Employer Branding Check: How attractive are you as an employer, really?

Before a single ad goes out, it has to be clear what the business stands for as an employer. That shows in three places: how someone describes their team in three words, how they describe the ideal person for it, and what they answer when a candidate asks „why you of all places?“. Anyone who stumbles here has no reach problem but a clarity problem — and more advertising only amplifies the blur.

Requirement profiles usually consist of degrees, years of experience and software skills — the things a CV lists. The check deliberately asks for the person without those attributes, then has you distribute 100 points across the factors that actually tipped your recent decisions. If more than half land on character and values, the target group is clear. If they land on credentials and experience, CVs were hired, not people.

Visibility is the step most businesses reach for first: more ads, social campaigns, recruiters, higher pay. The check records what was actually tried in the last twelve months — and whether being unknown as an employer is even recognised as a cause. Together, the two show whether a business was active or merely busy.

The most common reasons for a quick no say more than any process description: too many job changes, gaps in the CV, the look of the documents. Each of these reliably filters out people who would have fit both professionally and personally. Conversely, „we have had no applications for a while“ is not a process finding but a warning signal from step 3.

The last question of the check is the hardest: did the last resignation come as a surprise? „Yes, out of nowhere“ almost never means there were no signals — it means they were never discussed. „Suspected it, never talked about it“ describes the same state more honestly. Where people spoke openly beforehand, the retention culture is intact even when someone leaves. That is why this single question carries so much weight.