These templates were built in partnership with Fathom, an employer branding agency that builds EVPs from evidence rather than assumptions. Fathom's methodology centres on closing the Credibility Gap, the distance between what an organisation promises candidates and what employees actually experience. If your brief reveals more complexity than you expected, Fathom can take it from there.
The EVP
Brief
Complete this before any EVP engagement begins. This is not the activation brief, that comes later. This document frames the research, defines the problem, and ensures the EVP that gets built is the one that is actually needed.
The Business Context
Why are we here, and why now?
What triggered this EVP engagement?
A specific event, data point, or business pressure that made this a priority now, not eventually.
Where is the business headed in the next 2 to 3 years?
Growth plans, market expansion, headcount targets, M and A activity. An EVP must serve the future organisation, not just the current one.
Who owns this? Who signs it off?
The day-to-day lead and the executive who will approve the final EVP. Both must be confirmed at the start, or the project stalls at review.
The Hiring Challenge
The commercial problem the EVP must solve
If this EVP solves only one problem, what must it be?
This is the North Star. Everything the EVP says, and does not say, is filtered through this single outcome.
Where is the pain sharpest right now?
Specific roles, geographies, or candidate segments where the current brand, or absence of one, is actively failing.
What do candidates currently believe about this organisation?
Hypothesis only. Research will test it. The gap between this answer and reality is often where the EVP opportunity lives.
Priority Talent Segments
Who must this EVP work hardest for?
Identify your top three priority segments.
Volume roles need broad reach. Niche roles need high persuasion. Early talent requires precise timing. Each needs different emphasis in the EVP.
Geographic priorities
Where must the EVP work? Challenged markets need different proof points to growth markets.
The Credibility Gap
The distance between the promise and the people's reality
What do you want employees to say about working here?
The aspiration. What you believe, or want to believe, is genuinely true.
What do employees actually say, including the uncomfortable parts?
Glassdoor themes, exit interview patterns, informal feedback. The Credibility Gap lives between this answer and the one above.
What are you not willing or able to fix before activating the EVP?
Knowing what is off the table means the EVP will not promise things that cannot be delivered.
Competitive Landscape
Who are you competing with for talent, not customers
Who are your talent competitors?
Often different from business competitors. These are the companies your candidates also interview with, or leave to join.
What do your competitors claim in their employer brand?
What are they saying that sounds like what you would also like to say? Where might you be heading into crowded territory?
Research Access
What is available to work with?
Leadership access
Senior interviews are essential. Surveys show patterns. Leaders explain context. An EVP without leadership input tends to be accurate but not strategic.
Employee research access
What can be run with employees? Each method adds a different layer: quantitative baseline, qualitative depth, or strategic validation.
External research
Survey the external talent market, or work from internal data plus market signals? This affects cost and the defensibility of the final EVP.
The Anti-Goal
What must we never say, claim, or be?
What is off-limits?
Brand guardrails, sensitive claims, legal constraints, or anything that would embarrass leadership if it appeared in a campaign.
What cliches must be avoided?
The phrases that make every candidate roll their eyes, because every competitor already uses them.
Logistics and Governance
The practical constraints that kill projects if left undefined
Budget range
A range is fine. This shapes the methodology. Honesty here avoids three weeks of scoping only to discover the numbers do not align.
Timeline
Ideal completion date and any hard constraints, such as a major hiring push, company announcement, or board presentation.
What does done look like?
The specific deliverables expected, and how success will be measured internally when the EVP is presented.
The Creative
Campaign Brief
Complete this when commissioning awareness campaigns, recruitment marketing, or both. This brief requires an EVP to exist. Without one, you are activating without a foundation, and the results will reflect that.
The Strategic Foundation
What are we activating, and at what altitude?
Which EVP is this campaign activating?
Link to the EVP document or playbook. If no EVP exists, this brief cannot be completed in good faith.
Ambition Level
This determines the scale, production requirements, and budget expectations. Bigger ambition requires proportionally bigger investment to match it.
Balance of Power
Where does the primary weight go, internal activation or external reach? 100% external with no internal work consistently leads to attrition. Employees who do not recognise the EVP undermine it at every candidate touchpoint.
The One Thing
SMIT, Single Most Important Thing
If this campaign achieves only one thing, what must it be?
Not a list of hoped-for outcomes. One thing. Every creative decision is evaluated against this. If the answer is a list, the brief is not ready.
North Star KPI
How will success be measured? Define the metric before briefing the creative, not after reviewing the results.
Audience
Precision over averages, the average candidate does not exist
Primary audience for this campaign
Specific role(s), career stage, and geography. A brief that says "everyone" briefs for no one.
What does this audience currently believe?
The starting point in their heads. The campaign needs to shift, or confirm, this belief.
Think. Feel. Do.
Three distinct outcomes from a single campaign exposure. Keep them honest, not aspirational to the point of meaninglessness.
Commercial Reality
The hiring data that shapes channel selection and media spend
Total Hiring Quota, next 12 months
Quarterly breakdown determines whether this needs an Always-On media layer or Burst campaigns timed to hiring peaks.
Priority Segments, hiring breakdown
Volume roles need high-reach channels. Niche roles need high-persuasion content. Each segment may need a different creative emphasis and channel mix.
Geographic Focus
Growth markets and challenged markets have different needs. Do not apply the same message and budget allocation uniformly.
Talent Competitors
Who are you losing candidates to at final stage? Often different from commercial competitors.
Key Messages
Which EVP pillars lead? What proof must land?
Which EVP pillar(s) should lead?
Reference the pillar names from the EVP document. If all pillars are equally important, that is a flag. Dial up what matters most to this specific audience and objective.
What specific proof points must land?
Real, concrete evidence from the EVP proof library. Claims without proof are just marketing. Proof without claims is just data.
The Anti-Goal
What must this campaign never say, look like, or imply? Include anything that misrepresents the experience or that leadership would not stand behind.
Creative Direction
Style, tone, look and feel
Style and Tone
Describe the emotional register, not just the visual style. How should it feel to someone seeing it for the first time?
Visual references and benchmarks
Films, campaigns, brands. Anything pointing toward what right looks and feels like. At least one example of what to aim for, and one to avoid.
Music and Audio direction
For video deliverables. Reference specific tracks, energy levels, or sonic personality. Do not leave this undefined, it shapes the entire feel of the edit.
Creative Readiness, what assets exist today?
If nothing exists, Phase 1 of the campaign must include asset production. Do not skip this step and expect stock photography to fill the gap.
Deliverables
What are we actually making?
Channel and Distribution
Paid, owned, earned, and can we track it?
Paid channels in scope
Volume roles need reach. Niche roles need precision. Do not force the same channel mix onto both.
Tech stack, can we track what we generate?
No tracking pixels means no ROI reporting. Surface this now, not after launch.
Call to Action
Logistics and Governance
The constraints that kill campaigns if left undefined
Activation budget
Production plus media if applicable. Must match the Ambition Level selected in Section 01.
Approvals and compliance
Who signs off on creative? Are there legal or regulatory constraints that must be understood before the creative process begins?
Timeline
Mandatory inclusions
Brand assets, legal disclaimers, accreditation marks, or anything that must appear regardless of creative direction.
Everything you need
to know about
the brief
A brief is not a formality. It is the document that determines whether the work that follows is strategically grounded or expensively approximate. These questions cover the concepts, frameworks, and decisions that separate a brief worth acting on from one that wastes everyone's time.
Published by Employer Branding News in partnership with Fathom.
Fathom