Having worked in employer branding since the early 2000s, we’re privileged enough to observe various trends and priorities within HR at the companies we visit, consult for, or advise. Recently, there’s something we’ve been hearing almost everywhere we go: “We’re now a purpose-driven company.”

People crave purpose, and companies have tapped into that deep innate desire, which is admirable and, some would argue, essential. However, it’s no longer enough to differentiate a company from talent competitors, and it’s certainly not enough to win more than your fair share of top talent.

When it comes to employer branding—your reputation as a place to work—being a purpose-led company is both a blessing and a curse. Of course there are many benefits to being a purpose-led company, but too many companies become complacent, relying solely on their status as a purpose-led company. 

To stand out from your competitors and overcome the curse of being a purpose-led company, you must focus not only on your company’s purpose, but also on your talent audience’s personal purpose.

The Blessing of Being a Purpose-Led Company

A purpose-led company is an organization that is centered on one organized idea, which is engineered to improve the world and achieve something greater than financial gain. The existence and impact of the company has a strong moral stance, a view on the world that people can easily agree with and identify with.

Purpose-led companies are inspiring. They give you goose bumps, and some even imprint on your own identity. For instance, many love Patagonia’s ethics and commitment to sustainability and saving the planet. 

Organizations with an easily comprehensible purpose become instantly more memorable, relevant, and meaningful to us. As humans, we identify and form an affinity with the story we’ve experienced. 

We’re all searching for our own purpose, and so as consumers, we align with the brands that reinforce the self-image we create for ourselves. If I buy only local, I’m supporting the community. If I buy organic, I’m saving the world from the negative effects of pesticides. If I buy the latest gadget, I’m a trendsetter.

Purpose-led brands make us feel good about our choices, which make us feel good about who we are. They help us construct or support a self-image and reinforce who we think we are or want to be.

Naturally, purpose-led brands have held a competitive advantage when it comes to talent attraction. Who doesn’t want to work for a company they believe in, a company that makes them feel good about themselves?

The blessing of being a purpose-led company is the ability to attract a great volume of interested candidates. However, talent acquisition is about finding the right people, not the most people. 

That leads us to the curse of being a purpose-led company. While purpose-led brands rarely struggle with quantity of applicants, the quality of their applicant pool is not always where it needs to be.

The Curse of Being a Purpose-Led Company

Purpose-led companies that rely on the visibility and reach of their consumer brand to find talent often encounter problems in their applicant pool, including limited diversity, high volume of mismatched applicants, and difficulties engaging top talent in the market. 

After someone is hired, yet more problems can arise because of disparities between the individual’s perception of the company versus the reality. People often have high expectations of purpose-led companies, and when the employee experience fails to live up to their expectations, they are disappointed. 

Blizzard Entertainment is a classic example of an incredible company becoming a victim of its own success. It’s unbelievable just how adored the Blizzard brand is because of the strength of their gaming community and how much it connects with the user base. Only until you’ve stood in an arena of twenty-five thousand fans, 95 percent of whom are dressed head to toe in Blizzard character costumes, chanting the names of sixteen gamers playing Overwatch, will you know what we mean when we try to articulate just how passionate this gaming community really is.

Talent acquisition has never been so popular at Blizzard. They don’t need more applications—they get a “Blizzard” of fans applying for every role. Because so many applicants come from their dedicated, passionate user base, the diversity of their applicant pool can be limited, and the applicants are not always a good match—loving to play Blizzard games does not necessarily translate to loving to work at Blizzard. 

What Blizzard needs is more of the right applications based on skill set and culture-add qualities. In order to engage with the top talent and attract the right applicants, Blizzard—and other purpose-led companies—must work to tap into candidates’ personal purpose.

The Power of Personal Purpose

For thousands of years, people much smarter than we are have written, experimented, and proved the innate human desire to find a sense of meaning in life. We all want an answer to that all-consuming question, “What is my purpose?”

Every one of us finds a way to answer that burning question—sometimes definitively, sometimes figuratively, and sometimes with a simple notion of finding satisfaction in the pursuit of progress toward something that feels positive, fulfilling, or worthwhile.

If we’re good at something, we take satisfaction from doing it. If we’re the best at something, we take pride in our achievements. If we’re noticeably getting better at something, we take pride in our progress and stay focused on the future achievement we’re working toward. This sense of pride feeds the soul.

We can agree with and be inspired by someone else’s purpose, sure, but we feel emotionally fulfilled only when we demonstrate a sense of achievement toward our own purpose.

As a purpose-led company, to build the best employer brand, you must identify what your talent audience values and appreciates most in life. Armed with that information, you can start to build a picture of how best to talk to them about what they care about in the language they can understand.

You must link your company’s purpose to their own personal purpose. If you can show applicants the ways in which working for your company will align with their personal aspirations, you will increase the diversity of your applicants, attract better matched individuals, and more effectively engage the top talent in the market. 

Purpose Is a Useful Weapon

A purpose-led company and a beloved consumer brand is an attractive proposition and a useful weapon to wield, but it’s not enough to win more than your fair share of top talent. You must also uncover the personal purpose of your workforce. 

It’s the combination of being a purpose-led organization while relying on the personal purpose of your workforce that makes you stand head and shoulders above the rest.

As a purpose-led company, you already understand your company’s purpose. So now it’s time to learn more about the personal purpose of your workforce. Talk to your employees—find out what drives and inspires them. Then harness that personal purpose to propel your company forward.