Employer Bland

Steve Ward, founder of the Employer Brand Club, joins Chris for a proper journey through a career that started with a painfully shy kid doing teacher impressions in a Nottingham school panto and ended up reshaping how he thinks about branding, recruitment and trust. We go right back to the beginning. A first recruitment job built on fear and cold calling that he came to despise. Three redundancies...

Emily Firth, co-founder of The Truth Works. From a decade in advertising to building an award-winning employer brand team at Booking.com, she's now tearing up the agency model with a platform that connects companies directly with verified fractional EB experts. We get into gatekeeping in the industry, why your uncomfortable truths are the gift, and how lean teams can get senior thinking on tap wit...

Dave Hazlehurst spent 17 years at PH Creative, which later became Human Magic, helping build employer brand into the discipline it is today. He's worked with some of the biggest brands on the planet, spoken at LinkedIn Talent Connect, and trained more people in this space than most would care to count. This episode is a proper debrief. Dave recently left the agency world after nearly two decades (...

Niall Macmillan has 10+ million followers across social media. You probably know his face. You might not know his name. You definitely know the milk. He's the awkward POV guy. Silent, non-threatening, and somehow one of the most watchable people on the internet. In this episode, Chris sits down with Niall to talk about how a green screen, a glass of milk, and a string of happy accidents built a gl...

Chris is joined by Dylan Lees-Jones, European Recruitment Marketing Manager at Wipro, for a conversation that gets right to the heart of one of employer brand's longest-standing frustrations: why does a function with so much proven impact still have to fight so hard for boardroom credibility? Dylan brings a rare dual perspective - A career that started in consumer and B2B direct marketing before m...

In this episode I had a thought provoking chat with Steven Brand, Global Employer Brand Lead at Rolls-Royce and a very well respected figure on the global EB circuit, to talk about what really happens to employer brand when things get tough. Not when you're launching a shiny new EVP. Not when you're celebrating growth or looking to attract bucket loads of talent. But when people are leaving, redun...

In this episode of the Employer Brand Podcast, I sat down with Ventsislava Nikolova (Ventsi) to unpack what employer branding really means — beyond ping pong tables, fruit bowls, and career fairs. We covered: • Why employer branding needs to stop sounding like… employer branding • How to connect storytelling to profit (without making CEOs’ souls leave their bodies ) • Why internal mobility is one...

I recently had a great conversation with Global Employer Brand & Recruitment Marketing Leader, Leah Lenihan. We went deep on a topic that I think sits right at the heart of employer branding in 2026: The gap between declared culture and felt culture. Not what’s written in your EVP deck. Not what’s on the posters. But what people actually experience day to day. Leah shared some powerful, real-w...

I recently sat down with Sang-Kyun Park (Sanny) for an episode that made me stop and reassess how we’re all using AI in employer branding and talent attraction. Not from a hype perspective. Not from a fear-led perspective. But from a human one... Sanny brought a brilliantly grounded view from the front line — working in a small global employer brand team, operating at scale, with all the same pres...

As part of Chris Le'cand-Harwood and my Employer Content Club series, we explore the 5 pillars of Employer Content. Among many other points, we discuss how most people don’t announce disengagement... they drift away. This conversation looks at how employer content can create space for honest voices, surface hidden signals, and help organisations listen before people leave. Hope you enjoy! Chapters...

Welcome to Employer Content Club and our Autumn Series! In this episode, we're launching our exciting Autumn Series: "Co-Created: How to Build Authentic Content with Employees."Chris Le'cand-Harwood and Chris Murdoch [co-hosts of Employer Content Club] discuss why employer content is the beating heart of effective talent attraction, and why creating community around content creation is so crucial...

Chris sat down with James Whitelock (MD of ThinkinCircles & long-time podcaster) to tackle a familiar frustration in recruitment: why roles stay unfilled after 30–45 days — and what recruiting teams can do to turn things around. From rethinking job ads to building brave, human storytelling campaigns, Chris and James break down the process into three powerful stages: Attraction – How to identif...

Employer branding isn’t just about attracting talent... It's about keeping it. Yet, too often, organisations treat employer branding as an almost entirely, external-facing function, focused on hiring surges and EVP rollouts. But what happens when hiring slows? In the latest Employer Bland episode, I sat down with  Charu  Malhotra, a prominent leader in Employer Brand & Talent Acquisition, to e...

In this deeply personal and thought-provoking episode, Chris sat down with Israh Khokhar, Employer Brander from Manchester to explore the complex intersection of addiction, recovery and Israh's professional life as an agency recruiter turned internal Employer Brander. Israh shares her powerful journey of resilience, shedding light on the often unspoken challenges of addiction in high-pressure indu...

Debunking Employer Branding Myths with Claire de Souza. In this episode, Claire de Souza, Co-founder of The EB Space , a global community for Employer Brand professionals, joins Chris to address some common myths that often steer Employer Branders in the wrong direction. Tune in for Claire’s expert take on these misconceptions and how to avoid them in your own strategy. Here’s a peek at what’s cov...

Chris was recently joined by well-known Employer Brand/EVP Leader, Ben Phillips on the most recent episode of Employer Bland. Ben shared his journey from his early years growing up in N.W London, regularly helping his dad in the family market trading business. It's no surprise that Ben can strike up conversations full of laughs, debate and shoot-from-the-hip, thought-provoking ideas with anyone he...

Chris caught up with Global Executive Search expert & trainer, Louise Archer on the latest episode of Employer Bland. Louise is the Founder of Retrained Search, a global training organisation taking agencies through the exec search transition and continuously helping exec search firms sharpen their tools. Louise has recruitment in her DNA. It all started when Louise began to shadow her mother...

Chris recently caught up with RecTech pioneer, serial investor, and two-time exit'er, Adam Gordon, on the Employer Bland podcast! ️ Adam (Co-founder of Poetry HR) took a deep dive into his journey, starting from his school years. His story is powerful, filled with great memories, role models, and valuable experiences, along with a fair share of struggles and sharp changes in family circumstances....

Chris recently had the pleasure of chatting with Alex Her, Head of Global EB at GoDaddy & Co-Founder of The EB Space. They jumped straight into Alex's T.E.A.M methodology. Alex came up with this formula when considering the critical need for a 'we' focused approach to employer branding. The irony for many is that they may be working solo in an employer brand role, feeling isolated on their own...

Chris was joined by Ryan Hemmant on a recent episode on the Employer Bland podcast ️ Ryan is TA Operations Manager / Recruitment Marketing Manager at Aviv Group. A multi-brand, European Property Tech giant. Ryan wears several hats across the group. Responsibilities inc TA, Rec Ops, Rec Marketing and of course, Employer Brand. To add a little more food for thought, Ryan needs to navigate the indivi...

Eva Wedman Baluchova (Global Employer Branding Lead @ Danfoss) joined Chris on the Employer Bland podcast recently. Eva has a personal story relating to Job Ads. Specifically, how one job ad in particular changed the course of her life. The job ad in question engaged Eva and spoke to her in such a way she was compelled to follow the call to action and apply. She subsequently uprooted her life, mov...

Chris M was lucky enough to catch Chris Le'cand-Harwood whilst he had an hour to kill recently at Heathrow Airport en route to an EB conference in Serbia. The Chris' discussed the rise of Job Branding/Marketing. How it differs from Employer Branding and why its important. Other notable topics discussed; > What is Job Branding and how can you execute a strategy that compliments your overall EB....

Chris was joined by the Founder of The EVP Consultancy, Vicki Saunders recently.   Vicki gave some insight into her happy, working-class Black Country roots and how various events in education, life, multiple high-profile career moves and a general desire to create positive change took her on a journey to start her own consultancy business recently.   Chris & Vicki discussed...   - Why the fut...

Chris spent an hour with the undisputed G.O.A.T of Employer Branding, James Ellis recently. James did a deep dive into his background, from his early influences in business and how various jobs and chapters in his life have shaped the path he's on today (Chief Brand Builder, Employer Brand Labs). Chris and James discussed the differences between consumer branding and employer branding. The overlap...

Chris spoke to the trail-blazing DE&I legend, Jo Major, in this episode. Jo discusses her background from working in BAU agency recruitment to leading one of the UK's most prominent Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) advisory businesses and the triggers that compelled her to make the switch. Many DE&I practitioners have lots of good advice and actionable insights to share but few...