Over the last twenty-five years, employer branding has been a subject of increasing attention among HRM scholars and practitioners. However, very limited research has explored the link between employer branding and HRM performance. To address the gap, in this study we explored how employer branding orientation impacted recruitment outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition we combined both the brand orientation and internal branding concepts to better empirically explain their impact on building employer brand orientation. Based on cross-sectional data collected from 233 companies operating on Russian labor market, we found the positive relationships between brand orientation and employer branding orientation, between employer branding orientation and the employer branding programs, which are positively related to recruitment outcomes. However, the moderating effect of internal branding was negative. We also found moderating effects of COVID-19 in the relationship between employer branding orientation, employer branding programs, and recruitment outcomes.