Summer is over and September is the time to take stock. Companies that made the most of July and August to build their employer brand now have a real advantage: greater visibility, more applications in the pipeline and a reputation they built whilst the competition was on hold. Those that didn’t have an immediate opportunity, because September sees one of the highest annual peaks in active job-seeking and the talent market is on the move once again.
Why summer is the best time to work on employer branding
August may seem like a quiet month, but it is precisely when People in work have time to reflect: about whether they want to stay where they are, what they are looking for in their next career move, and which companies catch their eye. Those who publish employer branding content in the summer face less competition for attention and enjoy greater relative visibility. Those who remain silent leave that space to others. As we enter Q4, the question is not whether employer branding needs to be worked on: it is whether the summer has been used to build a foundation, or whether we will have to start from scratch in September.
What is employer branding, and why is it more than just posting attractive job adverts?
Employer branding is the the views held by candidates and current employees about what it’s like to work for a company. It’s not a one-off campaign or a slogan on the careers page: it’s the sum of what the company does, what it communicates and what its employees say about it to the outside world. The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is at the heart of that perception: what the company offers beyond salary, what sets it apart as a workplace, and why someone would choose to stay. The gap between the actual EVP and the projected one is what destroys the employer branding: It’s possible to present a very positive picture, which current employees contradict with their reviews on Glassdoor or their comments on LinkedIn.
Channels and formats that work best for employer branding
LinkedIn is the main channel for B2B employer branding: this is where qualified talent looks for jobs and where hiring managers assess a company’s reputation before applying. The content that makes the biggest impact is neither corporate nor promotional: it is the real employee testimonials, Internal development initiatives, projects with a visible impact and everyday workplace culture content. Instagram works well for younger audiences and for showcasing the working environment. Glassdoor is where long-term reputation is at stake: ignoring it won’t make it go away. The summer is particularly useful for internal culture content: team events, remote working moments, and wellbeing initiatives. That sort of content generates more engagement during the summer season than at any other time of the year.
How to engage your employees as brand ambassadors
The employee advocacy It is the most effective and credible form of employer branding: when an employee shares content about their company, it generates ten times more trust than the same message posted from the corporate profile. Making this work without it feeling forced requires three conditions: that employees have something genuine to say (not just slogans), that they are provided with the resources to do so (training, shareable content, time) and that the company does not control the message to the extent that it ceases to be authentic. The difference between the organic advocacy and the key to motivation isn’t whether the company encourages it: it’s whether the employees would do it anyway, even if the scheme didn’t exist.
Metrics for measuring the impact of employer branding: which data matters
Employer branding has specific metrics. The usual problem is not a lack of data: it is not knowing which ones to present to management or how to link them to business results.
Training in employer branding: what the HR and communications team needs
Building employer branding from within requires three skills that rarely coexist within the same role: communication and content skills, data and metrics management, and an understanding of the organisation’s internal culture. HR teams usually have the third but need support with the first two. Communications teams excel at the first but are unfamiliar with the specific KPIs for talent branding. Employer branding training for internal teams fills exactly that gap: how to build and communicate a genuine EVP, how to manage a presence on LinkedIn and Glassdoor, how to foster employee advocacy, and how to measure the impact in a way that senior management recognises as an investment. At Educa.Pro, the HR catalogue includes specific programmes aimed at to develop these skills in teams and through communication, with formats tailored to professionals with busy schedules.
September is the time to turn what the summer has revealed into a strategy. Companies that reach Q4 with their employer branding in order not only attract better talent: they also retain it with less effort and at a lower cost.
