Company brand and employee brand ‘tightly linked’, says Niki Rose
As a business, you want the ‘best of the best’ to fill vacancies – but is there a way to make sure the people you’re hiring align with the values of the company?
According to Niki Rose, Telstra’s Workforce Experience and Capability Executive, the answer is to change how potential employees see you.
“The relationship between an employer's brand and its attraction to new employees is crucial. Company brand and employee brand are very tightly linked and the more congruent they can be, the more success we see in attracting the right talent,” she said.
“We recently rolled out a new brand identity that captures the spirit of optimism and promise of partnership that we want Telstra to represent. This has brought a more personal and unique approach to our marketing and contributes to our employee value proposition.”
Stats from LinkedIn show that 36% of candidates consider values of the company a key factor in deciding to apply for a job vacancy, with ad volumes for HR and recruitment roles increasing in 2025, too – according to SEEK – highlighting increased demand for job roles.
Reenergising an employer’s brand isn’t a new venture – but recruitment has changed with the variety of options available to jobseekers.
“Gone are the days of traditional hiring methods,” Rose said, citing different avenues used by Telstra, such as Spotify and TikTok.
“We have also found that the most powerful or attractive messages come from our own employees. When candidates hear authentic, honest stories from our team about their positive experiences at Telstra, it gives a powerful insight into what it will be like to work here.”
The relationship between employer and employee is a two-way street, she said, as it’s important to be seen as attractive to prospective workers, but the business itself must be picky in finding the right fit — for both parties, Rose added.
In 2021, Henkel, a multinational consumer goods company, revamped its branding strategy to primarily target Gen Z and digital natives, describing the move as a way to “address the young people directly and personally – with authentic stories.”
Read more: What do your Gen Z workers want?
Since the conception of the phrase ‘employer branding’ in the 1990s, it has been used to suggest that the internal marketing of a brand would also help build greater levels of employee motivation and enhanced customer outcomes as much as external marketing methods.
“Ultimately, the way you measure if this works is by looking at the candidates you’ve attracted to a job ad - and whether they have unique skills for the business,” Rose said.
“Once we convert them into an engaged employee with a big and bright future at Telstra, that’s our biggest marker of success.”
