The candidate journey is changing: AI is reshaping Employer Branding

Employer branding used to largely be about what candidates found when they Googled your company, but times are changing.

Our agency has been delivering expert LinkedIn and Recruitment Marketing services for many years, and we have always talked about the importance of companies and leaders being visible and present when a dream candidate looks for jobs at your company.

So ask yourself this: if you are a HR Manager or Employer Brand Manager today, where did you go to find your current job?

Most likely, like most of us, you checked:

• Job ads on LinkedIn
• Messages from recruiters or headhunters
• The company careers site
• Career blogs
• The company LinkedIn presence
• Key people you might know or be connected to
• Employee reviews on sites like Glassdoor
• Video references from current or former employees
• Articles about the company culture

Increasingly, there is now another place where candidates can form an opinion about you and your company:

AI search platforms.

Instead of searching through 10 different websites, a candidate can simply ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or another platform:

• What is Company X like as an employer?
• Which are the best employers for software developers in Stockholm?
• Which companies in my industry have the best opportunities for career development?
• Compare Company X and Company Y as employers.
• What are the pros and cons of working for Company X?

Within seconds, they can receive a detailed answer, collated from many sources.

That creates a new challenge for anyone responsible for Employer Branding: what is AI telling candidates about your company? Do you have a clue? When did you last run a test yourself to see what results come out of ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and others?

(AI - made image)

The candidate journey is changing

For many years, the digital candidate journey has looked something like this:

Need → Google → careers site → LinkedIn → Glassdoor/reviews → application

Of course, the real journey has always been more complicated. Candidates talk to colleagues, read news articles, visit social media, look at employee profiles, and compare companies.

But search has been an important gateway. Generative AI introduces another route.

The emerging journey can increasingly look like this:

Need → ask AI → shortlist employers → investigate companies → application

The difference may appear subtle, but it is not. Traditional search gives candidates a list of places where they can find information, whereas AI attempts to give them the answer itself.

That means a candidate may form an initial impression of your employer brand before visiting your careers site, seeing your latest Employer Branding campaign, or reading your carefully crafted Employee Value Proposition.

For HR and Employer Branding teams, that is a significant change.

From searching for employers to asking about employers

Imagine a senior software developer considering their next career move. Previously, they might have searched Google for something like:

Best technology companies to work for in Stockholm?

They would then receive search results and begin exploring. Today, they can have a conversation with an AI assistant instead.

They might start with:

• Which technology companies in Stockholm are considered good employers for experienced developers?
• Which offer the best career development?
• Which have an international culture?
• Compare Company A, Company B, and Company C.
• Which would you recommend for someone who values autonomy, learning, and work-life balance?

AI is not simply helping the candidate find information. It is helping the candidate interpret, compare, and shortlist employers.

That is why AI search is becoming relevant to Employer Branding. So if you still think it matters to your company to be the company that is highly recommended and cited in AI models - download our Checklist: "20 min AI Search Employer Brand Unit" below.

If you are responsible for HR or Employer Branding, now is the time to start testing how AI platforms describe your company as an employer. The earlier you understand the shift, the better prepared you will be to shape the candidate journey.