A New Era of Employer Branding w/ Ashten Fizer – The Shaker Green Room at RecFest USA, Ep. 18

[Music] who are you and why are you here well I am Ashton fizer uh I am a talent brand creative um didn’t even know that was a job until I got it um but I am here because um I found out about recfest UK about three years ago and I have been the biggest fan ever since you know as Talent acquisition professionals employer brand professionals we’re constantly going to conferences for everybody else Y watching them have a great time learning about their industry why should they have all the fun why should they so I love that recfest has given us this space so that we can learn from our own peers but then also throw in a little party okay cuz who wants us conference if you’re not having fun what’s the point what’s the point so yeah that’s why I’m here employment brand Creator say more about that well so as we know employer brand is branding marketing the whole Shang it’s 23 different departments rolled into one and usually a small team that’s expected to do it all well I enjoy the creative parts so um creating Design Systems for the employer brand digging into the EVP process especially when you know after the research part which you know probably nobody really likes the research part but once you have that information then using that data to create branding and marketing and visuals and things that will really make people think and feel and do things okay so so what uh what works what what platforms are the most effective what kind of messaging is the most effective you’re you’re you’re in the trenches what works I am in the trenches so as far as platforms go I mean it’s always going to be Regional so while we here in the US are very LinkedIn focused and we know that that is our job board our Facebook of jobs it’s not in every country so we really do have to stop being so us focused sometimes and actually start buying into these other Platforms in these other countries if that’s where we’re recruiting to ensure that we are you know hitting those markets as well because LinkedIn isn’t for everyone if you look at China they have their own platforms for everything y so um yes LinkedIn is great for here indeed is fantastic glass door for your reviews but if you’re a global company you have to start branching out to those other job boards you know in China you have Billy Billy um you have um there’s another one called red which is like their Twitter um and then other countries did the same thing so so if we’re talking about messaging I assume that it’s not a cookie cutter our message in the US is the same so talk about how us messaging should be different based on your us audience how how is it different and and how did you come to that conclusion well you know when you look at people everyone is different you know and you really have to start thinking about what are people’s needs and it can be a wide array so then you have to start drilling down to your own needs Niche but you really have to be focused on what people want learning what they’re asking I mean there’s a whole website out there called ask the public y if you really want to know what people are looking for asking for type it in you can get the answers but that’s what you need to focus on what what are their pain points what are they looking for from employers what are what are their everyday issues that they’re having and how could being employed at your company solve that for them so you have to drill down to that because ALS so it’s going to be different for different people different communities different regions different localities so you’re going to have to drill down figure out what that specific group needs that you’re trying to attract and truly just like just like we tell candidates to tailor their resume for the the individual job do the same for your messaging for that individual Community for that individual skill set you have to drill down and speak their language and meet them where they are yep so you were on on a a panel or you oversaw a discussion here earlier at the conference which I assume sort was sort of forward forward looking and what uh the future look like what does your organization look like as you turn to 2025 what does branding look like is it more of the same as it changing talk to us about that it is absolutely changing branding is absolutely changing as we move forward um what we’re seeing is another shift in the market so you know during the pandemic we went through the great res or The Great Migration or whatever people want to call it um and now we’re getting to a point where um you know it’s still the market is still in the candidate’s hands it’s it hasn’t gone back to the employer but now the candidate wants more they want more of an inside look they want more of an honest look and those high production value videos that we’re spending th tens of thousands of dollars on and casting and writing scripts they don’t believe it yeah it’s a waste of money now they want low production they want it directly from the employee they want it from the employees account they want that very real reality tves inside view of the company before they choose an employer they want to see that culture firsthand so we have to start figuring out what are the ways outside of Just A Day in the Life post on social media to give it to to them and that’s where you’re seeing a lot of Brands come to conferences and not just have a booth but have an entire brand activation like a consumer brand would but now we’re doing it for recruiting okay you mentioned glass door earlier and when you talk about you know throwing the throwing you know let’s see what’s going on is is there a wizard back there you know what what am I seeing I have a Viewpoint that glass door and expecting people to to write paragraphs about a company is a little bit anti ated I see more and more tick toks about people don’t care about anonymity they’re going to trash a company they’re going to tr they’re going to they’re going to record a a a corporate call about layoffs how do you look at that Brave New World of of I guess courage and just throwing aside the social norms of talking about a company I absolutely applaud it yeah I hope it forces companies to lean into more transparency because that’s what people want like I said they’re tired of the scripted um paid actors stock photography production that we continue to give them they want the real and if we’re not going to give it to them in a space where we can control it they’re going to go find it someplace else so you might as well get into it so that you can get ahead of that messaging before your detractors or someone who has a bad experience gets out there and creates the brand for you because if you you don’t tell your story somebody else will yeah I love your comment about stock or stock footage and stock photos when you look at uh diversity Equity inclusion in your organization what is your strategy around that and some of the tactics uh you utilize to make sure you’re casting as wide a net as possible absolutely um I know for for us it’s all about um absolutely widening the net um and that’s why I love working for companies that have decided to either go hybrid or remote because that gives us more space to look for more talent in places where we normally wouldn’t look so if we’re just restricted to San Jose Sunnyville New York these major cities that I can barely afford we’re we’re missing out on Talent that’s out there in Nebraska in Iowa just because they’re in Middle America doesn’t mean they don’t have the skill sets so I think it’s it’s great I think the pandemic did us a favor because it it allowed us to open up to really look at everyone out there instead of those that have just concentrated into those major Tech Hub cities so when I think about Dei it’s it’s really not just about race and and those boxes you check it’s about diversity of thought it’s about you know okay we have someone from San Jose probably grew up in San San Francisco has that City mindset but now we brought somebody in that grew up in the plains of Nebraska and they’re coming from a totally different mindset and now we can make better tools because now we have more people with more perspectives to give us that input that we need to make things for everyone yeah you’re such a ray of sunlight thanks for sitting down with me today absolutely thanks for inviting me you bet you bet for uh any listeners viewers out there that want to connect with you learn more about your company where do you send them hey Ash .c or he Aston on every social platform you can find that’s me all right enjoy the rest of the day all right you too thanks [Music]