Your employer brand should promote your organization to candidates, just like a corporate brand attracts customers. Actually marketing your employment offering, though, goes way beyond
calling out the ping-pong table in the break room: you need to strike a balance between the realities of the day-to-day with the perks of working for that organization. Luckily, there are tech companies out there doing just that, and sharing essential lessons in the process. Here are ten to consider:
1. Communicate It in Two Minutes (or Less)
Start aspirational. Apple is known for its impeccable, consistent branding and simplicity of message, something that carries over into its recruiting efforts. You can see this summarized in their
“Recruiting Heroes” video, which neatly explains Apple’s approach to hiring as well as the employee experience in less than two minutes. If only all employer brand strategies strove for that level of efficiency...
2. Present Your Pioneers
Here’s an interesting juxtaposition: Amazon is more about recognition than slick design. As such, their employer brand focuses on humanizing the company, putting forward faces other than CEO Jeff Bezos. They call these folks “
pioneers” and share their names and career journeys for all to see. This opens the door for prospective candidates and imparts an idea of who they might be working with daily.
3. Take a Look Around
Verizon’s employer brand looks at the different types of roles within the company, in addition to how to get hired and develop a career. This positioning is peppered throughout its recruitment marketing, including the careers blog,
Verizon Works, and the employee blog,
Inside Verizon. This content-rich approach takes the brand way beyond retail.
4. Stick to Your Values
Fresh off its IPO, Lyft seems eager to reinforce its standing in the tech world. The company’s employer brand puts its “
mission-driven culture” front and center, emphasizing a set of three core values: be yourself, uplift others and make it happen. These echo the company’s scrappy startup vibe and reveal more about its inner workings.
5. Get in Touch
The Cisco employer brand is all about making contact. The company wants to know its candidates, providing ample opportunity to get in touch, join a talent network or upload a profile any which way a candidate chooses. Cisco augments this branding strategy with multiple on-site registration methods and dedicated social channels. By inviting candidates to
stay notified, they’re also mining for gold.
6. Face Forward
Having been around the block once or twice (and faced some scrutiny), the Facebook employer brand is looking firmly toward the future. Under the guise of “
bringing the world closer together,” Facebook’s recruiting is less about the social network and more about things like artificial intelligence and augmented and virtual reality. In other words, they’re inviting tech candidates to change the face of the company.
7. Be Bigger
Samsung says, “Do something big,” and that’s certainly a typical sentiment for tech employer brands. Where Samsung stands out is how it
gives back, incorporating corporate social responsibility into its recruiting materials. For socially conscious candidates, this level of commitment could be a key differentiator (and it never hurts to show off a sensitive side).
8. Show Off Personality
Via @WeAreNetflix, the popular streaming service explores life at Netflix alongside its product development. Through designated social channels and a
podcast with the same name, We are Netflix pulls back the curtain on the company, bringing humor and levity to its employer brand. By not taking themselves so seriously, they actively make you want to work there (without sacrificing the long-term view).
9. Provide Intel
When it comes to working at Intel, technology takes center stage, full stop. Putting it all up-front, Intel calls out job categories and career paths at every turn; there are also
career profiles that explain in detail what each job does and what’s required of the position. It’s clear that the company knows exactly who it wants to hire, and doesn’t want to waste candidates’ time.
10. Answer the Question Rather than rely on flashy tech capabilities, Adobe’s employer brand seeks to sell candidates on the company by posing the question “
Why Adobe?” Calling out spaces, places and benefits, the brand stresses its working formula and countless award wins, because sometimes validation needs to come from outside the organization. There’s a downloadable fact sheet, too. No matter how you dice it (pun definitely intended), a well-defined employer brand can do wonders when it comes to recruiting tech talent. From explaining how your organization works, to sharing what you can offer in terms of the all-important PTO policy, it provides a way to stand out from the crowd. And as these tech giants demonstrate, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Noel Cocca is the founder and CEO of RecruitingDaily and its merry band of rabble-rousers. He aims to produce at the sweet spot between content and actual awareness by creating great work for living, breathing human beings in recruiting and hiring. He works to ease problems, both large and small, from startups to enterprises. 
