In early 2022, I gave a presentation for the Competence Center for Women and Careers on the topic of “Visual Storytelling in Gender Contrast”, in which I presented the findings of our storytelling report regarding the visual representation of employees. For most of the event’s participants, the analysis was truly an eye-opener.
Background: We first examined the DAX 30 companies in 2019 with regard to storytelling in employer branding. What particularly struck us at the time when looking at the career pages was that women were mostly portrayed as young, smiling, and rarely in senior positions. While older men were featured, there was a strikingly high number of women depicted in the context of work-life balance. To objectively examine this gender distribution—and specifically the portrayal of women on career pages—we subsequently analyzed, in our 2020 Visual Storytelling Report, how the 30 leading DAX companies depict employees on their job sites. The results made it abundantly clear why such analyses are (unfortunately) still necessary.
The 2020 Visual Storytelling Report by Mashup Communications examined how employees are portrayed on the career pages of leading DAX companies. The report found that women were often depicted as young and smiling, and less frequently in leadership positions. Even female executives were predominantly portrayed as young: Nearly 80 percent of the female managers featured were under 35 years old. The findings highlight how strongly visual communication can reinforce existing gender stereotypes.
Female employer branding refers to the strategic development and communication of an employer brand to attract women as applicants and retain them over the long term. The focus is on providing credible insights into corporate culture, career opportunities, working conditions, and female role models. It is crucial that companies not only promise diversity but also demonstrate how they actually put equal opportunity into practice.
Female employer branding focuses on targeting women as the audience for employer communications and highlighting their career prospects. Diversity employer branding takes a broader approach and considers various dimensions of diversity, such as gender, age, background, or disability. Both approaches should be based on a credible, inclusive corporate culture.
So how do corporations inspire today’s female job seekers? What benefits do they offer to convince female candidates to apply? And, above all, how do they harness the power of storytelling to win women over to their ideas, values, and vision?
The career pages of many companies are full of employee stories, and everywhere you look, happy teams are smiling at potential applicants. The goal is for applicants to be able to relate to these stories and thus gain an authentic picture of the employer. However, whether women truly see themselves reflected on these career pages depends on a number of factors.
“One thing is clear, however, when it comes to female employer branding: Whether, how, and which women are featured should not be left to chance, but should be a conscious decision.”
Nora Feist, expert in female employer branding at Mashup Communications
So what aspects should companies focus on when presenting themselves to future female employees? These 5 questions will help you implement female employer branding through storytelling:
If you want to turn your team into true fans and attract truly interesting candidates, you should avoid empty advertising slogans and fake models in glossy magazines. On their career pages, employers are better off sharing their story, their values, their vision, and—above all—the people behind it all. All of this serves to highlight the “why” that speaks directly to job seekers.
Microsoft offers a great example of how to prominently feature a company’s vision on its career page. The tech company welcomes visitors to its career page with the tagline “Because impact matters.” In addition to job postings, the page also covers a wide range of topics that provide a comprehensive look into the company—from employee benefits and corporate culture to cultural diversity.
It also features links to more stories on Microsoft News and Microsoft Stories, as well as dedicated career pages on social media channels. Whatever is happening behind the scenes at Microsoft can be followed from a variety of perspectives. And when the time comes to actually take a look at one of the posted job openings—because it’s time for a change—applicants are led back to the careers page from all of these paths.
Storytelling-Based Learning: Bringing the Employer’s Vision and Corporate Culture to Life Through Various Stories and Channels
Find out in our Storytelling Close-Up how Microsoft used storytelling to usher in a new era of corporate communications and became a pioneer in brand storytelling.
More and more often, we see campaigns or read articles by and about companies and their values—what they stand for, what they advocate for, and what matters to them in their day-to-day lives. This doesn’t come out of nowhere.
“The desire among many workers to find a job that also reflects their ideals is growing steadily.”
Nora Feist, Female Employer Branding Expert at Mashup Communications
Women want to work for companies they can identify with and where they can pursue and put their personal beliefs into practice in their professional lives. Successful female employer branding does not start with the assumption that all women have the same desires. Rather, companies should determine which values, working conditions, and career prospects are actually relevant to their respective target groups.
Employee stories are one of the most powerful tools for successful employer branding. Who better to represent the company and its culture than satisfied coworkers? Thanks in part to great stories and campaigns, the tech giant Dell comes across as a pretty cool employer overall. And in its videos, it also addresses the topic of female leadership, giving—naturally—its female employees a voice. In addition to the many benefits of working there, the videos also highlight so many other important values, such as diversity, work-life balance, tolerance, empowerment, and internationality.
Storytelling-Based Learning: Giving Female Employees a Voice and Highlighting Female Role Models
Another question companies should ask themselves when it comes to reaching women as potential employees: How do we set ourselves apart from other companies when it comes to important women-specific issues, and how do we communicate these unique selling points to the outside world? Are there tandem positions for female executives, mentoring programs to support the careers of female managers, or the option for mothers to begin training on a part-time basis? All of this can be communicated wonderfully through stories.
A much-discussed and hotly debated topic of late is the gender gap in corporate leadership. TÜV has taken a clear stance on the issue, but approaches the discussion with a touch of humor. The accompanying recruitment video shows a typical comparison of men’s heights in a locker room—only it’s not quite what we’d expect.
Storytelling-Based Learning: Challenging Gender Stereotypes Through Unexpected Perspectives
When it comes to visual storytelling, organizations should, on the one hand, make sure to portray the actual reality of life at the company and its workforce. On the other hand, they should also use photos of the kind of people they hope to have on staff in the future.
“After all, it is the images that serve as the first canvas for potential applicants.”
Nora Feist, expert in visual storytelling for recruiting at Mashup Communications
In doing so, they not only unconsciously give viewers an idea of how and which trainees work at the company or what qualities managers there should possess. They also, for example, show young women what career path seems destined for them, and show people from other countries what opportunities might be available to them at the company.
“What mode are you in?”—that’s the opening question on Schneider Electric’s careers page. With its employer branding campaign, the French tech conglomerate aims to position itself as a trustworthy and forward-looking employer, particularly among students and those just starting their careers.
The job site offers several options for the “Early Careers” target audience, such as “Boss Mode,” “Nerd Mode,” “Gaming Mode,” “Flex Mode,” “Green Mode,” and so on. Depending on what applicants select, the content adapts to the topic. In “Nerd Mode,” for example, the focus is on the company’s high-tech expertise.
From a storytelling perspective, the campaign’s approach—which focuses on the interests of the talent—was particularly successful. In terms of appealing to a female audience, it’s also noteworthy that, for example, “Nerd Mode” and “Gaming Mode” were not portrayed in a stereotypical way, allowing young women to see themselves reflected in them.
Storytelling-Based Learning: Engaging Talents Based on Their Interests Rather Than on Stereotypical Gender Images
Technology is becoming increasingly important for Otto, which has been transitioning from a retailer to a platform for some time now. Even more important, however, are the people driving this change. With a new recruiting campaign, the Hamburg-based company aims to find exactly these individuals. The campaign places a particular focus on female tech talent. The background for this female employer branding initiative: In 2021, Otto CIO Michael Müller-Wünsch announced the goal of filling at least 50 percent of tech positions with women in the future.
Read here to learn how CIOs can use storytelling to drive cultural change within an IT organization.
Real Otto employees with relevant backgrounds serve as advocates for working at the company. “Together with HR Marketing, we showcase our tech colleagues as ‘Techtimonials,’ featuring authentic photos and clear statements,” explained Rodja Schmitz-Hübsch, Product Lead for Marketing Communications, in a recent interview.
Storytelling-Based Learning: Positioning Female Tech Talents as Authentic Ambassadors
You might also be interested in: An episode of our podcast “Praxis-Talk Brand Storytelling” Otto’s press spokesperson, Ingo Bertram, discusses their corporate podcast, “O-TON.” Through storytelling, the podcast brings the company’s values to life for current and prospective employees every week.
The large DAX-listed corporations, in particular, are increasingly in the public eye and should serve as role models for other organizations when it comes to the proportion of women in their ranks.
The same applies to gender-neutral language. Only 5 companies in the new DAX 40 consistently use gender-neutral spelling in body text, job postings, and job titles. (Source)
“Anyone who doesn’t want to exclude women from job openings should therefore also use inclusive language.”
Nora Feist, Female Employer Branding Expert at Mashup Communications
Here, we explain why gender-neutral language should become the norm in companies as well.
The Chief Human Resources Officer at Deutsche Bahn has also set a goal of making the company an attractive employer and now refers to herself as “EmployerIN” in external communications. With this initiative, DB aims primarily to attract women, who, at 23.3 percent, remain underrepresented within the company. To this end, various female employees who already work in traditionally male-dominated professions—such as train engineers, mechatronics engineers, maintenance technicians, and civil engineers—are introducing themselves at events and on social media. (Source)
“I think this is a good approach—using language and female role models to increase the proportion of women.”
Storytelling expert Nora Feist on Deutsche Bahn's “ArbeitgeberIN” employer branding campaign
Storytelling-Based Learning: Raising the Visibility of Women in Traditionally Male-Dominated Fields While Critically Examining One’s Own Visual Language
One thing is certain—any company looking to attract women as potential employees today cannot afford to ignore female employer branding. The first step is to analyze the needs women have in the modern workplace and to examine how these requirements are clearly reflected on the career page in the form of the company’s vision and values. Ultimately, the representation of women—both visually and linguistically, as well as through role models—is a key factor in why female applicants can envision their future at the company.
Successful female employer branding doesn’t start with a campaign, but with the question of what career opportunities and working conditions women actually find within the company. Storytelling brings this reality to light: through authentic stories from female employees, diverse role models, and visual language that doesn’t reinforce outdated gender stereotypes. It is crucial that companies not only articulate what they stand for, but also deliver on their promises in day-to-day work. After all, if you want to attract women, you must not only tell them a story, but also offer them a future.
Female employer branding refers to the targeted outreach to and recruitment of female talent through a credible employer brand that highlights career opportunities, corporate culture, and female role models.
Through fair career opportunities, suitable working conditions, authentic employee stories, and recruitment messaging that resonates with women from diverse backgrounds.
Storytelling highlights female role models, career paths, and the company’s actual corporate culture. This allows female applicants to better assess the opportunities a company offers them.
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