This interview is with Denise Gredler, Founder & CEO at BestCompaniesAZ.

Denise Gredler, Founder & CEO, BestCompaniesAZ

For Best of HR readers, could you introduce yourself and share what you focus on in employer branding today?

I’m Denise Gredler, Founder and CEO of BestCompaniesAZ, an employer-branding and media platform that works exclusively with companies recognized through credible, third-party workplace awards.

Today, we focus on helping companies move employer branding beyond short-term recruiting and use it as a year-round business strategy. Many organizations invest heavily in earning workplace recognition, but struggle to translate that validation into sustained visibility, trust, and impact. We help companies activate their awards by bringing their culture, leadership, and employee experience to life in ways that resonate not only with candidates, but also with employees, customers, and the broader community.

At its best, employer branding is a reflection of how an organization truly leads and listens. When it is grounded in validated employee feedback and shared consistently, it strengthens credibility, reinforces retention, and builds long-term brand trust—well beyond any single hiring cycle.

Looking back, what pivotal experiences or decisions led you into employer branding and shaped how you work now?

My path into employer branding began on the corporate side, long before it was viewed as a formal discipline. Early in my career, I served as a VP of HR for a public Arizona-based company where culture and leadership were taken seriously at the highest levels. That organization went on to earn national recognition as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, ranking #12 in our first year on the list.

What shaped me most wasn’t the award itself, but what was happening inside the organization. Employees felt heard. Leaders were accessible. The culture was authentic—and the external recognition simply reflected the day-to-day employee experience. I also saw firsthand how closely employee experience, brand reputation, and business performance are connected.

When I later launched BestCompaniesAZ, it was driven by a realization I continue to see today: many organizations do exceptional work internally, but struggle to communicate that story in a credible, consistent way—often because HR, marketing, and leadership operate in silos. That corporate experience shaped how I work now by grounding employer branding in validated employee feedback, leadership behavior, and proof—not marketing language. The strongest employer brands are built on trust and reinforced through alignment across the organization.

Building on your experience, what is the single most impactful decision you made in a campaign that successfully moved passive candidates to engage?

The most impactful decision I’ve seen—across award-winning companies—is shifting from job-centered messaging to credibility-first storytelling. Instead of leading with open roles or calls to apply, the focus moves to why people choose to stay, how leaders show up, and what employees value most about the culture.

Passive candidates aren’t actively looking for jobs; they’re paying attention to what an organization stands for. When employers lead with validated recognition, authentic employee voice, and leadership perspective—rather than polished recruiting language—engagement changes. We consistently see stronger interest when companies spotlight culture through employee stories, leadership insights, or community impact and allow curiosity to do the work.

The key decision is resisting the urge to “sell the job” and instead building trust first. When people see credible proof of a healthy culture and values alignment, even the passive job seeker begins to engage—following the brand, interacting with content, and often expressing interest before a specific role is even posted.

Staying with outcomes, what specific metrics across the funnel have best demonstrated employer brand ROI in your work?

Employer brand ROI is most clearly demonstrated when we measure both Return on Influence and Return on Investment across the funnel—not just applicants. The strongest results come when credibility is built first and performance follows.

At the top of the funnel, we track Return on Influence—how people perceive, remember, and talk about the brand. The most telling metrics include employer profile views, career site traffic, time spent on culture and leadership content, social engagement on employee- or leader-led posts, and organic visibility tied to awards and thought leadership. When employer branding is working, these indicators rise even before roles are posted—especially among passive audiences.

In the middle of the funnel, influence begins converting into intent. We see this through repeat visits to career pages, increased referrals, growth in talent community engagement, and candidates referencing culture content or workplace recognition during conversations. These signals demonstrate quality of interest—not just clicks—and show that people are self-selecting based on trust and alignment.

At the bottom of the funnel, Return on Investment becomes clear through measurable outcomes: higher-quality applicants, improved offer acceptance, reduced time-to-fill for hard-to-hire roles, and lower reliance on paid recruiting. Many award-winning employers also see downstream impact in retention and internal engagement, reinforcing the brand over time.

The key is viewing employer branding as a momentum builder. When Return on Influence is strong—driven by credibility, consistency, and authentic storytelling—Return on Investment follows naturally, improving funnel performance at every stage.

Budget-wise, if you only had a modest quarterly budget, where would you invest first to drive impact on hard-to-fill roles?

With a modest quarterly budget, I’d invest first in employee referrals and targeted sourcing within industry-specific professional communities, alumni networks, and peer groups—not broad paid job advertising, which often generates volume without quality.

For hard-to-fill roles, the highest-quality candidates typically come through people who already understand the work and the culture. Strengthening referral programs and encouraging employees to share opportunities within their professional networks builds trust faster and leads to stronger alignment than cold outreach.

I’d also prioritize consistent visibility within industry associations, niche professional groups, and targeted community networks where passive candidates already spend time. These channels allow employers to show up with credibility—through leadership participation, peer conversations, and shared content—rather than transactional job posts.

Across award-winning companies, we consistently see that referral- and community-based engagement delivers higher-quality candidates, stronger fit, and better retention with significantly less spend. Once those channels are working, paid tactics can be layered in to support scale—but relationships should lead.

Turning to storytelling, what’s your go-to method for sourcing and coaching employees to share credible stories without it feeling scripted?

The key is to start with listening, not content creation. The most credible stories surface when employees feel safe sharing their real experiences—not when they’re asked to “say the right thing.”

The most effective approach is using guided prompts instead of scripts. Simple questions like Why do you stay?, What surprised you most when you joined?, or When did you feel most supported by a leader? invite honest reflection and consistently lead to more genuine responses than polished talking points.

Coaching is really about helping employees feel comfortable sharing their experience, not telling them what to say. They don’t need to sound polished or promotional—they just need to know their perspective is valued. In practice, short conversations, simple video clips, or lightly edited written responses tend to resonate more than highly produced content because they reflect how people actually talk about their work.

When storytelling reflects authentic experiences and is grounded in trust, it resonates naturally. That credibility is what both passive candidates and current employees respond to—not perfection, but honesty.

As you scale, how do you adapt a core employer value proposition for different regions or business units while keeping the brand cohesive?

What I’ve learned from working with award-winning companies is that the strongest employer brands don’t try to reinvent their value proposition by region or business unit—they start with a clear, shared foundation and then let teams bring it to life locally.

As organizations scale, the core employer value proposition should stay anchored in a few things that don’t change: how people are treated, what leaders value, and what the employee experience feels like at its best. Those principles create consistency. What does change are the examples and proof points—how that experience shows up day to day in different roles, locations, or teams.

Across the companies we work with, the most successful approach is defining a small set of non-negotiables, then giving regions and business units permission to tell their own story within that framework. That might mean highlighting different career paths, leadership styles, community involvement, or ways teams collaborate—but always reinforcing the same values.

Brand cohesion comes from alignment, not uniform messaging. When local stories reflect shared leadership behaviors and cultural priorities, the brand feels credible and human rather than scripted. That balance allows companies to scale without losing their culture—and gives candidates a more honest picture of what they can expect, wherever they sit in the organization.

On lessons learned, can you share a time an employer branding initiative underperformed and what you changed next?

One common underperformance I’ve observed happens when employer branding is treated like a marketing launch rather than a reflection of the employee experience. In a few cases, companies invested heavily in polished content, but engagement lagged because employees didn’t see themselves in the story.

The issue wasn’t effort or intent—it was credibility. The messaging sounded right, but it didn’t reflect how employees actually experienced the organization day to day. Passive candidates could sense that disconnect, and employees weren’t inclined to share or support the content.

Instead of leading with messaging, the focus shifted to gathering employee input through surveys, small group conversations, and informal interviews. Stories were recreated using employee language, real examples, and observable leadership behaviors rather than brand statements. Once the content reflected reality, engagement improved. The takeaway is consistent: employer branding performs best when it mirrors the real employee experience. No amount of polish can replace trust.

Looking ahead to 2025, which new channels or tactics are you experimenting with to reach passive candidates amid shifting algorithms and privacy rules?

Looking ahead to 2026, BestCompaniesAZ is leaning into what we know works best for reaching passive candidates: trusted visibility and meaningful connections.

As an employer branding and media platform, we continue to showcase award-winning companies on our exclusive site by sharing their culture, leadership, community involvement, and social impact, along with the values that guide how they operate. This approach attracts passive candidates who are ready to make a thoughtful move. Many discover our partners long before they ever apply because they’re researching great companies—not job ads.

We’re also becoming more intentional about invitation-only B2B, career networking, veteran, and alumni events, designed to get our partners in front of the right people—not just more people. By curating both the employers and the audience, these conversations are more relevant, more personal, and more effective than broad outreach.

The common thread is quality over volume. When companies show up in trusted environments and connect through culture, relationships, and credibility, passive candidates pay attention.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’d add that we welcome conversations with award-winning companies that want to bring their employer and corporate brand to life in a more intentional way. For organizations interested in working with a trusted, community-driven employer branding platform, we’re always happy to explore whether there’s a fit.

And for companies that are still building toward a strong workplace culture, we’re just as glad to help. Whether that means pointing you to the right subject-matter experts, research partners, or benchmarking resources to understand how you compare to leading companies, or helping you think through next steps, we believe collaboration and shared learning raise the bar for everyone.  Visit us at https://bestcompaniesaz.com/regional-employer-branding-services/ or reach out to me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisegredler/