The state of NFP employer branding: Job advertising

Photo by Deon Fosu on Unsplash

“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.”  – Seth Godin

Recruitment is marketing. 

The consumer is the talent you’re trying to attract, engage and retain. 

The product is the job you want them to choose, and keep.

Savvy employers who get proactive about their employer brand can gain a competitive advantage in talent attraction and retention.

An organisation’s employer brand is ‘always on’ and made up of internal and external elements including employee experience, reputation, candidate experience, brand content and employee advocacy.

When you need to hire, your employer brand can be very powerful.

The benefits of a proactive employer brand and evidence-based EVP include:

  • hire 1-2 times faster

  • double the talent you attract

  • attract 50 per cent more qualified applicants

  • halve recruitment costs over a five-year period

  • increase new hire commitment by 30 per cent

  • reduce turnover by 69 per cent.

Between November 2023 and March 2024, Heart Talent conducted a comprehensive review of the employer brand presence of more than 200 not for profit organisations across Australia. 

We reviewed all aspects of organisations’ external-facing talent brand including careers page, job advertising, employee reviews and social media presence. 

In this and our next few blogs, we’ll share a summary of our key findings.

Job advertising: NFPs’ go-to channel, poorly executed

When you need to hire, you’re selling a job opportunity and all of the aspects of your value proposition for employees.

Advertising is one of the many channels marketers use to gain attention, build awareness and sell products to customers. 

In consumer marketing, advertising uses visually appealing images, words, music and other media to promote goods and services for sale.

While advertising undoubtedly increases exposure and can promote competition, as a paid marketing channel it has several limitations including high costs, low connection and the sheer volume of content and ‘noise’ on advertising platforms.

Job advertising is the go-to channel for NFP employers to source candidates, although our research shows it could be more effectively used.

Two-thirds of NFP employers only use one job board. 

Given the cost of job boards and the low ROI reported by the majority of NFP employers, this finding isn’t surprising. An ad on Australia’s main job board can cost $450-950 and NFP employers often aren’t seeing bang for their buck.

Almost every conversation our team has with hiring managers includes a comment on the very limited effectiveness of job boards. There could be many different reasons for this, here are some of the findings from Heart Talent’s research.

75 per cent of NFP job ads do not include a salary or salary range.

Salary transparency matters. Salary is the number one piece of information candidates expect to find in a job ad. 

Job ads with salary transparency attract up to three times more applicants than ads without salary information.

Perhaps the long-time conversation around expenditure on overheads in the charity sector is in opposition to pay transparency, although the 2022 Paying what it takes report published by Philanthropy Australia and Social Ventures Australia demonstrates a shift in attitude towards NFP expenditure:

'There is clear evidence that spending insufficient resources on overheads or indirect costs can impact the effectiveness and quality of outcomes [and] lead to lower impact, increased risk and financial vulnerability'.

75 per cent of NFP job ads include cliches such as, ‘passionate’, ‘dynamic’, ‘team player’, ‘self starter’, and ‘blue-sky thinking’.

Unfortunately, poorly-written job ads are the norm. Language choice matters and feedback from job seekers demonstrates this.

  • one in three job seekers think job ads confuse people

  • 38 per cent of ads use internal jargon

  • 50 per cent of ads contain annoying buzzwords.

Fundraising and marketing teams work hard on effective donor communications and engagement. Charity organisations wouldn’t expect donors and funders to engage with content that is full of buzzwords or inauthentic platitudes, why should content for a talent audience be any different?

Only 30% of NFP job ads address what's in it for the employee/candidate.

Most job ads start with a description of the organisation and its purpose, impact and/or history. This is usually followed by a shopping list of all of the skills and experience the ideal candidate will bring.

The problem with this approach is that a job ad shouldn’t be about the employer. A job ad is about the people you’re trying to attract. An ad which doesn’t address audience needs and motivations will fail to create the critical connection needed to inspire action from the right people.

‘70 per cent of human decision making is based on emotion. You can write a great job description, create your shopping list of key criteria, post an ad that describes your organisation and why it’s so great but if you don’t create an emotional connection that moves people to act, you lose’. - Cynthia

Read more about the modern work landscape, common talent trends and new approaches for the era of talent in the insightful, practical NFP Talent Attraction Report.

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The consumer holds the power, period.

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Where do Australian NFPs find talent?