Creating a Multi-Audience Global Employer Brand for a Technology Manufacturer

Situation

A global technology and engineering business, recognized for product innovation and engineering excellence, engaged PeopleScout to build an employer value proposition (EVP) that would attract and engage talent across eight markets, spanning Japan, the UK, the U.S., France, Singapore, China, Australia, and Malaysia.

Adding to the global complexity, the client’s EVP had to resonate with three distinct talent audiences—engineering, commercial, and entry-level talent—who all want very different things from an employer. For example, a design engineer weighing a career move will have different priorities than a graduate choosing a first job or a sales professional assessing growth potential.

With decades of experience in employer branding, we know that an EVP is only as effective as its relevance to the audience it is designed to reach. When a single message is stretched too broadly, it loses the specificity that makes it meaningful. But when audience-specific messages are developed in isolation, the employer brand loses its coherence.

Solution

That insight shaped our approach: rather than treating the differences between audiences as a challenge to overcome, we used them as the starting point for building a cohesive employer brand.

We conducted focus groups and video interviews across each audience group in each key market to understand their experience. The video interviews were essential to building an employer brand with genuine authenticity. Hearing how engineers described their work, and watching them do it, surfaced detail no survey response could capture.

Those insights became a Talent Value Proposition (TVP) for each key audience, which we nuanced further for regional differences. We then rolled the individual TVPs up into a single, overarching EVP. The global EVP provided a consistent foundation while preserving the relevance needed across markets, giving the TA team a framework they could authentically adapt to their audiences. Because the proposition was built up from what employees themselves described, local talent acquisition teams were not left to translate a message that had never been designed for their market.

Results

The new employer brand framework gave the client a consistent global foundation while preserving the audience and regional relevance needed to connect with talent in each market.

• One global EVP: A clear, cohesive foundation for the employer brand across eight markets.
• Audience-specific propositions: Distinct Talent Value Propositions for engineering, commercial, and early careers talent, with regional nuance built into each.
• Activation beyond the framework: Continued support to bring the employer brand to life through talent attraction initiatives, including promotion of the client’s leadership program for women in engineering, which has since won multiple awards.