In recent years, many public organizations in Iran have faced growing challenges in attracting younger generations, who value meaning, learning, and flexibility over traditional job benefits. This highlights the need to revisit and revitalize the employer brand of the public sector. Despite extensive research on employer branding in private organizations, little is known about its role in shaping the perceptions and job-related behaviors of Generation Z in the public sector. This study aims to examine how employer brand perception influences perceived employer attractiveness and, consequently, job application intention and employer recommendation intention among Generation Z job seekers in Iran’s public sector. This applied research employed a descriptive–survey design. Data were collected through a standardized questionnaire adapted from well-established international studies and administered to 408 undergraduate and postgraduate students from five public universities in Tehran during career fairs. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling in SmartPLS. The results revealed that employer brand perception had a significant and direct effect on perceived employer attractiveness (β = 0.75) and employer recommendation intention (β = 0.54), but its direct effect on job application intention was not significant (β = -0.02). Instead, perceived attractiveness played a significant mediating role in both relationships, with full mediation confirmed for job application intention and partial mediation confirmed for employer recommendation intention. These findings highlight perceived attractiveness as a key psychological mechanism transferring employer brand effects to behavioral outcomes. This study demonstrates that employer branding in the public sector becomes effective only when it enhances perceived organizational attractiveness among Generation Z. By introducing a mediation-based conceptual model, the research contributes to public management literature by offering a new theoretical lens for understanding young workforce behavior and emphasizes that modernizing the government’s employer image is a prerequisite for attracting and retaining young talents in Iran.