A compelling employer brand driven by employee advocacy (their stories) can make all the difference in a company’s ability to attract and retain quality talent faster and cheaper compared to their talent competitors.
“Of all the ways we can create moments of pride for others, the simplest is to offer them recognition,” Chip Heath and Dan Heath wrote in “The Power of Moments.”
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One of the most powerful tools in your employer brand toolbox is the authentic voice of your employees. Very simply, employer brand is the promise we make to people about what it’s like to work inside our organization. Employee stories are social proof showing how the organization delivers on that promise over and over again.
By sourcing and sharing stories that align with your employer brand, you’re opening a window between the internal world of employees and the external world of candidates. You’re influencing brand awareness and perception. You’re creating a space to recognize and reward people. Ultimately, your storytelling skills strengthen the employment relationship with current and potential employees.
Here are 11 top tips for employer brand managers, like you,
to get more mileage from employee stories.
- Promote Stories on Your Careers Website: Your careers website is often the first point of contact for job seekers. Use this opportunity to make a lasting impression by featuring testimonials from employee stories. Place videos, stories, or quotes prominently throughout your site to give candidates a genuine glimpse into your company culture and values. Authentic testimonials build trust and provide a relatable insight into the employee experience.
- Add Links or Quotes to Job Postings: The unsung heroes of employer brand, job postings are more than just a list of responsibilities and qualifications. Start each posting with a quote from an employee in the same business area or add a link to a story posted online. This not only humanizes the job posting but also gives candidates a sense of connection and understanding. It sets the tone for what they can expect and highlights the personal impact of the role.
- Use Your Blog as a Story Repository: Turn detailed employee stories into engaging blog posts for your corporate and careers sites. These blogs can delve deeper into individual experiences–showcasing your workplace culture and values–and make a positive impact on SEO. Encourage employees to share these posts on their social media networks, amplifying their reach and credibility. >> The Life at Spectrum blog is a great example.
- Include Links or Quotes in ATS Communications: Include links to employee stories in your ATS-generated candidate communications, such as application submission confirmations and offer letters. This reinforces your brand messaging throughout the hiring process and keeps candidates engaged and excited about the opportunity to join your team.
- Highlight Your People During Hiring Events: Create eye-catching collateral for hiring events using quotes from employee stories. Flyers, pull-up banners, and posters featuring these quotes can attract attention and spark conversations. They serve as powerful visuals that communicate your employer brand effectively and memorably.
- Use Stories for Ongoing Social Media Activation: Social media platforms are ideal for showcasing your employer brand. Develop graphics that feature quotes from employee stories and share them across all your social channels. If the story is available online, include a direct link to drive traffic and further engagement. As a consultant, my clients often see that employee stories receive some of the highest engagement on social channels (as compared to other types of content).
- Arm Recruiters With Real Stories: As a former GEICO recruiter, I’d often share employee stories with candidates to bring career conversations to life. Our team talked about how then-CEO, Tony Nicely, started as a part-time clerk in the mailroom and worked his way up the company. Encourage your recruiting teams to share stories with candidates via conversations, social media, and email. Arm them with the stories to tell, that build and strengthen your culture. Personalized stories can significantly impact recruitment, providing candidates with relatable content that highlights what makes your company a great place to work.
- Infuse Employee Stories Into Onboarding: When people transition from candidate to employee, they need to feel like they made the right decision and that’s being reinforced along the way. Share quotes and stories throughout orientation presentations to reinforce your company culture and values. Invite employees to be guest speakers or panelists during onboarding sessions. Their firsthand experiences can make a powerful impression on new hires and help them feel welcomed and motivated.
- Create Evergreen Content for Physical Spaces: Display employee quotes in common areas such as cafeterias, break rooms, TV monitors, and meeting spaces. These visual reminders of your company’s culture and values can help create a welcoming, positive atmosphere. They also serve as conversation starters and help build a sense of community within the workplace. >> See how MarketAxess launched their employer brand.
- Bring Learning and Development to Life Through Stories: Incorporate relevant quotes from employee stories into your learning materials, whether print or digital. These quotes can reinforce key cultural messages and make training sessions more engaging. By highlighting real experiences, you can better illustrate the principles and values you want to instill in your employees.
- Partner With Corporate Communications to Amplify More: Turn employee stories into content for your intranet, employee newsletters, and impact reports for corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and investor updates. (How can you take one piece of content and turn it into five or 10?) This increases the reach of these stories and integrates them deeper into the broader narrative of your company. It showcases your commitment to people and transparency, and can further influence people’s perceptions of your organization as a company and employer.
Employee stories should reinforce and enhance your employer brand. Writing and amplifying authentic, relatable narratives creates a compelling and consistent message that can connect, recognize, and inspire. They can attract the right candidates. They can foster a sense of pride and belonging among current employees. Indeed, storytelling is a powerful tool in your toolbox.
“Very simply, employer brand is the promise we make to people about what it’s like to work inside our organization. Employee stories are social proof showing how the organization delivers on that promise over and over again.”
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