The aim here is to create an EVP that is both general enough to be appealing and distinctive enough to be compelling. After setting the foundation for your EVP, the next step is to tailor it for specific candidate personas. However, crafting an EVP that truly resonates with your target talent pool goes beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Given the wide variety of roles you need to fill–and each candidate with their own needs and desires–the real challenge is to personalise your EVP to engage with diverse candidate personas. Remember, it is not just about listing benefits but more about understanding what motivates each candidate persona

Here’s an example of a candidate persona: 

Software Engineer

• Background: Computer Science degree, 3+ years of experience
• Goals: To work on impactful projects and keep up-to-date with the latest technologies
• Values: Learning and growth, work-life balance, meaningful work
• Preferred Communication Channels: LinkedIn, GitHub, tech blogs

Recommendation: Make sure to A/B test to analyse the effectiveness of your tailored EVP messages with different personas to understand which elements resonate most.

Implementation and communication

Crafting a tailored VP is only valuable if you know how to implement and communicate it. This step ensures your personalised EVPs reach your target personas in a meaningful way. 

The first important step here is to first identify the most effective platforms to communicate your EVP, based on where your target personas seek information. This allows you to be more strategic and avoid a spray-and-pray approach.

The second step is to create customised communication messages designed to deeply resonate with each persona. For instance, here's an example of a tailored message for a the software engineering persona above:

3. Measure and iterate

A successful EVP is not a "set it and forget it" endeavour. By constantly monitoring its performance, you ensure it remains relevant and continues to attract top talent. Establish KPIs to regularly measure the effectiveness of your EVP. To do this effectively, you may want to focus on a range of performance metrics that address both the recruitment and retention aspects of talent management. 

Here are some important metrics to consider:

Crafting an Employer Value Proposition that appeals to multiple candidate personas requires understanding your audience’s diverse needs, providing unique perks, delivering a compelling message, embracing feedback, and understanding the potential of data and analytics for continuous improvement. When you do all this right, you’re not only making the hiring process easier but also creating a captivating EVP that appeals to a broad array of talent.

Get started and access the free EVP workbook:

• Download our comprehensive workbook as a PDF, or
• Work directly in the workbook and create a copy with Google Slides