When joining Job&Talent in early 2022, I was amazed by the company's global presence and its commitment to revolutionizing the essential work industry through technology. With renowned investors like Atomico, Kinnevik, and Softbank, a highly skilled team, and outstanding operational metrics, Job&Talent has achieved many remarkable milestones over the years, reaching €1.9 billion in revenue and placing over 300,000 people into jobs across three continents in 2022 alone. Though Job&Talent's ambition to reshape essential work was crystal clear from the beginning, a crucial element was missing: a compelling and recognizable brand that would align with this ambition. Since then, I've been spearheading a global brand transformation program in close collaboration with Job&Talent's Co-founders, Juan Udiales and Felipe NavĂo, as well as the Board. Today, I'm thrilled to share some foundational elements of this endeavor.
Setting Clear Objectives: Crushing It
The brand's lack of distinctiveness and precision caused it to fade into the background and blend with similar brands. Our ambition was never to limit ourselves to the narrow confines of the staffing industry, but rather to redefine its potential that comes through technological innovation. Some of the main challenges we encountered at the start included Job&Talent's growth involving both organic expansion and acquisitions, resulting in a disjointed portfolio of dozens of brands. Our reputation among workers has suffered due to unclear positioning, resulting in unfavorable online reviews on platforms like Google, Glassdoor, Trustpilot, and others. Inconsistent brand execution across markets resulted from the absence of guidelines, operational structure, and a strong global brand framework.
The overarching goal of our brand transformation was to unlock the company’s full potential by:
Creating a strong and unified Job&Talent global brand that would align with the company's vision and growth trajectory and would support the company in its product-driven transformation,
Fueling Job&Talent's growth through effective brand recognition among all stakeholders, particularly workers and clients, while also engaging target groups such as employees and investors.
Distilling the Brand's True Essence: Human from the Core
Founded in 2009 during Spain's economic crisis, Job&Talent aimed to bridge the gap between the many job seekers and companies that were still having issues to fill their open roles. By leveraging technology, the company revolutionized the job search process, making it easier for individuals to find opportunities and enabling organizations to hire top talent for essential work, from warehouse workers to retail staff and delivery drivers. Following interviews, research, and alignment with the founders, we crystallized our mission: "Empowering the people who make the world go round." This embodies our commitment to recognizing and valuing the frequently overlooked essential workers who sustain our societies, yet often lack proper recognition, feedback, and financial stability.
Cultivating Internal Brand Ambassadors: Leveraging Internal Communication
When it comes to building a successful brand, it's crucial to start by spreading the word among those who know your company best – your colleagues.Â
When I joined Job&Talent, internal communication was an underrated discipline. Structuring and improving the flow of information within the global business helped to facilitate effective employee advocacy and also had a huge impact on everyday engagement. This focus on internal communications was especially crucial as part of the rebrand process - which is why we put a strong focus on developing assets and opening channels for our colleagues to fully embrace our brand: comprehensive employee toolkits and a brand and sales hub, as well as a constant flow of information and training through effective internal channels like Slack, Global All Hands and Emails.
Speaking with One Voice: Internal, Digital, and Strategic Communications
To achieve comprehensive external coverage across all communication channels, it is essential to establish a robust internal content engine and cultivate influential owned channels. Our strategic focus on LinkedIn has yielded remarkable results, as we have organically grown our following to over 130,000 in record time, solidifying the channel’s position as a cornerstone for our corporate communication efforts.
Our social media channels function as a dynamic launchpad for stories that frequently gain traction in the press. Our content engine has been further fueled by our increased participation in conferences like London Tech Week, the World Economic Forum, J.P. Morgan Tech Stars, and The Economist, all of which have significantly elevated our thought leadership profile and provided us with compelling content.
We have also established clear messaging pillars that consistently convey our mission, purpose, and values, emphasizing the synergy between technology as our foundation and the human interactions that drive us. Our global team members are our biggest champions. LinkedIn has evolved into a crucial communication channel, enhancing our collective voice.
To captivate our audience, we have made substantial investments in storytelling and design, ensuring that our content is not only informative but also engaging and resonant.
It's All About Employer Branding: In the Spotlight
As a company deeply committed to its people, which placed over 300,000 workers in 2022 and an internal team spanning 10 countries, prioritizing Job&Talent's employer brand is paramount. Being a remote-first organization, our guiding principles play a pivotal role in laying a strong foundation for our internal collaboration, goal attainment, and team member selection.
Our set of seven operating principles, which encompass values such as being hands-on, upholding the highest standards, relying on data, and embracing extreme ownership, have proven invaluable in keeping us on track through the highs and lows. To reinforce their importance, we have invested in campaigns centered around these principles, incorporating elements such as videos, and have integrated them into our day-to-day decision-making processes, including employee evaluations and the selection of new team members.
Additionally, we place a significant emphasis on review platforms such as Glassdoor, Trustpilot, Indeed, Google Reviews, and the iOS Store. We continuously monitor these platforms and have designated responsibilities in each market to ensure that we actively incorporate feedback to build a strong reputation.
Crafting a Cutting-Edge Brand Design: Radiating Brilliance
We wanted to reimagine a brand that would sit at the intersection of our two pillars: the power of technology, and human interactions. This endeavor encompassed not just visual transformation but also a distinctive tone of voice and a seamless worldwide implementation across branding, marketing, and communications.
The most prominent transformation lies within our visual identity, meticulously crafted in collaboration with the London-headquartered agency Koto. It encompasses a fresh stylisation of the company name, new typography, as well as revamped shapes and colors. In our redesigned logo, our ampersand takes center stage, often presented designs as the intersection between meaningful human interactions and powerful technology.
We communicate with our workers and clients in a language that resonates with them. As a result, our new identity revolves around clear, engaging, and jargon-free language. In line with this approach, our company tagline 'WORK, MADE EASY' speaks to both workers and companies, encapsulating the essence of our mission.
Another cornerstone of the new brand is our approach to imagery, aiming to bring our everyday heroes into the spotlight. Embracing technology, we utilize AI in crafting striking imagery that represents our workers (based on their images and with their consent). This ensures a consistent visual language, scalability, and has been greatly received by our workers, who especially appreciate being represented.
Of course, the new brand is being unveiled across all major channels, including our website, product suite, paid marketing efforts, social media presence, physical spaces, and more.
Introducing the New Website: All-in-One Information Hub
As a pivotal component of our company's transformation, we have launched a brand-new website across all our markets. Given we are a product-driven company catering to both workers and clients, it was imperative to provide a comprehensive overview of our offerings and suite of products. Equally important was conveying our company's values and mission through the website's messaging, ensuring consistent alignment.
Furthermore, we have migrated the website to the latest Content Management System to facilitate local adaptations and enhance its role as a lead generation tool moving forward. In line with our agile approach, the website undergoes continuous upgrades to incorporate the latest developments.
Revamping Our Product Suite: Infusing the Entire Company
In addition to completely revamping Job&Talent's identity, the rebranding initiative ushered in substantial changes in how the company engages with its primary stakeholders: workers and clients.Â
Through a close collaboration with our product and tech teams, we revitalized our complete suite of products for both workers and companies, introducing innovative approaches to communication and information presentation. With a redefined mission statement and tone of voice, we are harmonizing our product suite with our central focus on the intersection between human and technology.
Streamlining the M&A Brand Portfolio: Maximizing Investments
Over the years, Job&Talent strengthened its global presence through strategic M&A activities. However, there was no consistent approach for integrating these brands seamlessly into the Job&Talent brand architecture. As part of the global brand transformation program, we simplified the brand architecture. We've already successfully integrated several brands in recent months, and we're poised to accelerate complete integration over the coming months.
The Sky's the Limit: What's Next on the Horizon
Job&Talent's brand transformation has reached a pivotal juncture as the pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place. Now, the focus lies on making necessary adjustments to ensure a seamless flow in our brand's evolution.Â
The next phase involves extending our reach and establishing a strong brand presence across all of our ten countries. By maintaining a consistent and compelling representation worldwide, we aim to resonate with our diverse audience.Â
While there's still a lot of work to be done, having the right foundation in place signifies a huge stride toward achieving our vision and aspirations. With determination and a strategic approach, we are poised to embark on the next chapter of our brand's transformational journey.
- Christof Schminke, SVP Global Brand and Communication at Job&Talent
