Sara Balaban, Employer Brand Manager at Taboola

Sara Balaban didn’t plan to work in Employer Branding. Like many in the field, she started out in recruiting — until a single job description mentioning “creative storytelling” sent her down a new path.

Now, as Employer Brand Manager at Taboola, Sara’s built a career around elevating the human side of work: spotlighting real employees, sharing authentic stories, and showing how people are every company’s superpower.

This conversation with Sara kicks off EditMate’s new Profile Series, where we’re spotlighting the people shaping the future of Employer Branding.

In this piece, Sara shares her thoughts on creating content that cuts through the noise, measuring what really matters, and why employee-generated storytelling will continue to define the next era of Employer Brand.

How did you first get started in Employer Branding?

I started my career in recruiting and worked on the agency side and in-house for a few different companies. It wasn’t until I was working in my final recruiting role at WeWork, supporting the HR hiring, that I got a requisition for a recruitment marketing role.

I was already itching for a career shift, and when I read through the creative elements of the job description, not having heard of this industry before, I immediately started scouring LinkedIn and researching the world of employer branding.

The idea that I could transition my career to a role aligned with my creative talents, while in a function I was already familiar with, was exciting.

A few months later, I landed my first role in employer branding, and it’s been a rewarding and fulfilling experience since!

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

The biggest challenge I see (and I think would resonate with many) is breaking through the highly saturated world of content with a message that feels authentic, real, and inspiring.

With so much content surrounding us everywhere we look, how do we keep sharing fresh, relevant content that resonates with our external brand and the internal employee experience?

I think that’s why I’m particularly interested in this work. While people are the biggest variable, it’s the exact reason why putting people at the forefront of our EB stories is so vital.

The people are the superpower of an organization. People want to see real people whom they can see themselves in. Not stock images.

They want to know how that “great culture” has impacted their life outside of work. Not corporate fluff about a “great culture.”

They want to know about a company through the lens of those working there.

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

Besides looking at typical metrics like content engagement and career site visits, we also look at brand perception metrics like Glassdoor and employee experience data to ensure our work authentically portrays the stories we share and what it’s like to work at our company.

The goal is not just to attract great talent, but also to drive employee engagement, belonging, and retention.

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

It’s everything!

I approach employer brand like I research a new online retailer. I’m not just looking at a company’s polished posts (or curated shoots of models in dresses), I’m scouring social platforms and Glassdoor for authentic voices.

Just as a customer review about a dress can make or break my decision to buy it, employee-generated content is the most credible source for a candidate. Those voices make up the real story of a company’s culture.

When candidates trust what they see, they are more likely to be a strong culture fit/add, which helps us hire better and leads to better retention.

Employer branding isn’t to “create” these stories, but to give employees a platform to feel comfortable sharing their experiences.

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

There have been many, but a couple that stand out were projects that tied our employer branding goals with our company’s business objectives.

Predictive Audiences Campaign:

In early 2025, we launched our new performance marketing platform, Realize, with a major solution, a Predictive Audiences tool.

Working on employer brand content to support this launch was one of my favorite projects because I got to lead the project from conception to execution, creating all the campaign elements from video and blogs to social copy and image carousels.

It was such a fun experience to meet with the product and tech teams who built and launched the technology, and turn their experience into a fun and relatable video that focused on the people who made it happen.

Not only did the video have incredible success across our social channels as one of our most effective campaigns, but the appreciation and pride that the team felt in being featured was immeasurable.

Pride Month:

Another standout project my team and I worked on was for Pride Month. We aligned the campaign to the voices of our LGBTQ+ community and had them share how they “Realized” being a member of the community was a superpower.

We also tied the video series to our business objectives by having each person featured share a brand they thought did pride well. It was an engaging way to showcase our employees’ real voices and spotlight advertisers simultaneously.

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

I’d love to do a global video initiative to feature each of our global offices, showcasing their respective cultures, office life, and experiences working at the company.

Over the years, I’ve learned that our employees genuinely want to be a part of the message we share about our culture.

This project would not only create amazing employer brand material for our social pages and website, but it would also help foster that sense of belonging, pride, and community across our global teams.

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

At its core, employer branding is a role that requires you to be a good investigator.

It’s about leading with curiosity and listening, learning about a company’s culture, and discovering what makes its people and narrative unique.

It’s one of those positions where taking time to truly understand the people, the quirks, and the different cultural nuances before jumping to initiatives and strategy will be most beneficial.

Luckily, the field has evolved so much that many practitioners openly share their knowledge, especially on LinkedIn.

Put that investigator hat on and start your research there. Connect with others in the space, look at their shared content and posts, and search through employer brand hashtags for inspiration. Don’t be afraid to ask people to chat!

How do you think Employer Branding will evolve in 2026?

In 2026, employer branding will continue to evolve from being seen as a support function for hiring to a core part of the business.

It will continue to be about making the human element shine, as a company’s culture and people are its strongest assets for attracting talent, clients, and investors and retaining its people.

Employer branding will ensure that authentic stories are at the forefront, building trust far beyond the hiring process.

Sara’s approach to Employer Branding is a reminder that great brand stories don’t come from campaigns — they come from people.

By amplifying authentic voices and connecting creative storytelling to real employee experiences, she’s helping shape what the future of this field looks like.

Keep an eye out for more from EditMate’s Profile Series, where we’ll be featuring the creative minds shaping the way companies show — not just tell — who they are.