How often does the corporate site let down the careers site? We know the opposite can be true. With HR owning the careers section and MarComms owning the corporate site the experience isn’t always consistent. I know the rationale is that they have different target audiences and need to convey different messages and information - but does that really still hold true in these times of customers being potential employees being potential investors being potential brand advocates or detractors?
Surely the overall experience of an organistion impacts the brand no matter what the initial touch point. The corporate site has as much impact on potential candidates as the careers site if not more if it is particularly good or bad.
A recent review “What the latest minds are doing with their new websites” – http://adage.com/columns/article?article-id=126674 showcased some amazing corporate sites that creative agencies in the US have recently launched. It introduced me to www.barbariangroup.com which I thought does an amazing job at communicating an essence of the culture and personality of the agency – it made me want to work there and that was without there being any separate employer brand – it didn’t need one. Whether this ‘promise’ is carrried through in the employee experience I don’t know as I don’t know anyone who works there, what with me being in Sydney but I hope so - it would be such a disappointment if they didn’t.
As an aside, another site showcased, www.modernista.com is like no other site I have seen and is remarkable in that it utilises all of the social media and information sites out there to showcase its work – it really gives you a sense of things to come. I showed it to a client who felt it was just so far out there, but I think that is because it is a completely different way of thinking about and looking at things - give it time and this kind of site will be the norm. Its an interesting case study for building an online brand by harnessing all that Web2.0 has to offer.
