Posted on: 18/09/2025

Thought Leadership

Chloe Herrmann highlights the central role of an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) in effective recruitment marketing. For job seekers, this shows what makes public sector careers different and worth considering — from meaningful work to genuine work-life balance. For employers, it’s a reminder that the sector already has a strong offer (security, pensions, flexibility, impact) but needs to communicate it more powerfully to attract and retain the right talent.

By Chloe Herrmann, Principal Consultant - Resourcing

Last month I wrote about embracing recruitment marketing strategies to compete effectively for talent. Today, I want to explore the foundation of all effective recruitment marketing: your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Organisations with compelling EVPs are reportedly reducing their annual employee turnover by 69% and building the kind of reputation that makes talented people actively choose them. The organisations succeeding in attracting top talent have invested in something powerful: a clear, authentic, and compelling reason why talented people should choose to work for them.

The Hidden Gem We're Not Using Enough

We've got a hidden gem in the public sector, and we're not making the most of it. Your Employee Value Proposition is the unique value you offer employees in return for their skills, experience, and commitment.

The public sector offers compelling reasons to work here: job security, meaningful work, excellent pensions, genuine work-life balance, and the chance to make a real difference. Workers increasingly expect flexible working patterns as the norm, while candidates prioritise softer benefits. This shift plays directly to our sector's strengths.

The opportunity is ensuring these strengths are visible to the people we want to attract and creating a reputation that makes talented people say, "I want to work there."

What We've Learned from Creating Our Regional EVP

Working with our WMJobs Recruiter Network, we developed a comprehensive regional EVP for the West Midlands public sector. We identified eight core pillars: meaningful work and purpose, career variety and progression, work-life balance and flexibility, health and wellbeing support, the West Midlands region itself, financial benefits, innovation and community connection, and being part of an exciting new chapter in local government.

The resulting regional EVP, "Your Career. Your Community. Your West Midlands," captures this unique proposition. Our comprehensive toolkit, which WMJobs subscribers will receive later this month, provides a practical framework for organisations to develop their own distinctive EVP while building on these regional foundations.

We already offer what other sectors struggle to provide. Hybrid working has been standard practice in local government for years. Our apprenticeship programmes, clear progression pathways, and commitment to developing people represent genuine competitive advantages.

The response to our WMJobs Job Fair in January proved the appetite exists. With over 2,000 attendees, there's strong interest in local government careers. Looking ahead to the WMJobs Careers Expo on 2nd October, councils and the wider public sector have another opportunity to demonstrate what makes public sector careers stand out.

The Strategic Impact of Getting EVP Right

A well-developed EVP transforms recruitment into a strategic capability. Research by Gartner shows organisations with compelling EVPs reduce annual employee turnover by 69% while increasing new hire commitment by nearly 30%.

For organisations operating with budget constraints, this creates significant value. A strong EVP reduces recruitment costs by fostering loyalty and helps you compete effectively for talent without matching private sector salaries pound for pound.

Your EVP becomes the foundation for everything: how you write job adverts, what you emphasise during interviews, how you onboard new employees, and how you communicate with existing staff.

Practical Steps to Strengthen Your EVP

Developing an effective EVP starts with understanding what you currently offer. Survey recent joiners about what attracted them. Talk to high-performing employees about what keeps them engaged.

Your EVP must be grounded in real experiences and genuine benefits. Consider your audience - young professionals have different expectations than experienced workers. Your EVP needs to speak to these groups in ways that resonate with their specific motivations.

Building on Strong Foundations

A regional EVP amplifies individual organisational messages by weaving them into a stronger, collective narrative. When councils and public sector employers present consistent messages about what makes careers here unique, they position the West Midlands as a destination of choice, not just a set of individual employers competing for attention.

The Opportunity Ahead

With 25% more 18-year-olds entering the workforce by 2030, the opportunity to engage with future talent has never been greater. This generation expects employers to be clear about what they offer and authentic in how they present themselves.

The organisations that will succeed are those that can articulate a compelling reason to choose them - demonstrating not just what they do, but why it matters and how working there benefits both the individual and the communities they serve.

Organisations with strong, authentic EVPs will continue to attract and retain the people they need to deliver excellent public services. The question isn't whether you can afford to invest in developing a compelling EVP - it's about maximising the opportunity to build something that makes you genuinely attractive to top talent.

The organisations that will win the competition for talent are those that treat EVP as a strategic priority, not an afterthought. The public sector already has the assets, meaningful work, security, progression, and purpose. The opportunity now is to articulate this more powerfully, positioning the West Midlands as the career destination of choice for the next generation of public service leaders. For those ready to take the next step, the upcoming regional EVP toolkit offers a practical starting point to help translate these insights into action.