5 Important Nuances of the Employment Value Proposition (Part 2)

Our experts continue discussing the most common mistakes in creating the EVP. Is the brevity the soul of wit in this case? Should you really describe all details? Can positivity be a disadvantage?

If the vacancy says - "work in a stable company, the market leader a young friendly team is looking for you", it says nothing. If the EVP describes only money, career and atmosphere - it's mentioned in a hundred of other job offers in your professional sphere or interesting to your target audience. And you should not be comforted that the others write the same thing - you actually do not have the EVP. And there is no positive feedback from the people you need. Such EVPs constitute a faceless mass, which is absolutely uninteresting to their potential target audience. Researchers of the employer brand note that most companies use only 8% of the EVP attributes, and the same ones - the team, income, industry, career. The candidate gets tired from hundreds of similar job offers and it's more difficult for them to choose you. It is more effective if your proposal is at least reformulated according to the peculiarities of these attributes in your company. And taking into account the fact that the consumer and the candidate are not always the same person. Personal recommendations are also a good source of recruiting - such candidates should also be taken into account. Therefore, you need to be able to "go beyond". For example, if you do not have a rigid hierarchy in your company and open communication is welcomed, you can describe the atmosphere in the team like "we love discussions". Another popular version of the "atmospheric EVP": "We learn from mistakes, but not punished for them".

The value proposition should be understandable to any representative of your target audience. Besides, any representative of your target audience should be able to retell it to someone without any loss of valuable information. If we talk about the wording of the EVP, the phrase "brevity is the sister of talent" is the most relevant one here. The other sisters will be clarity, simplicity and honesty. Considering that the potential candidate’s attention is attracted to dozens, if not hundreds of vacancies, the concentration of their attention is less than that of a goldfish, so looking through your EVP is like speed dating for them. Very few people, except sincere admirers of your company and advocates of the brand, will have enough patience to make through these literary citadels. If you value your work - it's time to apply the lean startup method, go through the office, and then get out of the office and ask the employees, both current and potential, about their desires, needs and fears. Only the choice of sincere answers to the aspirations of the target audience will ensure that with the help of the value proposition the necessary candidates will come to the company, and the already working employees will be involved and loyal.

Tea with one or two tablespoons of sugar is enjoyable, but if you put six or eight tablespoons of sugar in the tea, you will get a syrup. So the value proposition should be emotionally balanced - yes, there should be more advantages, but any emotion has its own "opposite" and it can not be missed. The continuous description of advantages contradicts the principles of sincerity and may not be understood by the entire target audience. For example, the "dark side" of decision-making is our fears of making a mistake, missing something important and making the wrong decision. The super positive EVP does not appeal to this audience. As well as to people who consider not only the profit but also savings, who are motivated "from" and are excellent critics. Of course, if there are few such people in your target audience, then add "dark tones" in small doses. For example, if your internal academy trains employees after a rigid entrance selection, you can combine this fact with another, a more positive one - the opportunity to work on probation at the company's main office (abroad) after training. Or, for example, the career step is longer in your company than in the competing companies in the market, but this is a guaranteed promotion and an opportunity to pass a specialized MBA course if you are focused on vertical growth. So, we have considered five problems that are quite common when creating the EVP. When you create a value proposition, you need to choose a reasonable compromise in the dilemma - to describe the benefits in such a way that the candidate would wish to exchange the present job for your company but to refrain from wishful thinking. On the stage of the EVP implementation, the gravest sin is unfulfilled promises. For example, you promise something to candidates that you do not do for employees. Therefore, the creation of your truly, strong and sincere value proposition requires time and effort. But well-made and up-to-date value proposition not only saves money for attracting the candidates and their salary but also creates trust within the company, increases the loyalty of already working employees, helps them feel protected. And this is already worth a lot.