Why employee profile stories are the best way to build your employer brand

Communicating an authentic employer brand is the best way to help you manage and meet candidate expectations. What better way to showcase your authentic employer brand than through real stories from your people? Whether they are written articles or videos, employee profile stories are a powerful part of any employer branding strategy.

Why are employee profile stories important?

Employee profile stories are the best way to showcase your authentic employer brand to potential candidates. We’ve shared why word of mouth is the most effective recruitment marketing strategy, which is why candidates are far more likely to read, connect with (and believe!) real stories from your employees than any of your other content. They can gain real insight into your organisation’s roles, opportunities, challenges, as well as the type of people they could potentially be working with.

You can even include links to your profile stories or embed videos within your recruitment advertisements to relevant roles. For example, if you are recruiting for a Marketing Officer, you can showcase the story of one of your current Marketing Officers. Providing these types of truthful insights encourages the right people to apply, while repelling the wrong people.  

Not to mention, in today’s day and age, content is king! So creating shareable content for your social channels will boost your brand. Use pictures and create short posts on your channels with links to your profile stories. Using attractive, eye-catching pictures of your people is far more engaging for candidates than boring stock images!

It’s a great way to engage your current workforce and create brand advocates through creating content for your people to share on their own networks. Encouraging them to create their own short videos about their roles is a great way to trust and empower them.

Profile stories can also authentically showcase your organisation’s missions, values, and culture through the types of questions you ask and the images you use.

How do you create employee profile stories?

There are a number of ways to create employee profile stories, including:

• interviewing your people and writing an article
• interviewing your people and creating a video
• asking your people to create their own videos.

Keeping your target candidates in mind, start by deciding which of the above formats would be most beneficial in suiting your content needs, channels, and brand. You may prefer to outsource your content creation by using an external employer branding specialist or professional videographer.

Select a number of people to interview who feel comfortable having their story and image shared, and are engaged and enthusiastic about their roles. Profile people in roles you recruit for regularly!

Design your interview. If you opt for the interview format, design your interview structure. Some of your questions might include:

• Tell me about your role.
• What do you love about your role?
• What has been one of your favourite experiences?
• What have you found most challenging?
• Describe the people in our organisation.
• What makes [our organisation] different to other organisations?

Depending on your brand and culture, you might even like to include a personal question about their hobbies and interests outside of work to add some depth and personality to the story.

Name your story. The most eye-catching story titles have marketing in mind. What can you offer candidates and what are they interested in? Career development? Flexibility and benefits? For example, instead of titling your story “Meet Allan”, you could use the title, “Allan’s journey of career growth”, or “Stay-at-home parent to Marketing Manager: Meet Allan.”

Include the employee’s position title as a subheader.

Source real images! Images are a great way to communicate your culture. For example, if your workplace culture is relaxed and casual, you could use candid pictures of your people outside the office. However, if your workplace is more formal, you might opt to use consistent, professional photos of your people in business attire.

Publish your stories on your careers website. Distribute links to the people your stories are about for them to share on their networks, and share links with the rest of your people for them to share too!  

Storytelling is such a meaningful and effective way to communicate a message. Storytelling through employee profile stories speaks directly to candidates in a very memorable, authentic way. They enable you to create brand advocates by engaging your current people, and giving you engaging, shareable content to promote your employer brand. Craft your profile stories in a style that suits your brand by tweaking the format, the questions you ask, and the pictures you use.

Has your organisation published employee profile stories? Share a link in the comments section.