Every careers page says roughly the same thing: collaborative, inclusive, passionate about books (or journals, or content). Candidates have read enough of these pages to be sceptical of all of them – and increasingly, they're checking whether it's true before they even apply.
That checking looks like: reading employer reviews, asking mutual contacts, watching how a recruiter or hiring manager talks about the team in interview, noticing whether the interviewers themselves seem happy. Candidates aren't naive about employer branding, and a mismatch between the stated values and the lived reality is one of the fastest ways to lose them – often after an offer has already been accepted.
Where the gap usually shows up
Careers pages say “flat structure” but interviews reveal a rigid hierarchy
“Work-life balance” is mentioned but interviewers describe a culture of late nights as normal
“Inclusive” appears on the website with no visible evidence in the team or leadership
Interviewers can't answer simple questions about team dynamics without sounding rehearsed
Why this matters for publishing specifically
Publishing markets itself as a passion industry, which can make it easy to paper over real issues (“if you love books, you'll put up with X”). Candidates, particularly those earlier in their careers, are increasingly unwilling to accept that tradeoff.
The scale of this checking is well documented: Glassdoor's own research on employer branding shows the large majority of candidates now research a company's reputation and culture before deciding where to apply, and that they read multiple reviews before forming a view – a mismatch is very hard to hide.
What we tell employers
Don't write culture copy your own team wouldn't recognise. Ask current employees what they'd actually say about working there, and use that. It's less polished, but it's far more convincing – and it saves everyone the cost of a mis-hire six months down the line.
The takeaway
Candidates aren't looking for a perfect culture. They're looking for an honest one, where the words on the website hold up under a real conversation.