The Solo Talent Branders Series: Ernst Schipper - Vol. 1

Life of the Solo-Brander

Shout out to all solo-branders! Ever since I started freelancing, I’ve often been the first employer brand practitioner in a company. Having a solo brander often means an organization has taken a step toward a mature recruitment approach, but many struggle with that step.

Recruitment is always about today, about reaching out to people and connecting them with open positions. Employer branding is more about next week and building the bigger story of why people now and in the future should say yes to an organization.

Being the only EB person brings interesting challenges, and those experiences have taught me some valuable lessons. I’ve done things well, and there are things I wouldn’t do again. Each lesson might be worth a separate post, but here’s an overview of some key learnings I’ve had.

Lesson 1: It’s on you.

This is the most important takeaway. If you’re not doing it, nobody is doing it. You can only succeed if you own the results of your role. Don’t worry about job titles or budget. It’s too easy to hide and just do what stakeholders ask you to do. However, being the solo-brander means that you bring your organization to the next level. Don’t complain that you are “just” on your own or that other people don’t get what you’re doing. Make it happen. Start doing stuff. Learn what works. And grow the function.

Lesson 2: Results now

Always keep delivering results. For solo-branders especially, the organization needs to get used to you and what you can do. Create a delivery calendar, and go for quick wins no matter how small. Show what you are doing as you build the case for employer branding being taken seriously.

Lesson 3: Build for scale.

This means that you are always building for scale. Those small quick wins need to tie into a bigger idea or direction that you believe in. Don’t take shortcuts; they will bite you later. It also offers you the option to frame your strategy backward and treat the earlier products you delivered as tests.

Lesson 4: Budgets vs ROI

Because employer branding has a longer horizon than recruitment, it can be pretty tricky to balance these as many organizations think everything needs to be measured in traffic, likes, and hires. Help them expand their understanding by Introducing metrics such as engagement and percentage of people finishing videos. Ask recruiters for candidate feedback about what content was helpful to them.

Lesson 5: Liaise with Brand / Marketing, HR, Recruitment, Management, vendors – the world.

You may work solo, but that doesn’t mean you are alone. This is the biggest potential pitfall. You need to manage all stakeholders – not just the ones you feel comfortable with or who believe in what you are doing. All the stakeholders look at you differently (but often suspiciously :-). Build relationships with all stakeholders, and deliver a consistent narrative over what employer branding is for you and your organization. Again, think about owning your role and what you want to have accomplished in one year at the organization. For me, this was always about striking a balance between being likable and scary. Likable as you want people to work with you, but also scary as you need to protect the gains you made in employer branding.

As a solo-brander you have a significant opportunity to advance your organization’s employer brand. What other lessons have you learned as a solo-brander? Join the Talent Brand Alliance and share your story and experiences with us! By clicking here you can connect with thousands of other practitioners who are navigating the same situations as yourself.

About our TBA member, Ernst Schipper

Ernst Schipper is an employer branding and company culture consultant and helps organizations add meaning to their unique company cultures and employer brands. He is a firestarter either setting up or scaling the employer branding function or bringing culture/employer branding to the next level. During his 10+ years as an independent consultant, Ernst worked with renowned international companies such as Booking.com, Philips, FrieslandCampina, Fugro, and a number of scale-ups. Prior to this he worked some 10 years in a variety of organizations as a recruiter/team lead, hiring manager, employer branding manager, and finally as client director at an employer branding agency.

Ernst is Amsterdam-based, has two amazing daughters, loves exploring other countries, and learning from other people and cultures. Tech stuff, art, and sometimes the combination of these two fascinate him. He is famous among his friends for his homemade limoncello.