REPORT: EXAMINE THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYER TRUST AND CREDIBILITY IN THE TALENT ACQUISITION PROCESS
Employer Trust & Credibility: 5 Signals That Shape Candidates’ Career Decisions
Examine the impact of employer trust and credibility in the talent acquisition process, uncover the signals candidates consider before making a career move, and identify the levers organizations can use to improve their reputation and attract more right-fit talent.
By Jenn Brusco
Brand Communications and Content Manager, U.S. Career Institute
In a competitive labor market, attracting right-fit talent requires more than posting a compelling job description or offering a strong benefits package. Candidates are proactively vetting prospective employers — often formulating an impression of the organization before they apply. They are looking for evidence that an organization is trustworthy, transparent, credible, and worth the risk of making a career move.
According to BuiltIn’s “State of Employer Reputation & Visibility” report, 76% of employers surveyed say employer reputation is important to their talent strategy. That emphasis is reflected on the candidate side as well. According to Top Workplaces, 84% of job seekers consider an employer’s reputation before they even apply to a position, while 69% would reject a job offer from a company with a poor reputation. Together, these findings point to a clear reality: candidates are conducting a silent audit of your organization.
While employers often focus on how candidates perform during the interview process, those same candidates are conducting evaluations of their own. In a survey conducted by Market.Biz, which focused on employer branding, data shows that 75% of candidates evaluate an employer brand after learning about a new job opportunity but before they apply for the role.
76%
of employers surveyed say employer reputation is important to their talent strategy.
84%
of job seekers consider an employer’s reputation before they even apply to a position.
69%
would reject a job offer from a company with a poor reputation.
75%
of candidates evaluate an employer brand after learning about a new job opportunity but before they apply for the role.
Candidates are conducting their own research
By the time a candidate meets the hiring team, they’ve gathered information from multiple sources to form an initial impression. Beyond a company's careers page or corporate website, prospective employees frequently seek additional perspectives to further vet the employer. Their research may include:
Employee reviews
Social media presence
Recent company news
Salary range compared to similar companies
Growth trends, such as hiring rates, layoffs, corporate restructuring, other notable events
Company financial performance
Leadership team tenure and effectiveness
Internal growth and advancement opportunities
With more data than ever at their fingertips, candidates are better equipped to make more informed, deliberate decisions about their next career move. They collect information. They look for signs that a job posting, and subsequently, the company behind it, is legitimate. They assess whether what an employer says aligns with what they can independently verify.
Career moves may feel riskier than they did a few years ago
And when the labor market feels uncertain, that research can matter even more. Recent data points to a more cautious workforce, with employees less likely to leave their current roles and less confident about the opportunities available to them:
03
Confidence in finding a quality job has fallen sharply.
Gallup reported that in the fourth quarter of 2025, only 28% said it was a good time to find a quality job, down from nearly 70% in 2022.
Together, these trends suggest that making a career move may feel riskier than it did just a few years ago. When workers are less confident about their prospects, leaving the familiarity of a current role can require greater certainty that the next opportunity, and the employer behind it, is worth the risk.
This report draws on candidate perspectives and broader workforce trends to identify the factors that influence perceptions of an organization and shape career decisions. Employers can use this information to benchmark their own practices, identify potential gaps, and better understand how they are positioned to attract and retain right-fit talent.
Five employer trust and credibility signals
When searching for a new career opportunity, candidates often seek out five specific trust and credibility signals:
01
Transparency
What the candidate wants to know: Are you telling me the truth?
Validation criteria: Do role descriptions align with actual job responsibilities? Does the company include salary and other benefits on job postings?
02
Reputation
What the candidate wants to know: What do people who already work here say?
Validation criteria: Are employee reviews positive? What recurring themes appear in the reviews, both positive and negative?
03
Employee experience
What the candidate wants to know: Will this job be as good as they’re making it sound during the interview?
Validation criteria: Are employee reviews positive? What media attention has the company received as an employer? What kind of employee feedback exists in the form of social media engagement, specifically reddit or LinkedIn?
04
Stability
What the candidate wants to know: Will this job still exist next year?
Validation criteria: How is the employer covered by the media? Are any annual or quarterly reports available on the company’s financial performance?
05
Opportunity
What the candidate wants to know: Where does this lead?
Validation criteria: Do employee reviews discuss advancement opportunities?
These signals don't exist independently. Together, they form the picture candidates use to decide whether an employer deserves their trust.
Signal 1: Transparency
Transparency can be one of the earliest signals of employer credibility because candidates can assess it before ever speaking with the hiring team.
Pay is among the highest-stakes unknowns in any job posting. Among workers surveyed by Gallup who said they were looking for a new opportunity, 69% cited better pay or benefits as the reason. Yet Payscale's 2026 report found that while 57% of organizations post salary ranges in job advertisements, only 42% do so across all jobs, regardless of location or requirements. Nearly one-quarter (23%) do not post salaries at all. For candidates, compensation isn't simply a negotiating detail. It's information they use to decide whether an opportunity is worth pursuing in the first place.
Transparency also extends beyond pay. Candidates may look at whether:
The job description accurately reflects the responsibilities of the role
Compensation and benefits are clearly communicated
The position appears to represent a real, active hiring need
The hiring process and timeline are explained
Recruiter and hiring-manager communications match the original job posting
Candidates are also increasingly paying attention to whether job postings appear genuine and current. A Clarify Capital analysis of more than 175,000 U.S. job listings found about one in seven postings stay active more than 30 days, a characteristic the researchers associated with potential “ghost jobs.”
Employers may keep postings open for a variety of reasons, including building a talent pipeline or signaling organizational growth. Whatever the intent, repeatedly encountering positions that remain open or that reappear without being filled can create uncertainty for candidates about whether the company is actually hiring and whether an opportunity is worth the candidate’s time.
That uncertainty can extend through the hiring process. According to Gallup, 49% of job seekers rate their search experience as very or somewhat negative, while only 26% said the experience was positive. Clear communication about timelines, expectations, and application status is largely within an employer’s control and can help reduce some of that uncertainty.
What employers can do:
Audit job postings regularly. Remove inactive roles, keep descriptions aligned with actual responsibilities, and provide candidates with realistic information about compensation, expectations, and the hiring process.
Transparency doesn't mean promising candidates certainty. It means giving them enough information to make an informed decision.
Signal 2: Reputation
Employers can work to shape their reputation, but they don’t fully control it. Much of that story is told by the people who either currently or previously worked for the organization. And increasingly, what employees are saying points to growing concerns about leadership and trust.
Glassdoor's Worklife Trends 2026 midyear check-in found that average senior leadership ratings fell below 3.5 in April 2026, marking the lowest month since 2017. The language employees use has shifted as well. Three terms associated with workplace challenges increased notably over the past year:
“Misalignment”
+95%
“Disconnect”
+52%
“Distrust”
+18%
For candidates researching a potential employer, reviews can offer a window into the employee experience that a career site or job description simply cannot. A single negative review may carry limited weight, but recurring themes around leadership, culture, or trust, can shape perceptions of the organization.
Employer reputation is built over time through leadership decisions, workplace practices, and employee experiences. By the time those experiences appear publicly in reviews, the underlying perceptions may already be well established.
As candidates research an organization, they may notice:
What current and former employers say about leadership, culture, and the employee experience
Whether the same concerns show up across multiple reviews
Whether perceptions have shifted in recent reviews compared with older ones
How the organization responds to criticism or concerns publicly
Reputation is built from the inside out. What candidates discover during their research can provide an early indication of what they may experience as an employee.
The goal isn't to maintain a perfect review profile. No organization will. The stronger signal is whether the experiences candidates discover appear consistent with the story the organization tells about itself.
What employers can do:
Monitor recent employee feedback, look for recurring themes, and respond to legitimate concerns with meaningful action. Reputation is built through workplace decisions long before those decisions become public reviews.
Signal 3: Employee Experience
During the hiring process, candidates hear what an organization promises. Employee experience gives them clues about whether that promise holds up once someone is actually in the job. That distinction matters because employees are often the people candidates turn to for an unfiltered view of the workplace.
Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2026 reported global employee engagement at 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020. Manager engagement fell to 22%, down 9 points from 31% in 2022. That decline in manager engagement is significant because managers play a central role in shaping the daily experience of employees.
SHRM research illustrates the connection between how well organizations respond to employee needs and how workers feel about their jobs:
91%
of workers who believe their organization effectively addresses workplace needs report being satisfied with their job.
44%
of workers who view their organization as ineffective at addressing workplace needs report job satisfaction.
51%
of workers who believe their organization is ineffective at addressing workplace needs say they are at least somewhat likely to leave within the next year.
Employee experience and candidate experience are increasingly interconnected. Employees who feel heard and supported are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, and the experinces they share can influence how future candidates perceive the organization.
That creates a direct connection to recruitment. When the employee experience aligns with what candidates are promised during the hiring process, it reinforces employer credibility. When those stories conflict, candidates may have reason to question whether the employer’s promises will hold up once they are hired.
What employers can do:
Compare what your recruiting materials promise with what employees actually experience. Pay particular attention to manager effectiveness, communication, workload, development opportunities, and whether employees feel heard when they raise concerns.
Signal 4: Stability
For candidates considering leaving an existing role, a new opportunity represents both potential and risk. Beyond evaluating the role itself, candidates may also look for reassurance that the organization they are considering will offer a degree of security and stability.
The National Association of Colleges + Employers (NACE) reports that job security ranks third among what the Class of 2026 wants from an employer, ahead of a high starting salary. For employers, this suggests that stability can be part of the employer value proposition (EVP).
At the national level, employment data appears relatively stable. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) put layoffs and discharges at 1.8 million in June 2026, representing a rate of 1.1%. But aggregate figures don’t necessarily capture what candidates may encounter when researching an individual employer.
Glassdoor's Worklife Trends 2026 found that small layoffs of fewer than 50 workers rose from 38% of WARN notices in 2015, to 50% in 2026. Smaller workforce reductions may not generate major headlines, but employees experience them, and those experiences can become part of an organization’s public reputation. Repeated restructuring, workforce reductions, or signs of financial uncertainty can influence how candidates perceive an employer’s stability.
As candidates assess the stability of an organization, they may notice:
Whether a company has recently announced layoffs, restructuring, or hiring freezes
Whether employee reviews repeatedly mention workforce changes or concerns about job security
How leaders communicate about organizational changes
Whether the organization’s recent actions appear consistent with its stated direction
Employers can’t promise that things will never change. They can, however, communicate honestly about the health and direction of the organization and provide context when significant changes occur.
What employers can do:
Make organizational changes understandable. When restructuring, layoffs or other workforce changes occur, provide appropriate context about what changed, why it changed, and what employees can expect next.
Stability isn't necessarily the absence of change. For candidates, it can also mean confidence that leadership understands where the organization is going, and that they will communicate clearly when the path changes.
Signal 5: Opportunity
Candidates are not only evaluating the current job an employer has posted; they are considering where that job could lead in the future.
The NACE survey found that the top employer attribute for the Class of 2026 is the opportunity for career growth and advancement. But the value of growth opportunities extends beyond attracting early-career talent. Research suggests that continued learning and development can influence how employees view their relationship with an employer.
A Harris Poll of 2,017 U.S. employed adults conducted for Bright Horizons found that:
85%
note that they would be more loyal to an employer that invests in continuing education.
55%
said access to AI training or certification would make them more likely to stay.
76%
report adopting AI when employers provide training, compared with 25% without support.
Together, these findings point to an important connection between opportunity and employer investment. Career growth is not restricted to upward mobility. Access to education, skills development, certifications, and other learning opportunities can signal that an employer is willing to invest in their employees.
Yet research also suggests a gap between recognizing the value of internal talent development and acting on it. SHRM's 2026 Talent Trends Report found that:
| Finding |
Share |
| Report difficulty recruiting full-time employees |
68%
|
| Say job rotation programs are highly effective at addressing talent gaps |
93%
|
| Actually implement job rotation programs |
Under 25%
|
| Train existing employees for hard-to-fill roles |
41%
|
That gap becomes more significant as the skills required for work continue to evolve. The World Economic Forum reports that employers anticipate 39% of core skills will change by 2030. For employees, continues access to learning and development may therefore represent more than a benefit; it can be a way to remain adaptable as roles and skills requirements change.
As candidates evaluate growth opportunities with an organization, they may notice:
Whether the organization invests in workforce development opportunities, such as career training or certifications
Whether career paths and advancement are clearly communicated
Whether internal mobility is encouraged and supported
Whether current employees demonstrate a history of growth within the organization
What employers can do:
Make career development visible. Give employees access to training, certifications, internal mobility, and clearly communicated pathways for advancement — and make those opportunities easy for candidates to discover before they accept a role.
A strong opportunity signal tells candidates that accepting a job isn't simply a move into a new position. It's a potential step forward in their career.
Turn the 5 signals into an employer audit
Candidates are already conducting their own informal audit of an organization, comparing what the hiring team says with what they can see in job postings, employee reviews, and other sources. Employers can conduct the same exercise proactively.
Use the questions below to assess the signals your organization is sending and identify potential gaps between what you promise and the evidence candidates may find.
| Check |
What to look for |
|
Are we transparent about pay ranges?
|
Salary ranges are consistently published, narrow enough to be meaningful, and aligned with actual offers.
|
|
Are our job postings current and credible?
|
Open roles should reflect active hiring needs. Outdated or inactive job postings should be removed.
|
|
Are we communicating clearly with all candidates?
|
Candidates should understand the hiring process, know what to expect, and receive timely status updates.
|
|
What story do our employee reviews tell?
|
Recent reviews are monitored for recurring themes. Legitimate concerns are addressed through meaningful action.
|
|
How effective are our managers?
|
Manager engagement and effectiveness are assessed. Managers receive support and development where gaps exist.
|
|
What does our workforce history communicate about stability?
|
Layoffs, restructuring, and other significant changes are communicated transparently with appropriate context about what changed and why.
|
|
Are we offering opportunities for advancement?
|
Career paths, internal job openings, and mobility opportunities are visible and accessible to employees.
|
|
Are we investing in employee development and growth?
|
Employees have access to training, certifications, education, or other workforce development opportunities that support continued growth.
|
Consider conducting this audit quarterly or twice a year to understand proactively assess and address the signals candidates encounter. The goal isn’t to create a perfect employer profile. It’s to create stronger alignment between the story you tell candidates and the experience and evidence they can independently find. Use what you learn to identify gaps and refine your approach over time.
Where employer-sponsored training fits
Of the five signals, opportunity is one employers can translate into something candidates can see and employees can experience directly. Employer-sponsored training and education programs are one way to make that investment tangible.
These programs can:
Help employees build skills for advancement
Support internal mobility
Prepare employees for changing job requirements
Give managers additional tools for developing their teams
Demonstrate that the organization’s willingness to invest in its workforce
Give candidates something concrete to evaluate when comparing employers
For employers, that's more than an employee benefit. It's evidence.
An organization can say that it values career growth. A funded training or certification program gives employees and candidates something they can actually see. It’s tangible evidence that the organization is willing to invest in the people it hires.