INDEPENDENT EARLY CAREERS CONSULTANCY

Strategic Early Careers Attraction & Employer Brand Consultancy.

Helping ambitious UK businesses attract, engage, and convert top graduate, apprentice, and intern talent through data-led strategy and authentic outreach.

Yorkshire-based. Supporting businesses across the UK.

Students collaborating and discussing their ideas
↗ The next generation starts here.
Insight-led strategy Authentic employer brands Meaningful outreach Measurable outcomes

Bridging the gap between your brand and future talent.

Attracting the next generation of talent requires more than just posting job adverts. It demands a clear Employer Value Proposition (EVP), targeted multi-channel campaigns, and genuine community outreach.

With over 7 years of experience leading national attraction strategies for one of the UK’s top professional services firms, I partner with organisations to build scalable, inclusive, and high-converting early careers programmes.

Meet your consultant
7+Years of strategic attraction & marketing experienceExperience
13UK locations supported simultaneouslyNational scale
120+Annual events & brand activations deliveredActivation
15+Agency & university partnerships managedCollaboration
STRATEGY / BRAND / OUTREACH

Specialist support for every stage of the early careers journey.

From your first campaign brief to long-term talent pipeline growth, we bring clarity, creativity and commercial thinking to early careers attraction.

01 / ATTRACTION

Early Careers Attraction & Paid Media Strategy

Data-led, multi-channel campaigns designed to cut through the noise and drive high-quality applications.

  • End-to-end attraction strategy for apprentice, graduate, and internship intakes.
  • Paid media planning and budget optimisation across LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, search, and programmatic channels.
  • Intermediary agency selection, management, and ROI tracking.
  • Audience segmentation and candidate insight analysis to improve conversion rates.
Discuss attraction strategy
02 / BRAND

Employer Value Proposition (EVP) & Brand Advocacy

Define what makes your workplace unique and turn your current employees into your strongest recruitment asset.

  • Candidate research and market trend analysis to shape resonant EVP messaging.
  • Design and rollout of scalable employee ambassador and advocacy programmes.
  • Creative direction for employee-generated content, podcasts, video stories, and high-converting landing pages.
Explore employer branding
03 / ENGAGEMENT

University Outreach & Event Activation

High-impact campus, virtual, and hybrid engagement that builds lasting relationships with educational institutions.

  • Strategic university and school partnership mapping.
  • Planning and execution of careers fairs, insight days, and brand activations.
  • Ambassador briefing, training, and operational event workflows.
Plan an outreach programme
04 / INCLUSION

Social Mobility & Diversity Recruitment Programmes

Targeted outreach initiatives built to widen access and diversify your early talent pipelines.

  • Dedicated attraction strategies aimed at underrepresented talent groups.
  • Design and delivery of virtual, hybrid, and in-person work experience programmes.
  • Inclusive messaging audits and targeted social media amplification.
Build a more inclusive approach
Early-career students sharing ideas during a discussion

Find your audience. Tell your story. Build your future.

Better outcomes happen when brand, audience insight and outreach work together. We connect the strategic decisions with the campaigns and experiences that bring them to life.

See how we work
FLEXIBLE BY DESIGN

Flexible support tailored to your hiring cycle.

Focused strategic advice, hands-on delivery or senior expertise alongside your team. The support is shaped around what you actually need.

01SHORT-TERM

Strategy &
Audit Sprint

Best for

Businesses looking to refresh their current approach before a new recruitment cycle.

A comprehensive review of your attraction channels, EVP messaging and ROI, resulting in an actionable roadmap.

Discuss a sprint
02PROJECT-BASED

Campaign &
Project Delivery

Best for

Specific launches, such as an apprenticeship scheme, EVP rollout or seasonal university outreach programme.

End-to-end project management, agency coordination and creative asset oversight.

Plan your project
03ONGOING

Fractional
Attraction Lead

Best for

Growing organisations needing senior early careers marketing expertise without a full-time headcount.

Ongoing strategic advisory, stakeholder alignment and performance reporting on a retained basis.

Explore ongoing support

Hi, I’m Emma Jane Russell-Coughlan.

I am a Yorkshire-based strategic marketing and employer brand specialist with a track record of shaping national early careers attraction.

Having led multi-channel recruitment marketing, agency partnerships, and stakeholder strategy across 13 UK offices for Forvis Mazars LLP, I understand both the big-picture commercial goals and the operational detail required to make campaigns succeed.

My approach combines audience psychology, commercial awareness, and a deep commitment to social mobility, ensuring your business connects meaningfully with the right talent.

Emma Jane Russell-CoughlanFounder & Principal Consultant, EJR Advisory
Start a conversation

Ready to elevate your early careers strategy?

Whether you are launching a new apprenticeship programme, refreshing your EVP, or looking to maximise your recruitment marketing budget, let’s talk about how we can achieve your hiring goals.

emma.jane.russell.93@gmail.com

Based in Yorkshire. Working with ambitious businesses across the UK.

Tell me what you’re working on.

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