My Employer Brand Journey. Adding Heart & Humor.
Most employer brand practitioners didn’t know they wanted to be in employer branding. I am no exception. I’ve always had a marketing mindset, from trade show and event marketing to rewards programs, talent attraction, recruitment marketing, and employer branding. My career has had a lot of twists and turns, and I invite you to learn about my winding career road.
2013 — Part B2B Marketing and Part Employer Brand
I got my first taste of employer branding, talent attraction, or recruitment marketing, all of the above in 2013 when I worked for a contact center solutions company, Working Solutions. I had to find innovative ways to attract independent agents to serve their clients and their customers. I found myself being drawn to the human side of marketing. I was hooked and made the shift. I said goodbye to the contact center space and hello to hospitality.
Going back to my hospitality roots
My first job in high school was with Howard Johnson’s Motel in Madison, Wisconsin. As cheesy as it sounds, you can go back to your roots. What a great way to do so by working for an iconic hotel brand, Hilton. I was hired to lead their global Glassdoor strategy on their Digital HR team. Beyond Glassdoor, I trained team members on how to show up online by adding human elements to their LinkedIn profiles.
Solid strategy unlocked industry-firsts:
➥ Glassdoor Highest Rated CEO list for Chris Nassetta ➥ Glassdoor Best Places to Work
I put my blood, sweat, and tears into that role. Yes, there were a lot of tears which is ultimately why I left. I’m a believer that timing is everything, and it was my time to go. I’ll always be grateful for the friends I met and the experience I gained.
Working for a bank. Why not?
My mom worked for a bank for 13 years and had a good career. It was only fitting that I work for one too. After Hilton, I was hired as their VP, Talent Attraction Specialist at BOK Financial. While there, I led a strategy that helped them achieve many industry-firsts. Here are a few highlights.
➥ Industry-first: Crafted, developed, and led all initiatives to bring video into recruitment marketing via VideoMy Job. 160+ videos. Saved a lot of money by doing everything in-house.
➥ Industry-first: Created ‘5 Reasons Why’ or Team Value Propositions consisting of short stories/articles hosted on recruiter LinkedIn profiles for hard-to-fill roles showcasing hiring managers. These work when recruiters put them to work.
➥ Industry-first: Designed and developed Visual Job Description (VJD) templates for recruitment marketing.
➥ Industry-first: Led Glassdoor strategy ➥ 3.8. to 4.5 in less than 6 months ➥ Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2019.
➥Industry-first: Built and launched a YouTube channel for careers that still stands.
The pandemic hit, and my job went away.
I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset, so consulting was top of mind. What’s the worst that could happen? No clients. You have to take your shot, so I did. I was fortunate enough to land three key clients and worked on some amazing employer brand and recruitment marketing projects for Ross Dress for Less, Subway, Regis, and ASHN, thanks to Craig Fisher with TalentNet Media. I also built an EB strategy and framework for Panorama Education for someone who was on paternity leave. He came back to a full roadmap.
Entrepreneurs respectfully serving entrepreneurs.
At the beginning of this year, I determined I wanted to go back to being on the corporate side of employer branding. Heartland kept showing up in my peripheral vision. It turns out they were in the market for someone with my experience and expertise. In April, I joined as Senior Manager, Employer Brand. I wear both hats, strategy, and execution, on a lean team of one.
I joined because they serve entrepreneurs, and I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I also love their values. They align with mine, and that’s mighty fine.
Sadly, my experience was cut short, with only nine months in my role before I was laid off.
My favorite part of my job was meeting team members across the company. Everyone has a story, and I got to bring them to life. It brought me joy to see lightbulb moments from our leaders. They now know that when EB is done well it impacts attraction and retention. I built the foundation. They’ll have to take it from there.
When one door closes, another one opens. I decided to take the leap, become a full entrepreneur and launched Carrie Cares Employer Brand Consulting. Stay tuned. The fun is just getting started.
