A little while ago, a very well-connected friend of mine applied for a new role at a business that says it’s “people-first”. I could name names, but being brutal wins no friends and although there’s an example in here for us all, you’ll have to use your imagination.
Let’s see if you can guess.
The value proposition seems immaculate. Openness, collaboration, humanity. The careers site oozes warmth. The application experience, less so. One hour of clunky forms. Then silence. Six weeks later, a rejection email arrived in the middle of the night., from a “no-reply” inbox.
No call. No feedback. Just an automated shrug in the middle of the night. For a big job, Vice-President level. The sort of gig that gets the attention of the business press.
That wasn’t a minor process glitch. That is their EVP, and that is their employer brand.
Because people don’t experience your EVP in the abstract. They experience it in the moments when they’re most vulnerable. When they’re applying for a job, waiting to hear back, starting on their day one. If the brand collapses at those points, no amount of polished messaging can rescue it.
Research released this month (September ’25) shows only one in three candidates feels the hiring journey matches the promise they were sold. The rest spot the gap instantly. And when there’s a gap, disappointment turns into distrust.
This sits neatly in what Edelman now call the “trust recession”. Trust in employers has dropped for the first time in more than a decade. It’s not hard to see why.
Candidates are ghosted (58% say so, according to Greenhouse). Applications are abandoned in droves (60%, CareerBuilder). Nearly three-quarters of those who’ve had a bad experience make sure to tell someone, publicly and repeatedly. That chorus becomes the Glassdoor reviews, the WhatsApp messages, the moan over a pint, the informal warnings that circulate faster than any paid campaign.
So, the irony: the sharper your branding, the more people you attract, the more attentive you must be to make sure that the experience you offer matches. The “people-first” business my friend applied to now has one more person out there telling everyone not to bother.
The failures are usually banal. Systems procured for compliance rather than people. Recruiters improvising different stories. Automated messages written by lawyers. Onboarding that feels like airport security.
Nobody sets out to betray candidates. But the effect is the same. The EVP says, “We’re warm and collaborative.” The reality says, “Please hold while we load section 17C of your application.”
For many, the first point of contact is the moment the magic dies. The promise of collaboration collapses into a compliance checklist.
We’ve confused employer brand with marketing. The experience with the process. But brands live or die in the plumbing, not the posters. Experience falls over in the details.
If your recruitment process is broken, no tagline will save you (if that's what you think an employer brand is). Like pouring champagne into plastic cups at a wedding, people will notice what they’re drinking.
The truth is, people forgive imperfection. What they don’t forgive is feeling mis-sold. You can be mediocre and survive. You cannot be hypocritical and survive.
As we’ve said before. Employer brand isn’t a campaign. It’s the company operating system.
Which means the late-night “no-reply” email isn’t just bad etiquette. It’s brand damage. The ATS isn’t just admin, it’s brand experience. The first day isn’t just paperwork, it’s the moment your promise is either confirmed or destroyed.
Most candidates will forgive you for rejecting them. What they won’t forgive is being treated badly.
So, if the journey doesn’t deliver, the messaging is decoration. And when people discover the inside doesn’t match the outside, they don’t keep quiet. They call out the catfishers.
Because as my friend now says of that “people-first” business: “They told me they cared about people. They lied.”
And that, in the end, is the only employer brand that matters.