Define Your EVP
Answering “Why should I work for you?” is as important as answering “Why should I buy from you?”
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash
You’re sitting across the table from a bright-eyed person in a cheerful yellow sweater. Or more likely these days, you can see them in a window on your computer screen while you try not to read the book titles on the shelf behind them.
As the interview comes to a close, you ask, “Do you have any questions for me?”
The person smiles and says, “I have a few. One. Why should I work for your company?”
I suspect this question is coming up more and more right now. Old habits say if they applied for the job, they probably want the job so this question need not be asked or answered.
New habits say this person in their yellow sweater is considering several solid options and will wait for the job they find most compelling.
This question gets at your company’s EVP or employee value proposition.
Most of us think of our value proposition as the one we make to customers, and as purpose-driven businesses, we’re kind of obsessed with delivering meaningful, long-term value to the humans we serve.
In reality, we deliver value in more than one way, not the least of which is to our team. One way we deliver value to our team is through gainful employment. Another way may be through other benefits like healthcare.
Increasingly however, it’s the meaningful employment that brings them to the table and keeps them there. Meaningful means significant and purposeful. It also means the work makes sense.
As the leader of a purpose-driven business, you must connect what you’re asking your people to do with why you’re asking them to do it. That’s what moves your purpose from a poster in the breakroom — or something that gets a talented person to apply for your job — to what drives your actions day in and day out. It’s also part of what helps you make the shift from treating your people as something to treating them as someone.
If you haven’t spent time articulating your EVP, consider working on it this week. How will they contribute to advancing your purpose in their role? How will they be assessed so they understand the impact they’re making? Is there something specific you can add based on the person you just spent an hour getting to know?
Bonus: How will you help them grow as a member of your team?
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