Avoid Common Pitfalls when Marketing Your Company to Global Talent

Managing your global talent well can yield high returns in terms of profits. Yet, few companies have mastered how to deliver on their value proposition to employees and make attracting and retaining talent a strategic priority. Far too many companies oversell and misrepresent themselves, or fail to deliver on overinflated promises made to candidates.

Below are some of the common mistakes companies make when creating and segmenting their employee value proposition (EVP) across geographies.

• Wrong focus. Many EVPs are created in a vacuum without data to support which preferences are highlighted and marketed. In the absence of data, organizations risk over-investing in employment attributes that are less important to the talent market, while under-investing in the most critical elements necessary for attracting and retaining talent. Know your target labor market well by doing your due diligence before beginning recruitment, and tweak your EVP accordingly.

• Undifferentiated. One of the things that consistently comes up in research about EVPs is that to the talent market, they all look alike. In fact, the labor market perceives very little differentiation in EVPs across organizations. This is bad news that represents a big opportunity for organizations that can demonstrate what truly makes them stand apart.

• Overselling the organization. Of course you have a strong incentive to present the EVP in the strongest possible light during the recruiting process, and particularly to avoid discussing any negative aspects. While doing so may increase the likelihood that the candidate will join the organization, it does so at a cost. When an organization fails to deliver on its EVP, the pain is felt almost immediately for new hires whose expectations are not met. This can result in a 25% decline in new hire commitment levels across the first 12 months. Be honest about what you can offer, and resist the temptation to make your organization seem better than it is.

• Inflating Candidate Expectations. The second form of overselling is inflating candidate expectations of future returns and opportunities they could receive as an employee, is more discreet, but just as harmful. When positioning EVP attributes such as the employee’s development or future career opportunities, be sure that your promises are in line with what the organization can realistically deliver and what the candidate can realistically achieve.

Also read Part 1 – Attracting Global Talent, Part 2 – How to Attract Talent Across Different Geographies, and Part 4 – The Role Your Employees Play in Attracting New Talent