What Does Working Here Say About Me?

A strong employer brand does more than tell people what they will get.

It tells them something about who they will be, and that’s an important distinction.

Most employer propositions still concentrate heavily on the rational exchange: pay, benefits, flexibility, development, progression, meaningful work. All of those matter. They help someone decide whether an opportunity is worth considering.

But brands become more powerful when they move beyond:

“What will I get from working there?”

and towards:

“What does working there say about me?”

Because that is where identity comes in.

People are drawn to organisations where they recognise something in them that they value in themselves, or perhaps something they would like to become.

Now, these identities are rarely without compromise. A genuinely distinctive employer cannot be everything at once. If you want the upside of an identity, you often have to accept some of the friction that comes with it.

I’ve developed a few identities, and some of the considerations that come with them:

Inventive

An inventive organisation wants to do things differently.

It adopts new technology early, experiments with new ways of serving customers and is prepared to challenge existing processes when it thinks there is a better answer.

For the right person, that is exciting. They want to be somewhere that is moving ahead rather than waiting for somebody else to prove the way forward.

But early adoption comes with wrinkles. Systems do not always integrate. Processes lag behind ideas. Yesterday’s solution may be replaced tomorrow.

So, the implicit deal is: “Come here and help us work through the mess that innovation sometimes creates.”

Some people will find that exhausting. Others will relish it.

Rebellious

Rebellious organisations challenge convention deliberately.

They see established practice and ask why it has to be that way at all.

There can be a punk spirit to them: scepticism towards accepted wisdom, impatience with traditional structures and a desire to provoke change. That can create a powerful sense of tribe.

For some people, being part of an organisation like that is itself attractive. It says something about how they see the world. But rebellion creates tension too.

If you challenge norms externally while maintaining rigid hierarchy and cautious behaviour internally, the identity quickly collapses. And even when the rebellion is genuine, constant challenge can be uncomfortable.

Not everyone wants to question everything.

Socially useful

Some organisations are attractive because their work clearly contributes to something beyond commercial success. That does not mean they need to be charities.

A profitable organisation can still be fundamentally driven by solving a social problem, improving lives or strengthening communities.

For people drawn to this identity, work is not only an economic transaction. They want their vocation to align with their values. But purpose also creates difficult choices.

What happens when commercial pressure conflicts with the mission? What happens when doing the socially useful thing is slower, more expensive or less convenient?

The employer brand becomes credible when people can see how those tensions are resolved, not just when they see the purpose statement.

Intellectually rigorous

These organisations value depth. They research. They challenge assumptions. They test ideas and then test them again.

They are attractive to people who enjoy thinking problems through fully and who are prepared to explore several dead ends before finding the right path. The upside is obvious: thoughtful decisions, intellectual challenge and the opportunity to do work properly. The compromise is pace.

Rigour can look like hesitation to somebody who wants immediate action. The culture has to know when more evidence will genuinely improve a decision, and when perfect understanding has become an excuse not to make one.

For the right people, that tension is part of the appeal.

Caring

Caring organisations believe that humanity is not something to be designed out of work.

They put people at the centre, whether those people are customers, service users, colleagues or communities. They understand that relationships matter and that performance is ultimately delivered by human beings.

That sounds universally attractive. It is not universally easy. Putting people first means dealing with complexity, emotion and competing needs. It can mean spending longer listening. It can mean accepting that the neatest operational answer is not always the right human answer.

The people who thrive there accept the work that caring requires.

Entrepreneurial

Entrepreneurial organisations place a premium on ideas, instinct and opportunity.

They want people to act, learn and move quickly. They accept that not everything will work. For some, that creates enormous energy. They want autonomy. They enjoy being one step ahead. They would rather try something and adapt than wait for certainty.

But freedom brings exposure. Priorities can change. Roles can blur. Failure is part of the deal. You cannot authentically promise entrepreneurial freedom while also demanding certainty, consistency and zero mistakes.

The attraction lies partly in accepting that trade-off.

Local

Local identity is easy to underestimate. Some organisations derive enormous strength from being deeply connected to a particular place. They serve a defined community, employ generations from the same area or are simply associated with the cultural fabric of a town, city or region.

For employees, working there can become an expression of belonging. “This place matters to me, so this organisation matters to me.”

The tension is that locality can create limits too. A deeply local culture may not always translate easily to other markets. Growth can dilute the thing that made the organisation distinctive in the first place. The challenge is to grow, or change, without losing rootedness.

Eccentric

Eccentric organisations are different from rebellious ones. Rebels know the norm and choose to challenge it. Eccentrics often seem unaware that the norm exists.

Their ways of working, language, rituals or culture may simply have developed according to their own logic. That can be hugely attractive to people who have never felt especially comfortable fitting into conventional boxes.

But eccentricity cannot be manufactured. The moment an organisation deliberately tries to look quirky, it often becomes painfully conventional. Real eccentricity comes from confidence: knowing what makes sense for you even when it looks unusual to everyone else.

Distinctiveness creates choices

None of these identities is inherently better than another. And none of them will appeal to everyone. That is the point.

(And, an employer brand is less clean than a consumer brand, because it’s more human, so it will likely be a blend of these or other identities. But that’s for another time…)

Employer branding becomes far more powerful when on top of: “How can we make ourselves attractive?” It also asks: “What kind of people will feel an affinity with the way we genuinely operate?”

The tensions matter because they make the identity believable.

·         Innovation without inconvenience is unlikely.

·         Entrepreneurship without failure is unlikely.

·         Care without emotional complexity is unlikely.

·         Rigour without patience is unlikely.

A distinctive employer brand does not hide those compromises.

It helps the right people recognise them and think: “Yes. I’d be comfortable with that.”