Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Roxanne, you don't have to put on the red light
Roxanne, (you don't have to put on the red light)
Roxanne... (put on the red light)
Roxanne... (put on the red light)
Roxanne... (put on the red light)
Roxanne... (put on the red light)

-The Police

I'm in LA early next week to speak at a CareerBuilder conference.  Here's three slides from that deck (email subscribers click through for images if you don't see them).  Take a look and let's talk after the jump:

The point - and there is one - is that you and me live our employment/recruiting brands every day.  As a result of that daily fixation, we get tired of the brand and it's features.  But as we grow tired, we forget a couple of important things:

1. We're exposed to the brand every day and almost every hour.

2. No one we're interested in recruiting sees our brand that much. We're lucky to get them interested enough in an open position to take a look at our company, and for most candidates, that's the only time this year they'll engage with our brand.

Agree? Good. The next thing you have to think about it repetition of your employment brand in the marketplace. Because as we get tired of our brand, we're afraid to share some of our marketing materials in the marketplace on a repetitive basis.  We're wrong - we should be doubling down.  Things to consider:

1. If your employment brand elements are good, it doesn't matter how many times you share them. You think people of influence are seeing them every time you share them on social - they're not.

2. Simple works. The Police song reference in the images above is iconic, and it's primary features are singing "Roxanne" 100 times and telling the aforementioned gal that she "doesn't have to put on the red light" in a few different ways.

The lesson - other than Sting being a stand up guy - is that you should spend a lot of time on your brand and hone it down to simple elements. So much so that stupid people will tell you it seems like the brand took 5 minutes for you to create. Don't worry about those people - if your messaging is good, it's supposed to be simple.  They're morons.

Then pump that brand in a repetitive way without apology.  Side note - if you're going to pump it in that repetitive way - it needs to not suck.

Up Next Week - How "Message in a Bottle" made me a better recruiter.