From Standard to Freestyle – What Formats do the DAX 40 Companies use to Attract Talent?

Those who set clear and credible accents in employer branding can build trust between a company and junior staff right from the start. In our second edition of the Storytelling Report, we took a closer look at the career pages of the DAX 40 and analyzed which innovative and unique formats on the career pages serve as storytelling freestyle and what is now considered a mandatory component.

The Eye Helps Decide: The Best Visuals of the DAX 40

Simple photos are often not enough to stand out from the competition. Video formats, animated infographics and other visual innovations are establishing themselves as the new standard. Like a cozy evening at the movies, film sequences cast a spell over people, triggering genuine emotions and goose bumps. The DAX 40 companies are aware of these effects. Of these 40 companies, 23 now use videos to let their employees have their say.

In our blog post on the topic of videos, vlogs and Q&As, we showed which formats need to be used in order to reach the target group in the best possible way. It is therefore important for companies to think in terms of stories. Which employees have an exciting career story to tell? What unusual hobbies do the teams pursue?

What makes everyday life in the companies varied? The more audiovisual, authentic and concrete the insight behind the scenes, the better. Live stories, 360° tours of the office or funny clips that reflect the corporate culture with humor are the key to success. The videos don’t have to be long. Snackable content is the new standard. Formats like this, which pick up talented people on the go via their cell phones in an appealing way, are part of the freestyle. They enable brands to stand out from other employers.

Find out how the DAX 30 fared in our Visual Storytelling Report in Gender Contrast here!

Conveying Team Power: The Employees come First

Job applicants are burning with curiosity and want to find out as much as possible about the new team. Questions such as “Who will I be working with in a team?” are asked again and again in job interviews. Employee videos are therefore now standard on many career sites. But couldn’t there be more?

The telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom invites applicants to find their team based on keywords or suitable skills and tools that their colleagues use. In addition, each team is presented in a short portrait and with a photo.

The energy company RWE is going one step further. Employee stories were processed here in every form. These include podcast episodes in which apprentices talk about their day-to-day work, trainees give tips on the application process and members of the LGBT*IQ community talk about building a community. In less than five minutes, job seekers get personal insights and experiences on their ears.

We clearly call this freestyle, because the content is adapted to the needs of the target group and can be consumed on the go. Text deserts or image videos are a thing of the past. The winners will be those who use images and videos, testimonials and interviews in such a way that they illustrate the company through anecdotes and personal stories and thus create emotional closeness to potential candidates. The only time the talents get closer is when they pay a visit to the Group.

Conclusion: Leave the Comfort Zone and Break New Ground

“We’ve always done it this way” is a thing of the past. Organizations today don’t lure young talent with long text deserts. Even descriptive images are hardly enough. The strategy here is: more is more. Team photos are all well and good. But what’s more exciting is what skills the future colleagues use and what they say about their working day. With videos, vlogs or podcasts, companies give new talents the opportunity to get to know them even better.

These formats offer great creative potential to score points with the young target group and to be remembered. For those who want to go one step further: a virtual tour of the company not only provides insights into the working world, but also presents the company in an approachable way. One thing is certain: Only those who manage to think outside the box and use the world of storytelling in employer branding can captivate new and existing talent.

About the DAX 40 Study

For the analysis, we examined the primarily German-language career websites of all DAX 40 companies (as of November 2021). Indicators were each given a score between 0 and 2. We assigned the criteria to the six categories “Vision”, “Values”, “UEP” (Unique Employment Proposition), “Stories”, “Visual” and “Language”. We also weighted the storytelling aspects on the careers pages (especially stories and values) slightly more heavily than the fact-based UEPs. The highest score that could be achieved was 40.