Jay Cocorullo, Manager – Employer Brand at Travel + Leisure Co.

Jay Cocorullo is a Manager on the Employer Brand team at Travel + Leisure Co., where he helps shape how the company shows up to candidates and employees around the world.

From podcasts to employee-generated content, his team is redefining how an iconic travel brand shares its culture and career stories.

With over a decade of experience connecting talent, culture, and brand, Jay has watched the field of Employer Branding evolve from simple talent attraction efforts into a strategic storytelling function that drives both recruitment and retention.

This feature is part of EditMate’s Employer Branding Profile series, where we highlight leaders shaping the future of employer branding.

In this profile, Jay shares how his team measures success, why authenticity always wins over polish, and how initiatives like the Work + Wander podcast are helping Travel + Leisure Co. bring their culture to life in fresh, engaging ways…

How did you first get started in Employer Branding?

About 11 years ago I transitioned into a Talent Attraction role that was focused heavily on vendor relationships and CRM.

This work started to develop into what we now see as Employer Branding and each career stop along the way incorporated the branding work more and more.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing Employer Brand teams right now?

Candidates’ expectations are shifting quickly.

They expect consumer-grade digital experiences when researching jobs, transparency around pay and career growth, and content that feels authentic rather than polished.

Keeping pace with those expectations—while ensuring brand consistency—is one of the toughest challenges right now.

How do you measure success in Employer Brand at your organization?

For us, success in Employer Brand is when our recruiters and internal champions are consistently using our branded tools and messaging.

If the people closest to candidates and associates are leaning on those resources, it means we’ve built something that’s practical, trusted, and representative of who we are as an employer.

What role do you see employee-generated content playing in Employer Brand efforts?

Employee-generated content is critical because it adds authenticity you simply can’t replicate with polished campaigns.

When associates share their own stories—whether that’s about career growth, team culture, or even day-to-day wins—it resonates far more with candidates than anything we could script.

Our role in Employer Brand is to make it easy for those voices to be heard by giving employees the tools, platforms, and encouragement to share.

What have been your favorite campaigns, projects or initiatives you’ve worked on 2025?

One of my favorite initiatives this year has been launching our Work + Wander careers podcast.

It’s a series where we highlight the stories of our associates, their career journeys, and how they live out our mission to ‘put the world on vacation.’

It’s been a fun and creative way to showcase our culture in a format that feels both authentic and engaging.

You can check it out here.

If you had unlimited time and budget, what would be your Employer Brand “dream project”?

I love the work we’re doing now, but if time and budget weren’t a constraint, my dream project would be capturing associate and lifestyle stories at our resorts across the Asia-Pacific region.

There’s so much rich culture, amazing guest experiences, and incredible team stories that we could showcase in a way that really brings our employer brand to life globally.

Imagine being able to share those authentic experiences in video, social, and interactive content—it would be next-level storytelling for us.

What advice would you give to someone who’s just entering the Employer Brand field?

My advice would be to focus on storytelling and relationships.

Employer Brand is all about connecting people—both inside and outside your organization—to your culture and mission.

Learn to listen closely to employees’ stories, understand what makes your company unique, and build strong partnerships with recruiters, marketing, and leadership.

The more authentic and collaborative you are, the bigger impact you can make.

How do you think Employer Branding will evolve in 2026?

It’s hard to predict exactly—there are a lot of unknowns, and the landscape changes quickly.

Traditionally, HR and Talent Acquisition tend to be a bit behind the times—heck, we just launched a podcast, and those have been around for over a decade!

For 2026, I think the focus will be on keeping up with trends while finding new, innovative ways to tell authentic associate stories in formats that capture attention in a world of short attention spans.

Jay’s work at Travel + Leisure Co. highlights just how impactful it can be when employees are the ones telling the story… especially on video.

By giving associates the tools and encouragement to share their own experiences, his team is creating content that’s not just engaging, but deeply authentic.

Whether it’s through their Work + Wander podcast or video spotlights from across their resorts, Jay’s approach shows that the most powerful employer brand stories come straight from the people living them.

Stay tuned for more features in EditMate’s Employer Branding Profile series, where we showcase leaders using creativity, video, and employee storytelling to bring their company cultures to life.