A jobseeker wants to know what your company is like to work for.
They open ChatGPT or Claude and ask:
“Tell me about X company as an employer.”
“Does X company offer good career progression?”
“How does X company compare with Y Company I’m interviewing with?”
The response they receive could influence whether they apply, accept an interview or remain interested in your opportunity.
How candidates research potential employers is changing. For business owners, that creates a new employer branding challenge:
When someone asks an AI tool about your company, how are you showing up?
How jobseekers are using AI throughout their job search
How AI tools build a picture of your company
Why a strong internal culture may have limited visibility online
What candidates may find when they compare you with other employers
The practical steps SMEs can take to strengthen their visibility and employer brand
Candidates have always researched potential employers.They visit websites, read job advertisements, check LinkedIn pages, search employee reviews and speak to people in their network.AI now allows them to bring that information together in a very different way.
A candidate can ask one detailed question and receive a summary drawn from multiple online sources.They can ask an AI tool to identify employers within a particular location, recommend companies that support professional development or compare two opportunities based on culture, flexibility and progression.The use of AI in job searching is already significant.
An Indeed survey of more than 7,000 jobseekers and HR professionals across seven countries found that nearly 70% of jobseekers were using AI tools across activities that included researching companies.
More recent ZipRecruiter research found that new hires using AI during their job search received twice as many job offers as those who did not. That does not prove that AI alone created the difference, but it shows how firmly these tools have entered the candidate journey.
The recruitment platforms themselves are also changing.Indeed’s AI-powered Career Scout provides jobseekers with company and salary insights alongside personalised job recommendations. LinkedIn has introduced conversational AI job search, allowing people to describe the type of employer and opportunity they want in everyday language. This is not simply a change in how candidates write CVs. It is changing how they discover, research and assess potential employers
Imagine that a candidate is interviewing with your company and another employer.
They ask:
“Compare these two companies as places to work.”
“Which company offers stronger career development?”
“What do employees say about the culture?”
“Which opportunity would suit someone looking for flexibility and long-term progression?”
The answer will depend on the information the AI tool can find.
That may include:
Your website and careers page
Current and previous job advertisements
Public company profiles
Employee review platforms
News articles and industry publications
Awards, accreditations and business directories
Interviews, podcasts and case studies
Content published by your company, leaders and employees
Other credible websites that mention your organisation
AI search tools can now search current web sources and use those sources to create a direct answer. They are not relying on your carefully written company description alone. They are attempting to form a wider picture of your business from the information available. That picture may be accurate, incomplete or outdated. There may be so little information available that your company is absent from the answer altogether.
This is particularly relevant for smaller employers. Many SMEs offer exactly what candidates say they value: access to decision makers, broader roles, visible impact, flexibility and genuine opportunities to progress. The issue is often visibility. The business owner knows why people stay. Employees know what they value. The hiring manager can explain the culture during an interview. Yet very little of this appears online. The company website may focus entirely on customers. The careers page may contain a short paragraph about being a “dynamic and growing business”. The LinkedIn page may only become active when there is a vacancy. Job advertisements may list responsibilities and requirements without giving candidates a meaningful reason to join. If your employee value proposition only exists in internal conversations, AI tools have no reliable way to understand or communicate it. A strong employer brand inside the business needs a clear and credible digital footprint around it.
AI tools look for information they can find, understand and support with credible sources. Generic employer branding gives them very little to work with. Phrases such as “great culture”, “excellent progression” and “our people are our greatest asset” appear across thousands of company websites and job advertisements. They do not explain what working for your organisation actually involves. A business that supports professional qualifications should explain how that support works. A company offering progression should share genuine examples of people who have progressed. An employer known for flexibility should describe what flexibility means within that particular working environment. This gives candidates evidence. It also gives AI systems clear information that can be understood, summarised and connected with relevant searches.
Put your company name into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and other commonly used AI tools.
Ask the questions a candidate might ask:
What is this company like to work for?
What is known about its culture?
Does it offer career progression?
What do employees say about working there?
Which employers in this sector and location have a strong reputation?
How does this company compare with another local employer?
Record what appears, what is missing and what is inaccurate. Repeat the exercise with a few employers competing for similar talent. This will show you the type and depth of information available across your market.
Your careers page should help someone understand the employee experience even when you are not actively recruiting.
Include clear information about:
The company and its purpose
The people and teams within the business
The working environment
Learning and development
Career progression
Flexibility and working arrangements
Benefits and professional supports
The recruitment and interview process
What employees value about working there
Write in direct, natural language and use clear headings. This makes the content easier for people to navigate and easier for search systems to interpret.
A job advertisement may be one of the most detailed public sources available about your company. Include the information candidates actually use when assessing an opportunity:
Salary range
Location
Working arrangements
Reporting line
Team structure
Scope of the role
Development opportunities
Benefits
Interview process
Why the position is available
Google also recommends using JobPosting structured data on individual vacancy pages. This helps search systems understand details such as the job title, location, salary and employment type. Google Search Central
Look at the statements you regularly make about your company and ask what evidence supports them. If you say people progress, share a real progression story. If you invest in development, explain what training or qualification support employees receive. If retention is strong, recognise employee milestones and explain why people stay. If employees have access to senior leadership, let them describe the value of that experience. Specific stories give your employer brand substance.
Candidates expect the company to speak positively about itself. Employee experiences add another layer of credibility.
This could include:
Career stories
Team introductions
Employee milestones
Qualification achievements
A realistic working day
Reflections on joining the company
Insight into projects and responsibilities
The content does not need to be highly produced. It needs to feel genuine and specific to your organisation.
Review how the company is described across your website, LinkedIn, job boards, business directories and review platforms. Check that your location, services, company description and working arrangements are accurate and consistent. Build credible references beyond your own website through professional memberships, awards, partnerships, community involvement, case studies and relevant media coverage. Third party sources can strengthen the overall picture available to both candidates and AI tools.
Good content has limited value if search tools cannot reach it. Ask whoever manages your website to confirm that important careers and company pages can be crawled by search engines and AI search tools.
OpenAI advises businesses that inclusion in ChatGPT Search requires allowing its search crawler to access the website. There is no guaranteed top position, but a technically inaccessible website cannot be considered in the same way as accessible public content. OpenAI ChatGPT Search guidance
The aim is not to manipulate AI into recommending your company. It is to ensure that the real strengths of your organisation are visible, clear and supported by evidence. For SMEs, this matters because much of what makes the business attractive can easily remain hidden. You may offer strong development, meaningful work, flexibility and a supportive environment. If that story is not represented online, candidates using AI to research your business may never see it. Start with a simple audit. Put your company name into an AI tool. Ask what it is like to work there, then look carefully at the answer.
Does it reflect the employer you know your business to be? For many businesses, that answer will reveal where the employer branding work needs to begin.
About the author
Hi! I’m Vanessa. I am the founder of Talent Choice, your local commercial office recruitment partner.
My approach is personal, consultative and always grounded in what the market is actually doing. I speak to candidates and hiring managers every day, so my insights reflect real conversations, not just trends.
I work closely with SME businesses in North County Dublin and surrounding areas helping them hire the right talent across finance & accounting, HR, and business support.
I can be contacted directly through my linkedin DM's or vanessa@talentchoice.ie
