Purpose: Drawing from the instrumental and symbolic framework for employer branding, this study aims to explore the perception of the current and potential employees for the Indian armed forces' employer brand. Design/methodology/approach: The study is conducted as a mixed-method approach in the form of qualitative and quantitative phases. In the qualitative phase, online reviews of current employees were collected from glassdoor.com and analysis was conducted. While in the quantitative phase, data were collected through questionnaire from 200 potential candidates who were interested in joining the armed forces.[AQ1] Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for instrument validity and regression analysis, for finding significant factors, were used for data analysis. Findings: The qualitative results indicate that the current employee's perception fits the instrumental and symbolic framework. Additionally, variables such as discrimination in positions, risk, stress, confidence and personality development were also identified. The CFA and regression analysis results were found to be significant on the instrumental dimensions -- job security and task diversity and symbolic dimensions -- competence. Originality/value: The study emphasizes the important instrumental and symbolic attributes for both current and potential employees. Thus, the armed forces can use these as a base for strategy formulation regarding employer branding.