Look, this is something I am grappling with because I really want employer branders to think… deeper. It’s not just putting out little videos and polishing up career sites, but helping leadership think better about their brand. One of the ideas I haven’t gotten my arms around but think is special is the concept of cognitive dissonance. We want what we want, but what we want might not align with our stated values. A company who can help its customers overcome that cognitive dissonance is one who can win a long time customer. Like i said, I’m not sure how we can use this idea, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

Look, this is something I am grappling with because I really want employer branders to think… deeper. It’s not just putting out little videos and polishing up career sites, but helping leadership think better about their brand. One of the ideas I haven’t gotten my arms around but think is special is the concept of cognitive dissonance. We want what we want, but what we want might not align with our stated values. A company who can help its customers overcome that cognitive dissonance is one who can win a long time customer. Like i said, I’m not sure how we can use this idea, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

Weren’t we just talking about branding as a means of solving for cognitive dissonance? Here’s another article on building brands on conflicting desires.

So I’ve really been living in this “employer branding is all about creating desire” thing lately, huh? I hope it’s a useful way for you to look at what you’re building and how it is performing. But be living in this world of “desire,” to be successful, we need to leverage different ideas. For example: Anticipation. By stoking anticipation, you create design, but it turns out you are creating something else: fear. Think about the last time you were prepping for an interview for a job you really wanted: you anticipated the interview, you were excited to share your experience and learn more, but you were scared you’d mess it up. Juggling two contrasting emotions at once will likely be one of the most valuable skills in EB.