The “Post-Post-Recruitment” Era: Why Your Employer Brand Needs a Marketer’s Brain

Let’s be honest for a second. If your employer branding strategy in 2025 is still just “posting a job ad and praying,” you aren’t recruiting—you’re gambling.

I’m a marketer. I spend my days obsessing over funnels, conversion rates, and customer journeys. But here at Grade, where we live and breathe the entire employee journey, I’ve realized something uncomfortable:

HR and Marketing are solving the exact same problem. We just use different words.

• I call it “Customer Acquisition.” You call it “Talent Acquisition.”

• I call it “Retention.” You call it “Employee Engagement.”

• I call it “Brand Advocacy.” You call it “Culture.”

The companies winning the talent war right now aren’t the ones with the best ping-pong tables. They are the ones where HR thinks like a growth engine.

Here is why your employer brand might be failing, and three marketing “hacks” to fix it.

1. The “Funnel” is Dead. Long Live the “Loop.”

The Old Way (HR): Post job >Interview >Hire > Onboard. Done.

The New Way (Marketing): Attract >Engage > Delight > Advocate.

In marketing, we know that the real value doesn’t happen when a customer buys; it happens when they stay and tell their friends. The same applies to your employees.

The Fix:

Stop front-loading your budget on job boards. Shift 30% of your resources to the “Advocate” stage. Empower your happiest employees to create content—videos, LinkedIn posts, honest “day in the life” stories.

In marketing, we call this UGC (User Generated Content). In HR, it’s trust at scale.

2. Your “EVP” is Too Fluffy. Get Specific.

Marketers hate vague value props. “We have a great culture” is the “Best Pizza in New York” of HR—everyone says it, so it means nothing.

If your external promise (branding) doesn’t match the internal reality (culture), you have a “churn” problem.

The Fix:

A/B test your messaging and get radically specific.

• Don’t say: “We value work-life balance.”

• Do say: “We have a ‘Log Off at 5 PM’ policy that is actually enforced.”

At Grade, we look at the whole timeline. If you promise growth during the interview, you need the infrastructure to deliver it in year two. That consistency is what builds a brand.

3. Treat Candidates Like “Leads” (Because They Are)

In marketing, if a potential customer visits our site and leaves, we don’t just ignore them. We nurture them. We stay top-of-mind.

The Fix:

Build a “Talent Nurture” stream. Did you have a silver-medalist candidate who was great but didn’t get the role? Don’t ghost them.

• Add them to a quarterly “Insider” newsletter.

• Send them relevant industry reports.

• Invite them to your company webinars.

When the next role opens, you won’t be starting from scratch. You’ll have a warm audience ready to convert.

The Bottom Line: We Are All in the “Journey” Business

The wall between HR and Marketing is crumbling.

• Marketing needs HR to build the culture we brag about.

• HR needs Marketing to tell that story effectively.

At Grade, we believe that you can’t separate the “candidate” from the “employee.” It’s one continuous timeline. If you want to fix your recruitment, stop looking at your job ads and start looking at your entire employee journey.

Are you ready to stop recruiting and start attracting?