The World's Most Caffeinated Employer Brand Podcast

From James Ellis, this podcast is dedicated to making you smarter about recruiting and hiring. It's time to reinvent employer branding, recruiting, and hiring from the ground up!

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify

All Episodes

Employer branding will reinvent your hiring

The Talent Cast
And that's very much a "pro."...
Listen to Employer branding will reinvent your hiring

Quality, not quantity

The Talent Cast
What makes employer branding unique in the marketing and branding space....
Listen to Quality, not quantity

They aren’t your employees. They are volunteers.

The Talent Cast
Talent Chooses You Audiobook...
Listen to They aren’t your employees. They are volunteers.

What Does Employer Brand Want?

The Talent Cast
What is all this for? What are we driving towards?...
Listen to What Does Employer Brand Want?

Thinking With Real Data: The Lost Interviews #4 - Andrew Gadomski

The Talent Cast
With Andrew Gadomski...
Listen to Thinking With Real Data: The Lost Interviews #4 - Andrew Gadomski

The Power of Impact: The Lost Interviews #3 - Jill Dudones

The Talent Cast
I love talking about employer branding with people who aren't IN employer brand exclusively....
Listen to The Power of Impact: The Lost Interviews #3 - Jill Dudones

Talking At The Audience: The Lost Interviews #2 - Lindsay Parks

The Talent Cast
Fun fact: We recorded the first version of this interview more than a year ago, but it didn't record properly (there were tears)....
Listen to Talking At The Audience: The Lost Interviews #2 - Lindsay Parks

A More Efficient Trainwreck: The Lost Interviews #1 - Katrina Kibben

The Talent Cast
With Katrina Kibben...
Listen to A More Efficient Trainwreck: The Lost Interviews #1 - Katrina Kibben

A Better Resume

The Talent Cast
Looking for a job? Yeah, I hear you. It is the WORST! But you can take a bunch of lessons from employer branding to create a resume that isn't jus...
Listen to A Better Resume

The View From Here with Holland McCue

The Talent Cast
The future of employer branding (or maybe the maturation of it) lays in how well it is integrated into the corporate brand....
Listen to The View From Here with Holland McCue

Lighthouses and Books with Charu Malhotra

The Talent Cast
This week we have a lovely long conversation with Charu Malhotra. Charu's worked on a number of employer brands that you've probably hear of, like...
Listen to Lighthouses and Books with Charu Malhotra

Cognitive Bias

The Talent Cast
We all make decisions based on mental shortcuts and pattern recognition. It's just what humans do. But if you're building a brand, these same shor...
Listen to Cognitive Bias

All Employer Branding Is Local

The Talent Cast
We are seeing the end of "monolithic employer brands," concepts that focused more on consistency that connecting to a person....
Listen to All Employer Branding Is Local

Beyond Increments

The Talent Cast
In the last four months, everything has changed, including our candidates. They want different things, they behave differently, and the act differ...
Listen to Beyond Increments

Employer Brand? Or People Brand?

The Talent Cast
I'm seeing a lot of comments/chatter around businesses jettisoning their interest in employer brand as the pandemic/recession takes hold....
Listen to Employer Brand? Or People Brand?

Is Employer Brand Evolving?

The Talent Cast
Last year, employer brand was the buzz word, but where is the buzz now? Given a year or three to consider and implement employer branding strategi...
Listen to Is Employer Brand Evolving?

Chicken or the Egg?

The Talent Cast
The age old question: where should employer branding live? TA? Marketing? Comms? Like the "chicken or the egg" question, the answer involves a lo...
Listen to Chicken or the Egg?

Who's In Charge?

The Talent Cast
Who's in charge of the company? Leadership, right? Well, recently it sure seems like the employees are making their voices heard in the strategic ...
Listen to Who's In Charge?

Taking a Stand

The Talent Cast
Yes, it is absolutely time for your employer brand to quit playing it safe. You and your brand need to take a stand for something....
Listen to Taking a Stand

What is Employer Brand For?

The Talent Cast
It may seem like a simple question, but how you answer it determines the scope of your work. If you want to keep the employer brand function from ...
Listen to What is Employer Brand For?

Fan Fiction and Employer Brand Universes

The Talent Cast
Are your fans telling your story?...
Listen to Fan Fiction and Employer Brand Universes

You Can't Party at Lolla Anymore (with Rob Stevenson)

The Talent Cast
Rob Stevenson of Talk Talent To Me and I decided to have a nice rambling conversation about Covid, the industry, and what was (and wasn't) working...
Listen to You Can't Party at Lolla Anymore (with Rob Stevenson)

Taking Your Employer Brand Beyond the Obvious

The Talent Cast
Call it "employer blanding" or even "the sea of sameness," but there's a valid reason to think all employer brands look and feel the same. But tha...
Listen to Taking Your Employer Brand Beyond the Obvious

The Impossible Employer Brand Metric

The Talent Cast
Let us be blunt: the metrics we often use (time to fill, funnel conversion rates, quality of hire, cost per hire, etc) are... imprecise. And to be...
Listen to The Impossible Employer Brand Metric

Creative vs Position

The Talent Cast
Which one creates the stronger employer brand message?...
Listen to Creative vs Position

Finite and Infinite

The Talent Cast
Does your employer brand strategy change when when you have a fixed talent pool?...
Listen to Finite and Infinite

What Really Changed?

The Talent Cast
Sure, everything seems different, but does that mean your employer brand has to, too?...
Listen to What Really Changed?

The Four Drivers of Employer Brand

The Talent Cast
What makes your employer brand... your brand?...
Listen to The Four Drivers of Employer Brand

Culture Wars

The Talent Cast
This month probably changed how you see your company's culture, I bet....
Listen to Culture Wars

Strength in Diversity

The Talent Cast
In this conversation with my friend Madison Butler, VP of People at Sourced Craft Cocktails, we try to explore the connection between diversity an...
Listen to Strength in Diversity

Strategy, After the Fact

The Talent Cast
Can you build a brand strategy after you've built the content?...
Listen to Strategy, After the Fact

Beyond the New Normal

The Talent Cast
What you do during the crisis defines your success in the future....
Listen to Beyond the New Normal

Employer Brand in the Time of COVID-19

The Talent Cast
Managing a remote-based employer brand (welcome to the new normal)...
Listen to Employer Brand in the Time of COVID-19

How Does It Feel?

The Talent Cast
What's Beyond "What It's Like To Work There"?...
Listen to How Does It Feel?

Employer Brand for Retention

The Talent Cast
We all know our first job is (or expected to be) one of attraction. And we all know that if we build a strong brand, it will impact retention. But...
Listen to Employer Brand for Retention

The Authenticity Illusion

The Talent Cast
We all "know" that the employer brander's mantra is to create an authentic brand. What does that even mean? Is that even achievable? Is that even ...
Listen to The Authenticity Illusion

How to Work With Recruiters

The Talent Cast
In this episode, we get nitty gritty on building great relationships with recruiters to be the best possible advocates for you and your employer b...
Listen to How to Work With Recruiters

The Modular Employer Brand

The Talent Cast
The mistake in employer branding is to treat the brand as monolithic, as a single tagline repeated until you are blue in the face....
Listen to The Modular Employer Brand

The Three Minds of Employer Branding

The Talent Cast
In the beginning, many of us saw (and our bosses saw) employer branding as "stuff that needed to get done and solved." But as we solved issues, we...
Listen to The Three Minds of Employer Branding

Employer Bran, Fast and Slow

The Talent Cast
Most employer brand professionals and practitioners or driven (and often pushed) to solve immediate problems, the kind that have immediate impacts...
Listen to Employer Bran, Fast and Slow

Lean Into the Suck

The Talent Cast
In this long conversation with the one and only Elena Valentine, we get into what employer branding means, branding fan fiction, telling better st...
Listen to Lean Into the Suck

Useless Facts

The Talent Cast
Facts don't do what you want them to...
Listen to Useless Facts

The Expectations Game

The Talent Cast
If you want to attract candidates, promise them the moon. But if you want them to engage and even stick around, you are going to have to learn how...
Listen to The Expectations Game

No New Tale To Tell

The Talent Cast
In this episode we think about story structure as a metaphor for how you can build your own brand....
Listen to No New Tale To Tell

Why Employer Brands Fail - Part Three

The Talent Cast
There are six common, but rarely-discussed, reasons why a company's employer brand initiative (or project or function) will fail....
Listen to Why Employer Brands Fail - Part Three

Why Employer Brands Fail - Part Two

The Talent Cast
There are six common, but rarely-discussed, reasons why a company's employer brand initiative (or project or function) will fail......
Listen to Why Employer Brands Fail - Part Two

Why Employer Brands Fail - Part One

The Talent Cast
Avoid the most common pitfalls when developing your employer brand...
Listen to Why Employer Brands Fail - Part One

The Integrated Employer Brand

The Talent Cast
Stop fighting with marketing. You are eventually going to be family....
Listen to The Integrated Employer Brand

Employer Brand 101

The Talent Cast
What does it mean to be an employer branding practitioner?...
Listen to Employer Brand 101

Content Creation for Employer Branding

The Talent Cast
How do you build employer brand narratives at scale?...
Listen to Content Creation for Employer Branding

Making an Impact?

The Talent Cast
Can "making an impact" really be a differentiator in our employer brands?...
Listen to Making an Impact?

On Choice and Employer Brand

The Talent Cast
In this week's episode, we go deep into how people choose to change their lives, and some surprising ideas on how to leverage that process to get ...
Listen to On Choice and Employer Brand

Make Your Employer Brand Stick

The Talent Cast
In this episode, we breakdown the three phases of every good employer brand strategy and how to make it really stick....
Listen to Make Your Employer Brand Stick

Junk Drawer (Vol 2)

The Talent Cast
We did it a year and a half ago and as we approach the end of year three, its time to clear out the notes and half-baked ideas to create a clean d...
Listen to Junk Drawer (Vol 2)

Does Salary Matter?

The Talent Cast
All the data suggests that salary is still the (or of the) primary drivers for job choices. But in a world where salary is be coming more transpar...
Listen to Does Salary Matter?

Is Your Employer Branding Working?

The Talent Cast
Okay, okay. You know employer brand is important as a means of attracting and hiring the great talent your business needs to grow. You've invested...
Listen to Is Your Employer Branding Working?

Should Employer Brand Ignore Recruiting?

The Talent Cast
Have we made a huge mistake, putting recruiting at the front and center of our employer branding strategy? Hat tip to Ted Meulenkamp....
Listen to Should Employer Brand Ignore Recruiting?

Reflect It or Change It

The Talent Cast
A strong employer brand starts by revealing what exists. Your job is to uncover who the company is and what it's really like to work there. But th...
Listen to Reflect It or Change It

How Employer Brand Pros See the World

The Talent Cast
If you make your living as an employer brand professional, what is your job? Here's your reminder of how you should see your job, and what you are...
Listen to How Employer Brand Pros See the World

Make The Familiar Strange

The Talent Cast
How do you attract attention to your brand? Interestingly, its a lot like how you're going to build internal buy-in. You're going to make the fami...
Listen to Make The Familiar Strange

Elephant In The Room

The Talent Cast
Every company and every brand has that thing they don't talk about. That thing that everyone knows but bends over backwards to avoid referencing. ...
Listen to Elephant In The Room

Skin in the Game

The Talent Cast
The race to "easiest possible application" has not been a race worth winning. Our ATS's are clogged with applicants we wouldn't hire in a million ...
Listen to Skin in the Game

Create Meaning

The Talent Cast
Influencing ratings, encouraging talking points, framing values and establishing a shared north star for every one in our company may sound like o...
Listen to Create Meaning

Raise the Stakes

The Talent Cast
You know your employer brand is important. I know your employer brand is important. But a lot of people see investment in employer brand as a vani...
Listen to Raise the Stakes

Creating Business Value with Employer Branding

The Talent Cast
It's not a magic trick. A strong employer brand doesn't just attract a better class of talent, it actually helps shape perceptions of everyone in ...
Listen to Creating Business Value with Employer Branding

What Is A Job?

The Talent Cast
Hold up! It's not an arcane or crazy question or abstract zen koan. It's a legit question: what exactly is a job. Turns out that how we see it, ho...
Listen to What Is A Job?

Make Patterns, Not Consistency

The Talent Cast
great brands are about consistency, but more about understanding the core elements within the brand experience and think of ways to re-apply them ...
Listen to Make Patterns, Not Consistency

Reach and Clarity: Why Your Employer Brand Is Never Really Done

The Talent Cast
When I audited brands, one tool I developed was the "reach and clarity" model, a way to see how you stack up against another brand simply and see ...
Listen to Reach and Clarity: Why Your Employer Brand Is Never Really Done

The Bonsai Tree

The Talent Cast
There seems to be two schools of thought on employer branding: reveal the brand and be authentic as possible, or manufacture what you think your a...
Listen to The Bonsai Tree

How To Pay For Your Employer Brand

The Talent Cast
There are ways to spend a lot of money on your employer brand (and a lot of reasons to do so), but how on earth do you pay for it? In this episode...
Listen to How To Pay For Your Employer Brand

Painful Questions

The Talent Cast
You can't find better solutions until you ask better questions. But too often we couch, hedge and soften our questions because deep down, we don't...
Listen to Painful Questions