Lessons from Canada’s Greatest Economic Disaster

Employer Branding in 2021

Four-year old me.

Five centuries of an ancestral way of life.

The biggest economic disaster in Canadian history changed me forever and shaped my career path in ways I hadn’t realized until recently.

In 1992, the government of Canada declared that there would be no more cod fishing off the shores of Newfoundland until the resources had replenished and fish could once more be caught without depleting the ocean of its reserves. I believe it was the right move – I always come down on the side of environmental sustainability. But there was a change in the air in my rural town, and all the towns across the province, the day that news was announced.

Mine was a mining town, but fishing was still a prevalent means of subsistence. I saw the pain in the faces of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters as modest little fishing boats were heaved out of the marina and tucked away in weathered sheds for who knew how long. A way of life was lost. This wasn’t a career for these men and women – it was their first love. The heart and soul of their family. The salt spray on their faces, the pungent smell of the fish plant and the bone-weariness they felt after days out on the water. It wasn’t a clock they punched to put food on the table or a gig they were tolerating until they got their next promotion.

It was everything.

The displacement and disenfranchisement stuck around until I reached high school. I remember hearing a story written by a boy in my Grade 9 English class. It was more of a love letter to the fishery. He was from a community that was recently evacuated because it was no longer economically viable and had joined our class late in the year. None of us could quell the lumps in our throats as he described how nothing compared to the joy of being with his father and pulling a fresh catch over the side of the boat, thanking the ocean for what she provided. It was beautiful, in a way, to see such reverence in a time of sweeping cynicism.

Cut to 25 years later and here I am in Toronto, nearly a decade into a career as an employer brand professional. I help companies humanize their messaging and deliver authentic stories that support candidates to make the right choice for their next step. I love finding what is unique about a company and creating an honest depiction for talent so they can make informed choices and find fulfillment. Employee value proposition (EVP) development is at the core of this process – in the fishery, the north star, Polaris, was the guiding force for centuries. In employer branding, Polaris is the EVP.

In the span of my career, I’ve developed expertise in a lot of areas, from regional talent marketing to robust employee advocacy. I’m often introduced as a ‘social media guru’ or the ‘brand person in HR.’ I hear “Oh you have such a fun job!” quite often. That’s great. It’s true. I do love social media and branding. And my job is very fun. But for me, the connection to this discipline runs deeper. Being a spectator to Canada’s greatest economic upheaval gave me a deep understanding that what you do can become such an inherent part of who you are. Talent identity is something I champion in all I do – I think of it as the part of our core values that drives us to find fulfillment at work. I believe in every opportunity, at any level, there is a way to uncover this connection to identity and find true fulfillment, beauty, and joy in our work.

In the wake of the global disaster we just experienced, the economic devastation is apparent and terrifying. But there is a new age of work dawning. Employees aren’t accepting the status quo anymore and companies are being challenged to rise to the occasion. More and more, we are looking to businesses to act as stewards and sources of inspiration for our collective social conscience. Things are different now; people want more. I prefer to think of the Great Resignation as the Great Transformation. For many people, it’s no longer enough to work tirelessly without meaning or purpose. For many companies, now is the time to re-assert your identity as employers with strong core values and a deep appreciation of their employees.

My commitment, as an HR professional, is to strive to work with companies to seek more from their narratives and to humanize employer branding with the goal of connecting people with careers that deliver real fulfillment.

Our identities are made up of so many different things — our core beliefs, our culture, our background, and our families shape them — our career choices do too. In 2021, it’s time to put talent at the centre of employer branding and lean into talent identity. The competition for great talent is fierce and I know that it seems the only way is to prioritize aggressive recruitment marketing. But, your employee value proposition and employer brand are more important than ever.

It takes time and commitment to build a presence and a brand around what makes you unique but, if you ask any fisherman if investing time, heart and patience is worth the effort, you will undoubtedly hear, “Wait for a fair wind, and you’ll get one.”