The Challenge
To ensure a pipeline of diverse talent for tomorrow’s leaders, a European leader in financial services knew it was pivotal to attract talent who would not traditionally consider a career in banking. As a result, the business created a proposition for early talent, which would differentiate them as an employer, support social mobility and give tangible benefits to the individual. This postgraduate apprenticeship rivalled a traditional graduate scheme by allowing candidates to have their professional qualifications funded by the bank as they gained on the job experience.
The Solution
As this was a new proposition, it was key that Cielo’s creative messaging resonated with the target market and clearly communicated the benefits of the bank’s postgraduate apprenticeship vs. a traditional graduate scheme. Using imagery and stories from employees, Cielo’s creative challenged the preconceptions of investment banking, giving the bank a proposition with an edge and appealing to candidates who may not previously have considered a career in banking.
This was achieved by using the following strategy:
Attraction: The talent attraction strategy moved away from traditional apprenticeship channels, launching our unique proposition to disrupt the graduate market. Social media was key and through a blend of organic and paid social content, we targeted candidates based on core persona profiles.
Engagement: To redefine perceptions of a career in investment banking and to engage with a diverse group of graduate talent, including BAME, females and non-redbrick universities, we also created a video series showcasing the positive impact of a career in banking.
Conversion: A new landing page provided an overview of the program, key qualifications and the recruitment process. Integrating this with our CRM system allowed us to drive candidates through to a quick apply – key for candidates applying on mobile.
Nurturing: Despite uncertainty and instability in the market due to COVID-19, applicants were engaged and informed through personalised content at every stage of the recruitment process, resulting in a high conversion of quality applicants to hire.
The Results
The videos created not only reinforced the brand but brought the people behind the brand to life in a relatable way. It's a series of videos about people who genuinely believe that their careers count for something good, in an industry that is often pictured as unfeeling.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the video series was released to the external market in two phases:
Phase one (campaign paused after 9 days due to COVID-19)
- 234 applications
- 15 talent pool registrations
Phase two
- 817,575 total media views
- 3,431 campaign applications
- 28 onboarded apprentices starting October 2021
- 51% female
- 79% non-redbrick university
- 42% BAME
Website data
- 15,028 visits compared to 5,784 last year
- Bounce rate of 78.4% compared to 87.4%
- Time on site 2.40mins compared to 0:17 – a massive 2 minute 23 seconds increase from 2019
Based on the success of the campaign, the bank is preparing to launch another 2021 campaign which will comprise of three intakes across the year. Due to the management and engagement with the talent pool, there are already 50+ candidates interested in these opportunities, resulting in a significantly reduced attraction spend in 2021.
If you want to hear more about how our Employer Brand practice could help your organisation to attract the best candidates click here.
