This is very very interesting. There is definitely a lack of Talent Marketing / Evangelists in the hiring funnel. Teams currently don’t have them at the moment or know how to structure that at all. Engaging with strangers is not something that’s done well either. The brand value generated through other news is how people find out carreer opportunities ( like investment news or news in general ). If not that, then just cold calls or recruiters.
One of the things I noticed most companies don’t talk about his “Talent” success and growth after hiring ( similar to how customer success organizations focus on customers ). Teams, especially smaller teams, lack clear growth trajectories or have a very traditional growth trajectory, which over time has become devoid of meaning. Great Growth Strategy is obviously a great strategy to reduce Talent churn, kinda ties itself into “People as a moat” thing that you are talking about.
