Today’s employer branding needs more than just pretty slogans. It needs an understanding of the reality and the real needs and experiences of people. Data allows us to see the brand through the eyes of those who matter most – employees and candidates alike. It helps us understand how our brand is truly performing.

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What Are Data, Information and Insights

Data, information and insights are three different levels of working with knowledge:

Data represents raw facts without context. For example: “43% of employees are dissatisfied”.

Information gives meaning to data by putting it into context. For example: “43% of employees are dissatisfied due to lack of career opportunities”.

Insights bring deep understanding connected to people’s emotions and needs. For example: “Employees want to grow, but they don’t see opportunities, which makes them feel overlooked.”

In practice, it looks like this: we have data on traffic to a career website. We see that 300 people visited it. From the information, we find that 70% of them left within 30 seconds. And thanks to the insight, we understand that the website does not offer clear value or a reason to stay.

Where to Find Data

When people interact with a company as an employer, they leave a trail. Every interaction—a click on a website, a share of a post, an interview, or a post-exit feedback—represents data that can help us better understand the reality of the brand.

The RACE model helps us systematically map this data across the stages of the candidate and employee journey:

Reach

We track where candidates are coming from (e.g. via Google, LinkedIn or referrals). Through analysis, we find that the highest quality candidates often come through personal referrals, not paid advertising.

Act

We measure how candidates interact with our content – for example, how long they stay on career website pages or how many clicks employee stories get. Insights show us that people are looking for authentic stories, not just a list of benefits.

Convert

We monitor what influences a candidate’s decision to apply. For example, if we find that a complex form significantly reduces the number of completed applications, we can use this finding to simplify the process.

Engage

We collect feedback from employees, for example through satisfaction surveys, interviews or internal discussions. This helps us understand that daily recognition and quality communication, not just financial rewards, are key to employee loyalty.

The Gap Between Vision and Experience

Every company builds a certain image of itself – the so-called aspirational identity. This is the story we tell ourselves internally and which reflects our values, ambitions and ideas about how others perceive us.

However, the reality experienced by employees and candidates can be different. We call this gap between aspiration and reality the brand gap.

Example: A company may think it is an “innovative employer”, but survey data shows that employees often feel frustrated by slow processes.

Book tip: Marty Neumeier writes about the brand gap in this book. It is not directly about employer branding, but it is inspiring.

Data helps us to uncover this gap. It shows where the perception of the company diverges from reality and gives us the tools to systematically narrow this gap.

Examples of Differences Between Management and Employees

• Management thinks: “We have open communication.” X Employees feel: “We hear about important changes late or not at all.”
• Management thinks: “We support career development.” X Employees feel: “We don’t have a clear idea of how to move up.”
• Management thinks: “We offer great benefits.” X Employees feel: “The benefits don’t match what we really need and value.”

Uncovering these differences is key to making your employer brand authentic and credible.

How Data Helps Us See Reality

To get a good look at a brand, we need a combination of quantitative and qualitative data.

Quantitative data provides numbers, metrics, and trends. For example, employee satisfaction rates or the number of visits to career pages.

Qualitative data captures stories, comments, and personal experiences. Thanks to them, we better understand what people feel and how they perceive their experience with the employer brand.

Numbers will show us that there is a problem somewhere. But only stories will explain why the problem arose and what emotions people associate with it.

How to Get From Data to Insights

1. Data collection: Start simple – with short internal surveys, interviews, exit interviews, or website traffic analysis (e.g., using Google Analytics).
2. Information analysis: Connect data with context. What do the numbers tell us about specific situations? Where do we see behavioral patterns or trends?
3. Finding patterns: Are there any motivations, barriers, or frustrations that are repeated? What emotions are most often heard in comments and stories?
4. Formulating insights: Insights are achieved when we can summarize deeper knowledge that connects data, stories, and emotions into one clear message.

Example:

• Data: 60% of candidates fail to complete an application.
• Information: The most common reason is a complex application form.
• Insight: Candidates expect a simple and straightforward process because they don’t have the capacity to devote much time to complex procedures in the early stages of their job search.

Without a systematic path from data collection to insight creation, we risk only responding to superficial symptoms and not to the real causes of problems.

How to Easily Start Collecting Data:

• Short internal surveys

• Interviews with employees

• Exit interviews

• Analysis of career website traffic

It is not necessary to invest large amounts of money. The important thing is to start systematically.

Employer Branding as a Learning Process

Data is not the goal, but a key tool that allows us to better understand reality and systematically improve the employer brand. It is not just about collecting numbers, but above all about the ability to perceive connections and respond to them.

In employer branding, the ideal approach is inspired by the principles of design thinking, which supports a cycle of continuous learning and improvement. This process includes:

• Listen: Actively collect data and stories from employees and candidates. It is not just about the quantity of answers, but the ability to truly understand what people are saying and feeling.
• Define: Based on the collected data, clearly name problems or opportunities. For example, find out that a complex application process discourages quality candidates.
• Test: Propose small changes and quickly verify them in practice. This could be, for example, simplifying the recruitment form or a new method of internal communication.
• Implement: Introduce proven changes into standard practice and continue to monitor their effect.

Employer branding is therefore a constant, living dialogue between the company’s vision and the real experiences of people inside and outside the organization. Those who learn and adapt based on real data and insight build an employer brand that is authentic, trustworthy and sustainable in the long term.

Conclusion: Small Steps, Big Changes

You don’t need a full-time data analyst. Sometimes all you need to do is ask the right question: “What would you change to make working with us better?”

Every small step, every small improvement based on real insight, counts. In employer branding, those who can listen and learn are the ones who win in the long run.

Tip: How to use data to create an effective employer branding strategy, we wrote here.

Another tip: Why implement data into your EB strategy, we explained here.