No. Start with clear positioning + proof; formal EVP can come after.

You don’t need a big formal EVP project to improve hiring outcomes. You can start with a practical employer brand foundation: your differentiated positioning (what you’re uniquely good for), the candidate problems you solve, and the proof points that make those claims credible. That alone can upgrade job ads, outreach, interview talk tracks, and offers quickly. A formal EVP is helpful once you want deeper alignment across the company, broader role families, or global consistency. But if hiring pain is urgent, the fastest path is: define what makes you choosable, build proof, and operationalize it into the TA workflow. EVP can be versioned later as you learn what resonates and what converts.