Bonus Bake: gochujang caramel Cookies
In addition to r/52weeksofcooking, there’s also a similar sub for baked goods, r/52weeksofbaking. In a perfect world, I’d participate in both. However, I’m not sure I’ll always have the time to whip up two new creations each week and setting a realistic expectation about what I’ll be able to accomplish in a week is important. Also, as great as it sounds now, I really cannot eat a new baked good every week. So I think I’ll hop in and out of this challenge when it makes the most sense!
Week 1’s theme for r/52weeksofbaking is “New Year, New Bake!” Eric Kim’s Gochujang Caramel Cookies were all the rage for the last few weeks of 2022. As popular as they were, I must admit I didn’t think they would land very high on my to-bake list. I couldn’t get past the idea of adding something that’s spicy and usually found on savory foods to a cookie. My fiancee Mike, however, is a big fan of gochujang in general, and we had some downtime in the week between Christmas and New Year’s. And recipe is quite simple, so why not give it a try? “New Year, New Bake!” it is.
The cookies came together very quickly, and I loved that there was no special equipment required. Who wants to clean a hand mixer if you don’t have to? After the dough base comes together, you’re supposed to let it chill for 15-20 minutes while the oven preheats. Once chilled, you add the gochujang mixture in dollops and swirl it into the dough without over-mixing so that the swirls remained visible in the final cookies. I found this part really hard— my dough was only in the fridge for 15 minutes but it came out very firm, and so I felt like I had to over-mix to get it to even mix in at all. After reading the comments on this recipe in NYT Cooking, I see that some people recommend swirling in the gochujang paste before the trip to the fridge. I’d definitely follow this advice in future bakes.
One thing I plan on learning more about as a result of making this recipe is what ingredient or technique produces a really thin, bakery style cookie. In the YouTube video for this recipe, the cookies puffed up in the oven but came out extremely thin. Mine puffed up… and stayed that way even after cooling (lol), and I’m not sure why.
Overall, these cookies exceeded my expectations. The sweet and spicy really do compliment each other in a delightfully unexpected way. While I don’t think I’ll be making them again for a while, I don’t regret making them. They had good flavor and great texture fresh out of the oven. But as time has gone on, they seem to have lost some of the initial sparkle. I do wish the recipe produced more cookies— it predicts you’ll end up with “about 8 large cookies” and I got 11. If I’m going to go through the effort of baking, I want between 18-24 cookies guaranteed!
Week 1: Rainy Day— Alison Roman’s Matzo Ball Soup
Happy New Year! I have a lot of funny feelings about this blog. I have always intended for it to be a place of inspiration for people who want to learn something new and actually move past the beginning stages of growth where it’s easy to lose motivation because you’re not yet good at said new thing. For me, blogging is one of those things. I’m not yet good at it, but have I followed my own advice? Of course not! Because it’s really hard.
All that to say, new year, same goal: get comfortable with the uncomfortable parts of growth. So I’m back, and hoping to stick around this time. I’ll be striving towards what I hope is an easy goal: follow r/52WeeksOfCooking and post about it here. That’s it— starting simple.
If you’re not a Redditor, the rules of the sub are simple. Each week there’s a new theme, and participants cook a meal according to that theme. As long as you can make an argument that your dish belongs in that theme, it counts! People can join in at any time of the year (if you complete a full year, all that’s really up at stake is bragging rights) but I’m jumping in now, at the beginning of 2023!
The theme for Week 1 is “Rainy Day.” Yesterday, I spent the whole day cooking matzo ball soup and a chicken pot pie from scratch. It was an incredibly cozy and foggy day, which was lucky because I was able to cook a rainy day meal during a rainy day.
I’ve made the chicken pot pie countless times before, but I’ve never made matzo ball soup from scratch. I used Alison Roman’s recipes for both, and they (of course) did not disappoint. The first time I came across Alison Roman’s matzo ball soup recipe was for Passover 2020, when I took one look at the process of making chicken broth from scratch and thought “no way, too complicated.”
This time when revisiting the idea of matzo ball soup and chicken broth from scratch, I didn’t skip a beat… AND I made a chicken pot pie at the same time. 2.5 years, and look at how much I’ve grown! It’s easy not to notice these moments of growth, but they’re incredibly satisfying.
Turns out, making chicken broth from scratch is very easy— throw a bunch of stuff in a pot with tap water and let it simmer for a few hours. Looking back, I don’t know why I was so intimidated. Alison’s recipe doesn’t call for skimming the foam out of the broth, but I did only because it felt like the right thing to do. My end result wasn’t murky (so I think that means I did a good job?) but it wasn’t 100% clear either, so I do plan on researching and learning more about skimming vs. not skimming.
Unfortunately, while I am a big fan of Alison Roman, I am not a big fan of her third favorite herb, dill (if you’re reading this and you know her, please don’t rat me out). But since I do feel like dill is an essential flavor in matzo ball soup, I couldn’t imagine leaving it out. I’m happy to report I actually enjoyed dill in the matzo balls? I’m shocked. The balls were incredible. Light, fluffy, and all of them floated. And the broth? Absolutely worth the effort. I’ll definitely be making this soup again— rain or shine!
Ultimate Checklist for Building a Great Employer Brand
Work at Visor has been super busy lately. We just grew our team from three to seven (received a signed offer letter for our last open role last night!), and in the process, worked really hard to build a visible employer brand for our small but growing company. Building out Visor’s employer brand was no small task, but it proved to be crucial in attracting top talent. It’s taken me a while to get this post published, but since we are officially wrapping up the recruitment process, I thought now is a good time to share my checklist for building a great employer brand.
1. Do your research. Talk to your current Employees.
If your company does not yet have any formal employer branding in place, don’t worry. You don’t have to start from scratch. Before you begin, it can be helpful to take a quick audit of your current employees’ thoughts and attitudes on what it means to be a member of your organization. Try to talk to people of all levels of the company. The leadership team can explain their vision for how employees should be treated, which will be important in developing your Employee Value Proposition (more on that below).
The rest of your colleagues can give you an overall sense of what they value about the current company culture, where it can be improved, and what attracted them to your company in the first place.
From there, you can compare the leadership’s vision to current employee’s experiences and have a pretty good idea of what to highlight in your Employee Value Proposition.
2. Develop an Employee Value Proposition.
The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is probably the most important element of an employer brand strategy. It is a straightforward and immediate way to communicate how current and future employees can expect to be treated by your company, and it sets the tone for all future employer branding. It is also one of the places where candidates might expect to find your company’s commitment to inclusion and diversity.
In order to write a strong EVP, you’ll want to make sure the statement includes these key elements:
Inspiration: It encourages people to see themselves and their career goals as a part of your company.
Distinction: It describes what makes your company different from the rest.
Strategic alignment: It supports the overall vision for the company as outlined by the leadership team.
Focus: It highlights specific qualities you hope to find in your target employee persona.
A strategic and focused EVP is also critical in measuring the success of your employer branding efforts. If done correctly the EVP can be used to measure your progress towards your larger employer branding goals through annual or semi-annual employee surveys. (More on this below.)
3. Create an employer brand presence on your website and job boards.
After you develop your EVP, you’ll want to make sure it’s easily accessible to candidates and current employees. The EVP is not meant to be an internal tool -- if you have one (and you should), everyone should know about it! The best place to showcase your EVP will be your company’s “Careers” page. Instead of having this page simply direct to a list of open roles in your organization, take the time to create an employer brand landing page. Oftentimes, the “Careers” page is the first, and most reliable place candidates will look to get a better idea of the benefits your company offers. Don’t miss out on the opportunity.
In addition to your EVP, this landing page could feature additional information on your company’s unique benefits, like health insurance, time off policy, and workplace perks. Have pictures of your office or group shots of the team? Great! This is your opportunity to share whatever it is that makes your company a unique and fun place to work.
There are also a few other areas where you’ll want to create a brand presence. Sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor are also popular places for candidates to learn about your company culture. Don’t overlook them. Take time to fill out and maintain active profiles on these websites and others, like The Muse or BuiltIn.
4. Ensure your Employee Value Proposition is apparent to candidates through creative, career-related content.
More often than not when candidates do company research, the second place they look (after your company’s “Careers” page and more formal career-related sites) is the company’s website and social media channels. Make sure these channels are active. You don’t necessarily need to post new content to each channel every day, but establishing a regular cadence of activity can lend your brand a lot of credibility while giving candidates an idea of the type of team environment you will offer them as an employer.
If you are unsure of what to post on these channels, employee profiles are a great place to start. Think back to the people you spoke with in the research stage, and target 3-4 people who would feel comfortable speaking about their experience at your company. Be sure to direct them to speak specifically on how they experience the EVP and what they enjoy most about working at your company.
Video content can also be extremely useful in quickly educating viewers on your EVP. In addition to featuring these employees in blog posts, consider recording these employee interviews and create a short video featuring the many faces of your company.
5. Offer candidates an Excellent Candidate Experience.
You might think your job as an employer branding strategist is done once candidates start applying to your jobs. And while a lot of employer branding work must be done before the applications start rolling in, the work doesn’t end there. Pay close attention to the candidate interview experience. Even if candidates do not eventually become employees, the interview process will leave an impression, and it’s your responsibility as the employer brand strategist to make sure it’s a good one.
Two easy ways to ensure a positive candidate experience include answering emails and scheduling interviews in a timely fashion and setting expectations for the interview process early on to put candidates at ease. Think proactively about your candidates’ needs throughout the interview process to help them succeed. For example, when scheduling an in-person interview, provide an itinerary of who they will be meeting and detailed arrival instructions. Meet them and introduce yourself when they arrive. If you have time, walk them to their first interview. Little acts of kindness like this can make a huge difference in a candidate’s overall impression of your brand.
6. Measure the results of your hard work.
Finally, it’s important to measure the results of your employer branding efforts. Here are some ways to tell if you are headed in the right direction:
Reduced time to hire: can indicate a good return on your employer branding efforts. Reduced time to hire can indicate that candidates are excited and eager to work at your company.
Increased retention, decreased turnover: shows that employees are happy working at your company, and can indicate the company is following through on the EVP.
Increased employee referrals: if your employees aren’t happy at your company, they won’t refer members of their network. An increased number of employee referrals can indicate employee satisfaction.
7. Apply for Awards!
Eventually, once your employer branding efforts have really started to take off, you might consider applying for some awards. Companies that are able to post these awards on their websites and highlight them on social media will always benefit from the positive recognition. They can be a great way to extend the reach of your employer brand and get new people interested and curious about your company.
The requirements for each award vary, so think about which one might be best for your company. Do you want to be recognized within your industry or location, or do you want global recognition? Do you have an excellent parental leave policy? Perhaps try applying for an award that is specific to that policy. Reflect upon some of the most celebrated aspects of your employer brand and do some research to see which awards may be a good fit for you.
What do you think? Did I miss any important elements of a beginner’s employer branding strategy? I’d love to hear what has worked for you. Leave a comment below to get in touch!