Employer branding · Professional services
Your candidate is judging your hiring process, because that is what you sell.
An HR or people advisory firm is bought for its judgement about other companies' hiring, so a candidate treats your own process as the demonstration and scores it accordingly.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
An HR or people advisory firm is bought for its judgement about other companies' hiring, so a candidate treats your own process as the demonstration and scores it accordingly. GullySales writes the careers page and role posts, and puts your own candidate experience in writing so it matches what you tell clients.
Also written for
HR consulting firms, People advisory firms.
What we do not do
We do not recruit, supply candidates or run payroll. We help candidates see the employer you already are.
Where this sits
For HR consulting firms
Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.
“Your hiring process is a live demonstration”
A candidate who waits a fortnight for a reply from a firm that sells hiring advice has learned everything they need. They will say so, to people in your market.
“Utilisation makes the culture page hard to write”
If consultants are measured on billable hours, a page about people first reads as a joke to anybody who has worked in the model. Say what the target is and what the firm does about a thin quarter.
“Your clients hire your consultants”
A client works with your consultant for six months and then makes an offer. That is the trade in this business and pretending otherwise looks naive. Say what path exists inside the firm that a client cannot match.
“Candidates read what your firm publishes”
You write about hiring and culture for a living. A candidate holds that up against your own job post, and the gap between the two is the only thing they remember.
What we do
What we deliver for HR consulting firms.
Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.
Your own careers page, done the way you advise clients to do theirs
The roles, what a week looks like, how utilisation works, what a first-year consultant is given to run alone.
Result: A page you would be content to show a client as an example.
Posts for consultants and researchers
The practice area, the client mix, the travel, who reviews the work and how an assignment is staffed.
Result: Applicants who understand the difference between advisory work and an in-house role.
A candidate experience review, written up
We apply for one of your open roles and then wait like anybody else. Every step, every reply and the days between them go into a write-up, with the point a candidate would have walked marked on it.
Result: The demonstration finally matches the pitch.
Consultant interviews with the awkward part left in
What your people tell a friend about the hours, and what made them stay anyway. Published with their agreement.
Result: Credibility with the one audience that cannot be impressed by a culture paragraph.
Your published views against your own practice
We read what your firm has written about hiring and compare it with your job posts, your interview loop and your offer letters, then list every contradiction.
Result: The gap a candidate would have found is closed before they find it.
How the result is measured
- Applications received per open role
- Careers page engagement and time on page
- Candidate drop-off during the interview process
- Referral hires as a share of total hires
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
How the work runs for HR consulting firms
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Talk to current employees
We interview a cross-section of staff honestly, including some who might raise uncomfortable points.
- 2
Find the genuine reasons to join
We identify what is actually true and attractive about working there, rather than generic claims that could apply anywhere.
- 3
Build the careers content
The careers page, job post templates and employee stories are written from what staff actually said.
- 4
Review the candidate experience
We check what happens between application and offer, since branding cannot fix a process that loses candidates through delay.
- 5
Hand over and refresh periodically
Content is handed over for ongoing use and revisited periodically as the team and roles change.
Before you hire anyone
The first thing to do yourself.
Read your company the way a good candidate would, before you change anything.
- Search for your company name with the word jobs, and read the first page of results as a candidate would.
- Read your last ten reviews and list the points that appear more than once.
- Ask your three newest joiners why they said yes, and what almost stopped them.
Judge any provider
What to ask any agency or ghost-writer.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Will you work from what our people actually say, or from a template?
- Do you do recruiting or supply candidates, or only the employer-brand work?
- Who approves anything that speaks for our staff?
- Which of our existing job pages and profiles will you change, and which will you leave alone?
- What do you count as a result, and what will you not promise?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
We advise on employer branding ourselves. Why would we buy it?
Do you compete with us? Do you recruit?
Would you review our process even if it embarrasses us?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Professional services
Employer branding for the rest of the professional services.
Or start from employer branding.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.