AN INTENTIONAL APPROACH TO RECRUITING
Carter Machinery is a world-class workplace. But they needed help communicating and marketing their value as an employer so they could recruit the right people and grow their business even further.
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“We need help getting the word out . . . in a genuine and authentic way. To tell stories about what we do, and the people who do it.”
KELLY MCATEER
Director of Marketing, Carter Machinery
THE BRIEF
GOAL
Articulate the unique company culture of Carter Machinery to attract the next generation of employees.
OUTCOME
An updated careers site and culture-driven recruitment campaign with refined messaging showing the total value of working at Carter Machinery. Deliverables included a refreshed culture brand, marketing personas, six employee spotlight videos, one video overviewing the culture, a new careers microsite, and paid ads to motivate potential applicants to apply.
Culture / Brand Design
Campaign Strategy
Messaging & Voice
Video Production
Photography
Web Design
Copywriting
Paid Advertising
the hiring challenge
CHALLENGE #1
communicating employer culture
After having done some employer culture work on their own, Carter had a great foundation to build on, but we agreed on some opportunities to improve. We found their purpose statement was customer-focused rather than a rallying cry their team could get behind. The values they listed were difficult to remember, simply because there were so many. There wasn’t a clear or personally-impactful story to invite potential candidates into.
CHALLENGE #2
NEGATIVE BLUE-COLLAR PERCEPTION
Through research and discussion with the Carter team, we discovered that a challenge when hiring for this industry is the public assumption that “blue-collar” work is more demanding and less rewarding than a desk job. We needed to combat this misconception by showing what it’s really like to work at Carter Machinery.
CHALLENGE #3
Applicant's Online Experience
Carter Machinery has a lot to offer potential candidates. However, they were having a hard time getting people to apply. A big reason was due to their website structure. It was very difficult for users to uncover the incredible benefits they would receive working at Carter. And if Carter wanted to run a successful recruiting ad campaign, their website would need to provide a clear path encouraging people to apply.
IT WAS TIME TO GET TO WORK.
The BuildWitt team met in person with Carter Machinery leadership for a culture workshop to set the foundation for a recruiting campaign that felt true to their team and communicated their value.
ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGE
CULTURE WORKSHOP
DEFINE & ARTICULATE THE CULTURE
Through a culture workshop, we discovered the culture at Carter Machinery is truly unique. We worked with their leadership team to create a mission-driven recruitment strategy that reflected the heart of their company more accurately. We emerged with a refreshed take on their culture brand that simplified and humanized the values and mission statement—the Carter Way 2.0. This culture refresh set the foundation for what the recruitment campaign would become.
RECRUITING CAMPAIGN CONCEPT
INSPIRE POTENTIAL APPLICANTS
Moving on to the recruitment campaign, we presented three different concepts designed to attract and recruit new talent and elevate their employer branding. Carter Machinery landed on "Make An Impact". This campaign creates an emotional connection with potential employees by tying together their day-to-day work to a personal or more significant impact beyond the company—showing potential hires that their work is about more than just Carter's bottom line.
We pulled the phrase “moving/move forward” from the updated culture mission statement, with the idea that a career at Carter provides employees with limitless opportunities to make progress, both personally and in society at large.
EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHTS
COMBAT THE MISCONCEPTION
With the “Make An Impact” throughline in mind, our media team traveled to Virginia to capture the stories of seven different people on the Carter Machinery team. We highlighted people in different roles focusing on their day-to-day responsibilities and why they love doing what they do. The interviews were unscripted, and footage showed real moments from a team member’s typical day at Carter Machinery.
new careers microsite
Showcase a great workplace
With the campaign direction set and video assets underway, we recommended designing a new careers microsite to create an immersive experience for potential candidates. Rather than having a series of separate pages scattered throughout their main site, we designed a microsite that seamlessly highlighted the financial benefits, training opportunities, and of course, culture.
We knew the Carter team wanted to use paid advertising to reach a large audience of potential candidates and needed to organize content to make the user experience from ad to landing page seamless, making the ads worth paying for in the first place. The new site needed to accomplish several goals:
Easy to Navigate and Provide Strong Calls to Action
Organize key information influencing applicant decisions
Highlight carter people to create an emotional connection
feature the apprenticeship program
educate people about the aspects of different roles
create separate pages for targeted ads
Even though Carter is hiring for a range of positions, their biggest need is in service technicians and sales representatives. So we created a page for each of these roles to be used in targeted digital ads with the idea that more pages featuring specific roles could be added down the road.
Role Feature: Service Technicians
Role Feature: Sales Associates
DIGITAL RECRUITING ADS
ATTRACT NEW TALENT
Using the campaign direction, we developed ads targeting people likely searching for a shift in their career or looking to get started.
DIGITAL RECRUITING ADS
ATTRACT NEW TALENT
Using the campaign direction, we developed ads targeting people likely searching for a shift in their career or looking to get started.
CONCLUSION
Carter Machinery already had a great culture, they just needed to share their story more effectively. We partnered with their team to define their culture, refresh the online experience for potential applicants, and launch a recruitment campaign that would ultimately attract and compel the right candidates to apply.