What does it take deliver an award winning Employer Brand? CommBank recently took out the gong for Excellence in Employer Branding at the 2023 Internal Talent Awards (ITAs). We sat down with Alex McVeigh, Senior Manager Employer Brand at CommBank to get a better idea of what makes their EVP so successful.
First and foremost, congratulations on your ITAs win! How are you feeling?
Great! Was so awesome to be recognised among a group of such incredible peers.
What sets the CommBank EVP apart from the rest?
This is a tough one – especially when so many organisations have such great offerings. I think what helps us stand out comes down to four things:
- The offering itself. Many organisations offer elements of what we have to offer, but our scale and impact is something that few can match.
- The EVP design. We have expanded our EVP from one singular statement to 5 pillars that we base all of our communication and campaigns on. This allows us greater breadth and the ability to tailor messages to our unique audiences.
- The way we take our story to market. We try to show and not tell through allowing our own people and their real life experiences to shine through.
- Trialling new channels. We all know that it’s pretty hard to get cut through in a very crowded market. That’s why we trialled some new channels like podcast advertising and digital ad spaces in office buildings in CBD locations where we knew great talent would be working. And it has paid off!
How has the CommBank Employer brand been received in market?
Really well. We’ve had some lovely comments from candidates, and obviously we love it, but more than ever we are focused on the hard metrics. The biggest measures of success were our application numbers which rose 25% for experienced hires and 72% for graduates across our launch campaign.
Many talent functions don’t have the luxury of a dedicated employer brand resource. Do you have any advice for smaller Talent Teams looking to drive big impact with their EVP?
If I did nothing else it would be advocacy. What your people say about you IRL and on the socials has far more impact than anything we could ever pay for. Start small with a ‘how to’ guide and a couple of training sessions on personal brand. There are lots of great consultants who can help with this as well as loads of free resources online. We also find that it helps to create a bit of healthy competition and incentivise – our #CommBankLife Frank Green drink bottles are coveted at CommBank!
Take a look at the full list of 2023 ITAs winners here.
Feature image: Alex (second from left) accepting the award with the CommBank Talent Acquisition team.
