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Employer brand fails when it is built on claims.
Choosability is built on receipts.
A Proof Bank is a simple idea: a shared collection of specific evidence that supports why someone should choose your company.
Not your values.
Not your vibe.
Your evidence.
This is how you stop sounding like everyone else, and start sounding believable.
What is a Proof Bank?
A Proof Bank is a library of:
- Numbers that matter
- Rituals that show how work gets done
- Receipts that prove outcomes, standards, and growth
It is used by:
- Recruiters to write outreach that converts
- Hiring managers to interview consistently
- Leaders to tell a credible story to candidates and partners
If you want better quality and fewer offer declines, this is one of the highest leverage assets you can build.
How do you build it in 30 days?
You do not need a six-month brand project.
You need a weekly rhythm and a definition of “proof.”
Here is a 30-day field plan.
Week 1: Define what you need to prove
Pick 3 to 5 “reasons to choose us” for your hardest roles.
Examples:
- “You own full systems, not tickets.”
- “We move fast and ship weekly.”
- “You work directly with decision-makers.”
- “We invest in craft and standards.”
Then ask: what would count as proof for each?
Proof is not “people feel supported.”
Proof is:
- A shipped outcome
- A standard you enforce
- A story with a result
- A number with context
Week 2: Collect numbers that matter
You are not building a dashboard.
You are building credibility.
Collect:
- Shipping cadence (releases, deployments, launches)
- Customer outcomes (time saved, revenue impact, adoption)
- Role outcomes (what this role delivered in 90 days)
- Retention or promotion examples (scope growth, not titles)
- Time-to-decision and time-to-ship (speed is proof)
If you do not have clean metrics, collect directional ones. “Roughly weekly” beats “we are innovative.”
Week 3: Capture rituals and standards
Rituals are proof because they show how the company actually operates.
Capture:
- How work is reviewed (code review, peer review, QA)
- How decisions get made (who decides, how fast)
- How leaders communicate (weekly updates, clear priorities)
- How teams learn (post-mortems, demos, learning budgets)
Standards are magnetic to high performers.
Week 4: Gather receipts and turn them into usable assets
Receipts are the artifacts that make proof portable:
- Project one-pagers
- Before and after stories
- “How we work” bullet lists
- Candidate FAQ answers
- Interview story scripts
You are building a kit.
Not a brand book.
What does “good” look like?
A strong Proof Bank has:
- 10 project stories with outcomes
- 10 numbers with context
- 5 manager behaviors you can promise
- 5 standards you enforce
- 10 short “proof bullets” recruiters can paste into outreach
If you have that, your messaging will instantly sound sharper than 95 percent of the market.
Copy/paste prompt for your LLM
“Act as a recruiting proof strategist. Help me build a Proof Bank in 30 days for a mid-market company. Ask me for the minimum inputs, then output: a Proof Bank template, weekly collection plan, and 50 examples of ‘proof bullets’ across numbers, rituals, standards, and project outcomes. Make it usable by recruiters and hiring managers.”
Most employer brands are a mood board.
A Proof Bank is a weapon.
