When crafting your recruiting message to the marketplace, it’s tempting to try and be everything to everyone.Netflix set the example on how to build an employer brand on just one idea. Their idea was: A great workplace is the opportunity to work with stunning colleagues. When Netflix was a start-up, they couldn’t compete with the stock and compensation packages offered by their well-known and established competitors (Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, etc.). To differentiate themselves, they touted running their company like a professional sports team where only the best and brightest team-oriented players were allowed to stay on the team. Are you sick of working with brilliant jerks? Come to Netflix. Are you sick of working with a bunch of low performers? Come to Netflix. Do you want to be pushed to rise to a higher standard by your peers? Come to Netflix. They used this strategy to build one of the highest-performing cultures of any technology company. Take a page from the Netflix playbook by identifying a recruiting niche that focuses on just one or two advantages that make you uniquely better than your competitors.
We tell ourselves: We have better training, better compensation options, better leads, better managers, better culture, better community service opportunities, etc. Even if this were true (you’re the best company in the world), it’s difficult for recruiting prospects to digest all these ideas. It’s better to focus on just one or two concepts. More than a decade ago,