An ambitious family company
Dura Vermeer is one of the biggest construction companies in the Netherlands, and with a 160-year history of trailblazing projects, it’s nothing if not ambitious. Now it wants to become one of the top three pioneers in the construction sector within four years. It’s a challenge that will involve recruiting the best talent in the labour market to strengthen its 2,500-strong workforce. Finding entry level and mid-career professionals with talent, ambition and the right team spirit. The company asked PROOF to help it develop a high impact employer brand.
Research into Dura Vermeer’s position in the labour market and brand perception among first jobbers and professionals leads to the development of two creative concepts. The clear winner is ‘But what can you do?’ It’s the kind of question that makes you sit up and take notice, and which appeals to both ambitious first jobbers and experienced professionals.
The campaign gets a broad rollout. Offline via posters and other collateral for job fairs, events and company recruitment days (plus offering an incentive to encourage existing employees to suggest potential candidates). Online with banners, social media content and the DTTV (Dura Vermeer TV) YouTube channel. All online collateral connects to a new micro-site, maarwatkanjij.nl, where potential candidates can discover what it’s like to work at Dura Vermeer. Content includes an employer branding film highlighting fantastic projects and testimonials in which Dura Vermeer employees tell what they did.
Part of a bigger narrative
As well as attracting new talent, Dura Vermeer wants to be able to tell a clear and consistent story to new recruits, current employees and ‘alumni’ (former employees). This requires paying close attention to the entire employee journey, using ‘But what can you do?’ to introduce the strategy.
Today, Dura Vermeer and PROOF are working on aligning current employees to further embed the strategy inside the organisation. ‘But what can you do’ is a great first step in the creation of a comprehensive employee journey that will help Dura Vermeer achieve its ambitions.
Impressive numbers
‘But what can you do’ positions Dura Vermeer as an attractive employer. Before the launch of the campaign in 2016 the Dura Vermeer career hub was visited 3,000 times a month. This number has increased to 12,000 in 2018. The vlog teasers have a completion rate of 93% and 1 in 3 viewers clicks through to the career hub. Despite focussing on awareness (and not on conversion), the campaign has led to 180 of the 200 job openings being filled. Due to the improving construction market, the war for talent has increased considerably. The job openings have more than doubled. Of the more than 400 job openings, 259 were filled. The interest in Dura Vermeer is still increasing. Social media advertising has led to over 400 applications per month in 2018.
