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As companies continue to compete for the best job candidates, they are always looking for new ways to stand out and attract top talent. One effective strategy for attracting applicants who are good fits for the company and the role is to showcase existing employees internally and externally on social media, websites and other platforms to highlight the people behind the brand.
Giving consumers a behind-the-scenes look at company’s workforce and operations not only helps with recruiting and hiring, but also with retention, as it fosters a sense of pride and engagement among current employees, who will spread the word about their great employer. Below, 15 Forbes Communications Council members share effective ways to publicly showcase employees. Follow their tips to leverage a powerful tool in recruitment, hiring and retention efforts.
1. Share Team Stories On Instagram
Showcasing employees for recruitment and retention was a challenge for us. We adopted a holistic internal branding approach, devised a strategy and made it a core HR responsibility. Now, an internal newsletter and an Instagram account highlight team experiences and unique stories. Our exceptional team is key to our success, and we’re dedicated to sharing their stories and celebrating their wins. - Juliana Chyzhova, Skylum
2. Put Employee Spotlights On Your Website
The way we work has forever changed. More than ever, people want to work for companies with a strong culture and values. We promote ours by showcasing employee stories and spotlights on our website and social channels. Our goal is to create fun and engaging content that shows our unique culture, then make that content easily accessible and shareable through our employee advocacy platform. - Kim Salem-Jackson, Akamai
3. Publish Thematic, In-Depth Blog Posts
We’ve developed a regular cadence for publishing blog posts that go in-depth on individual employees’ experiences and successes. Each is built around a theme that provides insight into our culture, from cross-team mobility and counterintuitive career paths to management insights from our women in leadership. The posts are celebratory, but we also live by a commitment to keeping the stories real. - Indy Guha, Signifyd
4. Promote Cultural Differentiators Through Employees’ Stories
We leverage employer branding; this is how we market our company to desired job seekers. We showcase our organization’s unique cultural differentiators through our employees’s stories, and then work to amplify them so we can position our company as a top workplace. Our people define our company’s essence, enabling us to craft our aspirations to match the talent we want to attract. - Nobuntu Ndlovu, Atlas
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5. Do A Series Of ‘A Day In The Life’ Articles
One of the best practices I have experienced is doing a series of spotlight articles featuring “a day in the life” of employees across all functions—including their passions and hobbies and what makes them tick, as well as their aspirations—in the company newsletter. Company executives are encouraged to present their forward-looking ideas via company blog posts, which are further amplified via social channels. - Andy De, MedeAnalytics
6. Nurture An Open, Inclusive, Confidence-Inducing Environment
When your brand nurtures an open, inclusive, confidence-inducing environment, you’ll find that employees independently find ways of showcasing themselves, their achievements and their milestones. Yes, we provide tools and a platform; they write blogs, do events, podcasts, videos and more. But the best “showcase” is organic—it happens naturally; and as a company, we focus on giving them a reason to do it. - Pini Yakuel, Optimove
7. Let Employees Do Social Media ‘Takeovers’
We feature employees’ stories on our social channels, highlight employees from different departments in a monthly blog feature and have had employees “take over” our social handles. We vary our format and medium, which adds more opportunities to highlight our culture, amenities and people. Being intentional in showcasing growth and success stories casts a vision of the kind of career we can offer. - Adam Ballard, Paycom
8. Maintain A Great Reputation
As an engineering school, we rely upon the innovation and general success of our community to serve as a reputational and recruiting tool for faculty and students. From press releases to social media, we are constantly pushing out material that shows what it means to be “NYU Tandon Made.” In fact, that is our hashtag, and it creates a sense of community and pride within the organization. - Sayar Lonial, NYU Tandon School of Engineering
9. Encourage Your SMEs To Become Thought Leaders
Encourage your subject matter experts to become thought leaders by sharing their insights publicly. Thought leadership is a win for the SME, your company and other employees. High-achieving employees like to work with knowledgeable and well-accomplished teammates. Fostering an environment of thought leaders is attractive to job candidates and motivational for existing staff. - Roger Boutin, SCORR Marketing
10. Use A Dedicated Hashtag
Social media helps us showcase our team, all the fun and creative ways we participate in our community, the work we do for clients and our purpose-driven culture. We use the hashtag #onlyarketi to differentiate ourselves from other firms, especially on LinkedIn where our team can also get involved and spread the excitement. - Mike Neumeier, Arketi Group
11. Celebrate Team Members’ Stories And Roles
We commit to actively sharing team members’ stories through employee features across our social profiles and on our website. Our goal is to celebrate our team members, spotlight the variety of roles across the organization, highlight the hard work done behind the scenes to provide a strong associate and client experience, and showcase the talent that gives their all to make it happen daily. - Stacy Bliek, Integrity Staffing Solutions
12. Showcase Specific, Internal Employee Communities
We’re showcasing our female developers as speakers. Female developers amount to less than 10 % of software development engineers globally. Yet women log more usage time than men on mobile apps. So there is untapped potential for improvement in functionality, design and user experience—and we want to get more young girls and women excited about shaping the tech world. - Toma Sabaliauskiene, Nord Security
13. Recognize Teams’ Growth On LinkedIn
We’re committed to publicly recognizing the growth and successes of our teams on LinkedIn. We highlight key accomplishments and special projects and provide recognition through awards and speaking opportunities that our team members are chosen for. This not only helps us build our employer brand, but also showcases our pride in how our teammates are supercharging their careers while building a fast-growing startup. - Radhika Duggal, Super
14. Encourage Internal Experts To Speak At Events
Hosting and appearing at events (both physical and digital) isn’t just useful for marketing reasons. We encourage our internal experts to speak at events and share their knowledge with customers, prospects and the wider industry. This isn’t just good for the company’s brand and its attractiveness as an employer, but also helps with each individual’s professional development and profile. - Scott Hitchins, Interact Software
15. Get All Team Members In Front Of The Microphone
Get internal team members—not just marketing and sales—in front of the mic whenever you can. Get your “behind the scenes” teams involved, too. Customer success, engineers and support team members are brimming with valuable expertise your audience wants to hear. Plus, those discussions give insight into what it is like to work with your team as a client and as an employee. - Theresa Anderson, Agorapulse
